US Open

What is the US Open?

The US Open is one of tennis's four Grand Slam tournaments and, in the tournament's own words, the final Grand Slam of the year. It is played on hard courts at Flushing Meadows in New York City over two weeks from late August into September.^[1][3] Its singles events are the men's singles and the women's singles, each a 128-player knockout draw; the US Open publishes a draw sheet for each event with the champion at its head.^[4] Doubles and other championships are played in the same fortnight.

Who organizes the US Open?

The tournament describes itself as hosted by the United States Tennis Association (USTA).^[1] The US Open is one of the four tournaments in Grand Slam Tennis, which the 2026 Official Grand Slam Rule Book describes as “the collaboration between the four Grand Slam tournaments”, managed through a board of the four Grand Slam chairs supported by their CEOs and “responsible for reviewing and making decisions on sporting competition matters.”^[11] Ranking points are awarded by the two tours, the ATP for men and the WTA for women, and the ITF is the sport's international federation.

When and where is it held?

The tournament has been played at Flushing Meadows since 1978; the tournament's own timeline records for that year that “The USTA relocates the US Open from Forest Hills to the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows”.^[1] The 2026 main draw ran from 30 August to 13 September 2026, after qualifying from 24 to 27 August; the women's final was scheduled for 12 September and the men's final for Sunday 13 September.^[3][14] The US Open reported that Elena Rybakina won the women's singles title on the Saturday and Alexander Zverev the men's singles title on the Sunday; the 2026 edition is completed.^[2]

Men's (M) and women's (W) singles champions: men from US Open reports and draw sheets and, for 2021–2023 and 2025, ATP tournament guides; women 2017–2025 from the WTA's list, which prints an initial and surname. All at Flushing Meadows.^{[3][5][6][7][8][9][10]}

Since when does it exist?

By the tournament's own account, it started in 1881 at the Newport Casino, Rhode Island, and was originally known as the US National Championships, with a first draw of 26 men on grass.^[1] The same account marks 1968 as the first year of open admission, and states for 1973 that “the US Open is the first of the four majors to offer equal prize money to men and women.”^[1] The move from Forest Hills to Flushing Meadows followed in 1978.

How do players qualify?

Entry follows the 2026 Official Grand Slam Rule Book, common to all four Grand Slam tournaments. Unless otherwise agreed, each singles main draw has 128 places: direct acceptances, qualifiers and eight wild cards, with the Rule Book's table allowing 16, 12 or 8 qualifiers.^[11] Direct acceptance is by ranking: the Rule Book provides that “the ranking to be used shall be that dated approximately forty-two (42) days prior to the commencement of the tournament.”^[11] Qualifiers come through a separate qualifying competition, held in 2026 in the week before the main draw, and wild cards are granted by the tournament. There are no national quotas: entry is individual. For how wild cards work across sports, see wildcards and universality places.

Why does it matter?

The measurable proxies are ranking points, player compensation and audience figures the organiser publishes. The 2026 ATP Official Rulebook awards 2,000 ranking points to a Grand Slam singles champion, 1,300 to the runner-up and 10 to a first-round loser, and counts a player's results from all four Grand Slams in his ranking.^[12] The WTA's published table also gives 2,000 points to a Grand Slam singles champion, and the four Grand Slams are among the results counted in a player's ranking.^[13] For 2026 the WTA reported total player compensation of $108 million, with $5.5 million to each singles champion.^[14] The US Open states that 1,144,562 fans attended in 2025 and gives 290 as the number of countries where the tournament is broadcast.^[1] See also prize money and athlete pay.

Who competes?

The singles draws are open to professional players of any nationality who meet the ranking cut or come through qualifying or a wild card; the US Open's draw sheets print a three-letter nationality code beside each name, as for the 2024 men's champion.^[4] Men and women compete in separate singles draws of 128. The position of players from Russia and Belarus across sports is set out under national suspensions and neutral athletes. The WTA publishes a year-by-year list of past women's singles winners.^[10]