If the switch from clay to grass during the summer is the starkest change in tennis conditions, the transformation then from Wimbledon’s manicured courts and genteel surroundings around the stadium to the US Open madhouse can be truly jarring.
Wimbledon hums with tradition, while the US Open drips with irreverence. All-white tennis outfits give way to in-trend colours and silhouettes. Strawberries and cream are replaced with the famous New York hot dogs. While Wimbledon’s show courts are famous for their pin-drop silence and strict adherence to tennis etiquette, US Open crowds are known to bring boom boxes to the stands.
The final Grand Slam of the season strips tennis of all its elite, private-club pretensions and turns it into a prize fight. The US Open venue, the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, is quite literally situated in the middle of a public park—the Flushing-Meadows-Corona Park. In recent years, one of the most persistent complaints from the players was the ever-present smell of marijuana, which was legalised for recreational use in the city in 2021.
“Court 17 definitely smells like Snoop Dogg’s living room,” current French Open champion Alexander Zverev was quoted saying in 2023. “...The whole court smells like weed.”
“There’s a lot of noise this year,” France’s Adrian Mannarino complained last year. “I find it’s a bit of a circus on the court: people move between games, sometimes between points. We let everything happen a little too much. It’s still tennis, not football.”
Welcome to the chaos of the US Open. The latest edition of the hard-court major is set to begin on 30 August.
Changing the Guard
The mayhem, however, is not restricted to the stands. Over the last few years, it has proved to be the most unpredictable Grand Slam event. Since Roger Federer’s streak of five straight championships from 2004-08, not a single men’s player has been able to defend the title. In the women’s field, no one managed to defend the title from 2014-24, before Aryna Sabalenka snapped that run by winning her second straight US Open last year.
It comes at the back end of the tiring tennis season, and the third major in as many months. After spending the summer in Europe, players haul their battered and bruised bodies across the Atlantic for one final shot at glory in the Grand Slam season. The heat and humidity on the eastern coast makes it worse.
This year, the injuries have indeed piled up ahead of the Open. Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz has been sidelined since April with a wrist injury and hasn’t confirmed his availability yet. It is difficult to predict what shape he will turn up in after months of absence from competitive tennis. His closest rival, and reigning World No.1 Jannik Sinner, hasn’t stepped on court since winning Wimbledon and pulled out of the Cincinnati Open, one of the tune-up events, due to a knee issue.
Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, is chasing the elusive 25th major title, weakened and winded. At 39, Djokovic hasn’t quite given up on the dream of becoming the most successful Grand Slam player in history—he’s currently tied at 24 for the all-time record with Margaret Court—but it is growing distant with every tournament. While Djokovic reached the semi-final at Wimbledon with a miraculous five-set win over Felix Auger-Aliassime, his build-up to the US Open has been far from ideal.
In the only tournament he played in the American hard-court season, in Cincinnati, Djokovic slipped to a three-set defeat to Thiago Agustin Tirante, ranked No.50 in the world, in the second round. More than the defeat itself, it was the manner in which the Serb faded physically that raised concern. He looked short of breath and wilted in the humidity.
With the cream of men’s elite struggling, the door may be left open for someone new to make their mark.
As it happened during the French Open, Alexander Zverev is the man most likely to fill that void. Winning the French Open, his first major after years of persistence, would have lifted his confidence. Zverev has remained in the top 5 of men’s tennis for the past few years because of his consistent, no-frills play. Moreover, his record against the current Big 3 may be suspect but he is very good at winning matches he is expected to.
Also contending for the title will be home favourites Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz, who have won a title each during the North American hard-court swing, and youngsters Rafael Jodar and Joao Fonseca. Jodar is one of the fastest rising names in the game while Fonseca’s pure stroke-making may reap rewards on the concrete courts. Having disrupted the draw in Paris, the duo is looking to set the stage alight in New York.
New Wave
In the women’s draw, 2026 has already thrown a few curve balls. At this year’s French Open, 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva defeated qualifier Maja Chwalinska to win her first Grand Slam title. A month later, two unlikely finalists, Linda Noskova and Karolina Muchova, battled for the Wimbledon title. Noskova, 21, held her nerve in her first major final to defeat her compatriot in three sets.
The US Open may see a similar churn over the fortnight. On paper, though, two-time defending champion Sabalenka, Australian Open winner Elena Rybakina and six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek start as the favourites.
While Sabalenka hasn’t quite built the momentum going into the major, Swiatek seems to be getting back on to her feet again. The 25-year-old defeated Rybakina in straight sets at the Canadian Open to snap her 11-month title drought and win her first tour event of 2026. Rybakina, meanwhile, narrowly missed out on taking over as the World No.1 but will continue her quest at the Open.
The one player who has made waves during the hard-court swing is Alexandra Eala of the Philippines. A graduate of the Rafael Nadal Academy, the 21-year-old is blazing a trail for her country. She captured the Washington Open, a WTA 500 event, earlier this month to become the first player from the Philippines to win a WTA Tour singles title and broke into the top 20. At Wimbledon this year, she dethroned Swiatek with a mix of her lefty whip, sliding serves and deceptive power.
“She is just not scared to go against the top players,” former US Open champion Andy Roddick said recently. “For some reason what she does with switching directions and accepting pace and pinning people in corners, she is a name nobody wants to see early in a draw.”
Competing in a sport dominated by Europeans and Americans, Eala brings a piece of her culture every time she steps out on court. Embroidered on her visor is this phrase: “kapag lumago, hindi na hihinto (once it grows, it cannot be stopped)”.
“It refers to a dream and an aspiration to become unstoppable,” Eala, a former junior US Open champion, explained to BBC. The US Open has often been the playground for the young and the ambitious. Could it add another chapter to that legacy?
Deepti Patwardhan is a sportswriter based in Mumbai.