Andrey Rublev hits the ball as though he means to end the point and the argument at once. Every forehand is a full swing, every hold is punctuated by a shout at himself, and the racquet frame has paid the price more than once. That controlled fury climbed him to No. 5 in the world in 2021 and filled a cabinet of 19 career titles, among them the two that matter most on the calendar below the majors: the 2023 Monte Carlo Masters and the 2024 Madrid Open, his first two Masters 1000 crowns. He competes as a neutral athlete, the flag beside his name withheld under the ban on Russian players.
The one door he cannot force open is the last one. Rublev has reached the quarter-finals at all four majors, the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open, yet he is still without a major and, more pointedly, still without a semi-final; his winless run stretched past ten Grand Slam quarter-finals. So the power keeps colliding with the moment. Against Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas, two of his most frequent opponents, he has traded blows for years without solving the puzzle of the second week.
Four. That is how many US Open titles Novak Djokovic has already won, and the draw made on 27 August 2026 puts him on course to meet Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion who also won the title in 2022, in the semi-final. Both are seeded in the same half of the 128-player field; play starts on 30 August.
Draw taleEleven. That is where Arthur Fils sits in the ATP rankings now, one place outside the world's top ten, after a run to the Cincinnati title carried the 22 year old up from No. 21 and into the top 20. It is a career best for Fils, and it makes him the only Frenchman in that group.
Ranking tale