The US Open draw sends Alcaraz toward a projected semi-final with Djokovic

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.

At the top of the draw, Alexander Zverev opens against Lorenzo Sonego, ranked 91. The lowest seed left in his quarter is Alex de Minaur, seed 6, and the lowest in his half is Felix Auger-Aliassime, seed 3, which makes Auger-Aliassime, not Djokovic or Alcaraz, the top seed's projected semi-final. Auger-Aliassime himself opens against Rinky Hijikata, ranked 85, with Flavio Cobolli, seed 5, the lowest seed standing in his own quarter. The bottom half carries the heavier story. Alcaraz opens the defense of his title against Roman Safiullin, ranked 98, and the lowest seed in his quarter is Ben Shelton, seed 8. Djokovic, seeded 4 and a four-time champion here, opens against Mariano Navone, ranked 48, the hardest first round handed to any of the top four seeds. The lowest seed in Djokovic's own quarter is Daniil Medvedev, seed 7, and the lowest across Alcaraz's whole half is Djokovic himself, which puts the projected semi-final in the bottom half at the defending champion against a four-time champion.

Three first-round matches stand out elsewhere in the draw. Marin Cilic, the 2014 champion, is unseeded at a ranking of 81 and drawn against Andrey Rublev, seed 23. Stan Wawrinka, the 2016 champion, is in as a wildcard at a ranking of 127 and opens against Matteo Berrettini, a former top-6 player unseeded at 43. Stefanos Tsitsipas, a former world No. 3, is unseeded at 53 and opens against Arthur Fils, seed 10.

One name is missing from the very top of the field. Jannik Sinner, the world No. 1, is not in the draw; he appears only among the tournament's withdrawals. Eighteen qualifier slots in the 128-player field remain open, still to be decided before the tournament starts on 30 August.

Draw tale, 27 August 2026, sources: US Open draw feed (usopen.org); TennisTale rankings and archive