US Open kicks off on August 30: Zverev top seed, Sonego faces him right away
The New York draw hands the tournament a bracket without Jannik Sinner. Zverev leads the seeds ahead of Alcaraz; four players could finish the fortnight as world number one.
The last major tournament of the tennis season opens on Sunday, August 30 at Flushing Meadows and closes on September 13. The draw for the men’s and women’s singles brackets took place in New York on Thursday, August 27 at 18:00, as reported by Sky Sport and by Sky TG24.
The available sources all trace back to the same event — the official draw conducted by the tournament organization — which is also the primary source for the names and pairings: the first-round matchups reported here derive from that document.
The first notable fact of the men’s bracket is an absence. Without Jannik Sinner, the top seed is Alexander Zverev, ahead of Carlos Alcaraz. This is a configuration that alters the balance of the draw: the top position determines the half of the bracket and thus the path of all the other favorites through to the final. The sources consulted do not mention the reasons for the Italian player’s absence.
The draw immediately produced a notable clash for the Italian contingent: Lorenzo Sonego faces Zverev in the first round, meaning the top seed right at the start. Flavio Cobolli, the highest-ranked among the Italians, opens against Argentina’s Comesaña. Lorenzo Musetti makes his debut against Fery. Matteo Berrettini meets Stan Wawrinka, a pairing between two players with different paths behind them.
| Player | First-round opponent |
|---|---|
| Lorenzo Sonego | Alexander Zverev |
| Flavio Cobolli | Comesaña |
| Lorenzo Musetti | Fery |
| Matteo Berrettini | Stan Wawrinka |
| Jasmine Paolini | Veronika Erjavec |
| Elisabetta Cocciaretto | Katerina Siniakova |
In the women’s bracket, Jasmine Paolini opens against Slovenia’s Veronika Erjavec, and Elisabetta Cocciaretto against the Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova, a player with a long career in doubles as well as singles.
The element that gives the women’s tournament additional interest concerns the world ranking: four players — Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Elena Rybakina and Coco Gauff — arrive in New York in contention to finish the fortnight in first place. This means the tournament’s outcome will not only decide the title, but will also determine who leads the ranking at the end of the event. The sources consulted do not specify the combinations of results required for each of the four.
The schedule follows the usual format of the major tournaments: fifteen days of competition, with the early rounds spread over the opening days and the final stages in the second week. Sky Sport’s post-draw analysis adds editorial commentary on the matchups, but the factual data remain those of the draw itself.
What we don’t know. The sources consulted do not report the full list of seeds beyond the top two, nor the quarters of the draw in which the Italian players fall: it is therefore not possible to indicate potential matchups beyond the first round. The overall prize money for this edition is not known, nor is the composition of the doubles bracket. The times of individual matches are not available, as the organization publishes them day by day.
The first verifiable result comes on Sunday: the match between Sonego and Zverev is the only one involving the Italian contingent that immediately pits a player against the number one seed, and its outcome will affect the top half of the men’s bracket right from the first round.
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