NEW YORK — Defending champion Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz wound up on reverse sides of the US Open bracket in Thursday’s draw, which means they might meet in one other huge remaining after Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics.
For that to occur, the No. 3-seeded Alcaraz may first must get via a semifinal towards No. 1 Jannik Sinner, whose doping case got here to mild this week. Sinner examined optimistic twice for an anabolic steroid in March however was cleared after it was decided the use was unintentional as a result of the banned substance entered his system by way of a therapeutic massage from his coach.
Coco Gauff, who gained her first Grand Slam title final 12 months in New York, is seeded No. 3 and opens towards Varvara Gracheva of France. Gauff and No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka might meet within the semifinals after enjoying for the trophy within the 2023 remaining. The winner might face No. 1 Iga Swiatek for the title.
The US Open begins Monday and ends Sept. 8.
Djokovic gained his males’s-record twenty fourth Grand Slam singles title final 12 months in Flushing Meadows and has remained caught on that complete, shedding to Sinner within the Australian Open semifinals, withdrawing from the French Open after injuring his proper knee and shedding to Alcaraz on the All England Membership.
In a rematch on the Paris Video games this month, Djokovic beat Alcaraz in a pair of tiebreakers for his first Olympic gold medal.
Djokovic, the No. 2 seed, hasn’t performed since. Each he and Alcaraz will start the US Open towards gamers who emerge from this week’s qualifying match in New York.
Sinner, of Italy, performs American Mackenzie McDonald within the first spherical. Sinner, 23, gained his first Grand Slam title on the Australian Open.
Two previous US Open ladies’s champions who missed the match final 12 months might face a troublesome time getting out of the primary spherical of their return.
Naomi Osaka, who gained two of her 4 main titles in Flushing Meadows and returned this season from maternity go away, opens towards No. 10 seed Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion. Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 US Open champion who has handled a sequence of accidents since, was drawn to face No. 5 seed Jasmine Paolini, the runner-up this 12 months on the French Open and Wimbledon.
Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, opens towards American Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open winner, in one other first-round matchup of previous main champions.
Males’s first-round matchups of word embody No. 13 seed Ben Shelton, an American who reached the semifinals final 12 months, dealing with 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem, who acquired a wild card into what might be his remaining Grand Slam match earlier than retiring. No. 18 seed Lorenzo Musetti, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals and gained an Olympic bronze medal for Italy, performs American Reilly Opelka.
Potential males’s quarterfinal matchups might be Sinner vs. 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev, Djokovic vs. No. 6 Andrey Rublev, Alcaraz vs. No. 7 Hubert Hurkacz and 2020 runner-up Alexander Zverev vs. 2022 runner-up Casper Ruud.
The potential ladies’s quarterfinals are Swiatek vs. No. 6 Jessica Pegula, Sabalenka vs. Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen, Gauff vs. two-time main champion Barbora Krejcikova and 2022 Wimbledon winner No. 4 Elena Rybakina vs. Paolini.
