Sabalenka seeks redemption at US Open as rivals circle

Aryna Sabalenka arrived at the 2026 US Open as the defending champion and world number one, but the path to New York had become treacherous. Earlier this season, she had completed a rare 'Sunshine Double,' winning both Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back—a feat accomplished by only four women before her. That victory had seemed to announce her dominance: she held a 3,000-point lead atop the rankings and appeared untouchable on the WTA Tour. By August, that cushion had evaporated. Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan now trailed by only 434 points, and Sabalenka's record since Miami told a story of unraveling: 17 wins and 7 losses, a stretch that included a quarter-final exit at the French Open and a fourth-round loss at Wimbledon. For a four-time major champion, the numbers were alarming.

The pattern of her recent defeats suggested something deeper than simple bad luck. In Cincinnati the week before the Open, Sabalenka had led 5-1 in a first-set tiebreak against 20-year-old Czech player Sara Bejlek, then 4-1 in the second set, only to lose 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 as her composure fractured in the rallies. In Toronto, her serve had crumbled against Russian world number 19 Ekaterina Alexandrova. During the clay-court swing, she had surrendered first-set leads to Hailey Baptiste in Madrid, Sorana Cirstea in Rome, and Diana Shnaider at Roland Garros. The losses were not to players of her caliber; they were to opponents she should have beaten. The issue, observers noted, was not her ability but her mental resilience in moments when the pressure was lower, when the stakes felt less absolute.

Sabalenka's four Grand Slam titles—two Australian Opens and two US Opens, all won on hard courts—represented a career most players would envy. Yet she had also lost four major finals and six semi-finals, a record of reaching the biggest stages but faltering when it mattered most. Now, at 28, she faced a different kind of pressure: the threat of losing the ranking she had held for 99 weeks. To keep it, she would need to win the US Open. She had 2,000 ranking points to defend at Flushing Meadows. Rybakina, by contrast, had fewer points to protect and could claim the number one ranking without winning a match if Sabalenka and other rivals stumbled. When asked if she felt confident she could rediscover her form on the hard courts where she had built her career, Sabalenka said simply: "Absolutely. These tough lessons are definitely going to make me way, way stronger and working even harder." In New York, she added: "I work on my mental side of the game. I've been trying to reset my mind and to come back stronger. It's only a matter of time for me to come back."

The women's draw had widened considerably in her absence. Rybakina, who had beaten Sabalenka to win the Australian Open in January, was the most obvious threat to her ranking. Jessica Pegula, 32, had been consistently excellent for years without winning a major title, but she had reached the finals in Washington and Cincinnati and remained a formidable player at her home Slam. Coco Gauff, 22, had already won a major at the US Open in 2023 and had just claimed the Cincinnati title, beating Pegula in the process. She returned to New York with a fluidity in her serve that had been absent a year earlier. Below them, the depth was striking: Mirra Andreeva held the French Open, Linda Noskova the Wimbledon title, and Iga Swiatek, a six-time major winner, remained a threat. Pegula herself had noted the unusual strength of the field: "You can just see how the depth is pretty crazy."

The men's draw had been hollowed by injury. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz had swept all eight major titles between them in 2024 and 2025, with Alcaraz extending that dominance by winning the Australian Open earlier this year. But they had not competed at the same Grand Slam since. Alcaraz had missed the French Open and Wimbledon with a wrist injury and was making his comeback after a four-month absence. Sinner, meanwhile, had been ruled out with a knee issue just a day after Alcaraz announced his return. "It's kind of weird," Alcaraz said. "We are not going to see each other for, like, six months now, seven months." Their absence opened the door for others. Novak Djokovic, 39 and a 24-time Grand Slam champion, had not won a major since the 2023 US Open but had reached at least the semi-finals in six of the past seven Slams. He remained in pursuit of a 25th title, which would move him past Margaret Court on the all-time list. Alexander Zverev of Germany led the men's seedings after reaching two straight major finals, winning the French Open and losing to Sinner at Wimbledon. Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe represented a strong American contingent, while Taylor Fritz, a finalist in 2024, carried the hopes of a nation that had not crowned a men's champion in 23 years. The tournament was set to begin on Sunday, and for the first time in years, the outcome felt genuinely uncertain.