Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper will both play qualifiers in the first round of the US Open – then it will get tougher.
Raducanu potentially faces ninth seed Elena Rybakina in the third round, while Jack Draper, who arrives as fifth seed, may need to play defending champion Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals, a round earlier than last year when the World No 1 triumphed in their semi-final in New York.
As usual, the draw for the women’s and men’s singles has thrown up plenty of talking points ahead of the start of the final grand slam of the season on Sunday.
Mixed draw for Brits as Raducanu and Draper start with qualifiers
Raducanu can arrive at the US Open with some confidence having pushed World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka to a third-set tiebreak in Cincinnati and will start against a qualifier, having been a qualifier herself when she memorably went all the way in New York four years ago.
But there are other players in Raducanu’s section who also found form in Cincinnati. Her potential round-two opponent, the 24th seed Veronika Kudermetova, reached the semi-finals, where she lost to Jasmine Paolini, while her possible third-round opponent, in former Wimbledon champion Rybakina, defeated Sabalenka in the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champion Iga Swiatek.
Draper has been short of matches since Wimbledon so starting against a qualifier of lucky loser is a kind enough start. But he faces an enormous challenge to repeat last year’s semi-final run, particularly because he will likely have Sinner in the way in the quarter-finals. Before then, Draper may need to fight through a succession of young guns, with Gabriel Diallo and either Lorenzo Musetti or Flavio Cobolli possible opponents.
The other Brits in the draw have it hard from the start. Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal start against seeded opponents in Marta Kostyuk and Beatriz Haddad-Maia respectively. Cameron Norrie, who is out of form since reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals, takes on former Australian Open semi-finalist Sebastian Korda while Jacob Fearnley plays the experienced Roberto Bautista Agut and could play third seed Alexander Zverev in round two.
Novak Djokovic will begin his US Open campaign and quest for a 25th grand slam title without having played a match since his Wimbledon semi-final defeat to Jannik Sinner. At 38, Djokovic only cares about the grand slams but his opening draw is one of the matches of the first round. He will start against the 19-year-old American Learner Tien, who defeated Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open and also has hard-court wins over Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev in his first season on tour.
As seventh seed, Djokovic may need to defeat both Carlos Alcaraz and Sinner if he is to win the US Open. His draw means he is on Alcaraz’s side, while he has also landed in the same quarter as top American and fourth seed Taylor Fritz, last year’s runner-up.
It’s a tough draw, while Alcaraz doesn’t have it any kinder. The Spaniard starts against big-serving American Reilly Opelka and a fired-up Ben Shelton could pose a problem if he backs up his sixth seed and makes the quarter-finals.
