Jannik Sinner has withdrawn from the 2026 US Open because of the right knee injury that also kept him out of the North American Masters events in Montreal and Cincinnati.
The world No. 1 confirmed his decision before the men's singles draw, removing the reigning Wimbledon champion and 2024 US Open winner from the final Grand Slam tournament of the season. Main-draw singles play begins at Flushing Meadows on Sunday 30 August.
Sinner's absence changes the shape of the men's event before the draw has even placed a player in a quarter. It does not, however, establish a new favourite or make another contender's route straightforward. The official draw will not be revealed until Thursday 27 August, and the US Open has not yet supplied the match-ups that will define the field.
A knee problem that did not clear in time
Sinner's withdrawal is the end of a fitness sequence that ran through the build-up to New York.
He pulled out of Montreal in July while prioritising his recovery after Wimbledon. On 9 August, the ATP confirmed that a right knee problem would prevent him from playing in Cincinnati. Sinner said at that stage that he was turning his attention towards being ready for the US Open.
That target proved too close. The US Open reported on 21 August that Sinner had returned to court in Monte Carlo but still needed more recovery time. The decision was made before qualifying began and before the main draw was assembled.
| Date | Confirmed development | Official source status |
|---|---|---|
| 12 July | Sinner won Wimbledon, defeating Alexander Zverev in the final | Recorded by the ATP |
| 24 July | Sinner withdrew from Montreal while prioritising his health | Confirmed by the ATP |
| 9 August | A right knee injury ruled him out of Cincinnati | Confirmed by the ATP |
| 21 August | Sinner withdrew from the US Open after further court work | Confirmed by the US Open |
| 24 August | US Open qualifying began at Flushing Meadows | Official tournament schedule |
| 27 August | Men's singles draw due to be revealed | Official draw page |
| 30 August | Main-draw singles competition begins | Official tournament schedule |
The sequence matters because it separates a single late withdrawal from a problem that has already interrupted several weeks of competition. Sinner has not been removed by a last-minute match issue. He and his team have tested the knee over time and concluded that it is not ready for a Grand Slam campaign.
A remarkable season stops short of New York
The scale of the absence comes from Sinner's 2026 record. The US Open listed him at 44 wins and three defeats when announcing his withdrawal. He had won six titles, at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome and Wimbledon.
His Wimbledon victory was his fifth major singles title. It also maintained his place at the centre of the men's game after he won the 2024 US Open and returned to the New York final in 2025, where Carlos Alcaraz beat him in four sets.
Those results made Sinner more than another high seed in the entry list. He was the player with the year's strongest sustained record and a proven history on the Flushing Meadows hard courts. Removing him does not simply open one line in the draw. It removes a recent champion who had repeatedly shown that he could survive the two-week demands of a major.
The injury also denies the tournament a possible continuation of his rivalry with Alcaraz. The pair contested the 2025 US Open final, but a repeat was never guaranteed. Alcaraz has managed his own wrist injury this season and had not competed since Barcelona when the initial US Open entry list was announced. The US Open later confirmed that the defending champion planned to play.
What changes before the draw
The immediate effect is certainty about one absence and uncertainty about almost everything else.
Sinner will not occupy a seeded place or a section of the draw. The final arrangement will be determined under the tournament's entry and seeding processes, with the public draw scheduled for Thursday. Until that happens, claims about an easy half, a favourable quarter or a direct beneficiary are premature.
What can be said is that one of the field's most difficult possible opponents has disappeared. Every player who might otherwise have faced Sinner now has a route built around somebody else. That can alter the competitive balance, but it does not erase the usual hazards of a 128-player major.
Alexander Zverev arrives as the 2026 French Open champion and a former US Open finalist. Alcaraz is the defending New York champion. Novak Djokovic, a four-time US Open winner with 24 major singles titles, was included in the entry list after reaching the Australian Open final and Wimbledon semi-finals this year. Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz lead a strong American group with recent deep runs in New York.
None of those facts can be converted into a draw forecast yet. Qualifiers will not complete their routes until Thursday, and the final brackets must place both established contenders and players carrying current form from the North American hard-court swing.
The better conclusion is narrower: Sinner's withdrawal reduces the number of proven major winners in the field and removes the current world No. 1, while leaving several credible routes to the title.
Why a Grand Slam return demands more than being able to practise
A return to court is not the same as readiness for a major. The men's singles champion in New York must win seven best-of-five-set matches across two weeks. That creates repeated loading through serving, stopping, changing direction and recovering between rounds.
The official withdrawal report says Sinner resumed court work before deciding that he required more time. It does not provide a detailed diagnosis beyond the right knee issue, and no responsible assessment should invent one.
What is visible is the competitive requirement. A player can be capable of training without being prepared for the volume, intensity and uncertainty of a Grand Slam. The early rounds can contain long matches, heat, changing session times and limited recovery. The physical test accumulates even when a player wins comfortably.
Sinner's decision therefore says more about readiness than pain. His team did not need to decide whether he could strike a ball. They needed to decide whether his knee could support the complete tournament demand.
The US Open still begins with qualifying, not the headline names
The tournament is already under way in its broader form. Qualifying started on Monday 24 August, with 128 men and 128 women competing for 16 main-draw places in each singles event. The US Open is also staging mixed-doubles qualifying during Fan Week.
That gives the week a different focus before the main draw appears. Kei Nishikori, Grigor Dimitrov, Zheng Qinwen and Bianca Andreescu were among the established players named in the official qualifying coverage. Each must win three matches to claim a singles main-draw position.
For readers following the event, the useful dates are clear. Qualifying runs through Thursday, the men's draw is revealed on the same day, and main-draw singles starts on Sunday. BetOwl's Tennis section will carry the wider tournament coverage as the confirmed draw and match schedule become available.
What the withdrawal means for betting markets
An injury withdrawal before the draw is public information, so tournament markets can be repriced without a match being abandoned. That does not mean every remaining player's chance improves by an equal amount.
Prices reflect the structure of the field, the possible routes through the draw and the bookmaker's margin. When the draw is published, individual pathways will become clearer, but an apparently favourable bracket still contains uncertainty. Surface form, fitness, match-ups and the demands of best-of-five tennis remain important.
Readers comparing tournament prices can use BetOwl's tennis match betting guide for the underlying analysis and the guide to tennis set and game markets for settlement detail. The broader lesson in understanding variance is also relevant: removing one leading contender does not make another outcome certain.
No bet becomes safe because Sinner is absent. Anyone betting should check the operator's non-runner and outright-market rules, set a limit before the tournament and avoid reacting to an injury headline by increasing stakes. BetOwl's responsible gambling guide explains practical controls.
What happens next
The next reliable update will come from the official draw rather than speculation about who inherits Sinner's position.
Thursday will establish the sections, possible early-round meetings and routes available to Alcaraz, Zverev, Djokovic, the leading American players and the qualifiers. It will also show where the late changes to the entry list have been absorbed.
For Sinner, the focus moves away from defending ranking points or adding another major. The confirmed priority is recovery. His 2026 season has already included six titles and Wimbledon, but New York will proceed without the player who began the week as world No. 1.
That is the central news before the draw: the men's US Open has lost its most successful player of the season, and the rest of the field will discover the consequences only when the brackets become official.