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The 2026 US Open Is Felix Auger-Aliassime’s Chance He Has To Take
Felix Auger-Aliassime sets up a serve to Jannik Sinner in the Cincinnati Open men’s quarterfinals match between Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason. Sinner won 6-0, 6-2. | Source: Lastwordonsports.com - Jim Smith
There is a version of Felix Auger-Aliassime that has been discussed, predicted, and occasionally glimpsed for the better part of five years. A player who can serve with authority, dictate from the baseline, absorb pressure in best-of-five sets, and take down the best players in the world when the moment demands it. A player who was always going to figure it out eventually, who just needed the right combination of form, confidence, and circumstances to arrive at the same time. That version of Auger-Aliassime has never won a Grand Slam.
The field at Flushing Meadows in 2026 is not just open. It is unusually, almost unnervingly open. Jannik Sinner, the World No. 1 and Wimbledon champion, is absent with a knee injury, making this his first absence from a major since 2019. Carlos Alcaraz is the defending champion and returns as the second seed, but he has not played a single competitive match since suffering a wrist injury at the Barcelona Open in April . Jack Draper, who was among the more dangerous floaters in the draw, has pulled out. Holger Rune is injured. Alexander Zverev is the top seed and has won Roland Garros this year, but a tournament he has reached the final of without winning tends to reveal its own complications at the business end. The chaos at the top of the men’s game this summer has thinned the field in ways that do not happen at the US Open very often.
Into that gap walks a 25-year-old Canadian seeded third, coming off a career-high ranking of World No. 4, who went to the Wimbledon quarterfinal two months ago and pushed a five-time Wimbledon champion to a fifth-set tiebreak on Centre Court.
What He Has Actually Done to Earn This
Auger-Aliassime’s 2025 second half was the best tennis of his career. He won 24 of 31 matches across a stretch that started with a quarterfinal in Cincinnati and ran through a US Open semifinal, a Shanghai quaterfinal, the Brussels title, the Paris Masters final, and a semifinal at the ATP Finals. Five of his seven losses in that window came against Sinner or Alcaraz. The run pushed him to a career-high ranking of No. 5 in November and made him, on paper, the third-best player in the world on merit at the time. He then walked into 2026, won his ninth career ATP title in Montpellier in February to become the most decorated Canadian man in the Open Era, and reached the final in Rotterdam before being beaten 6-3 6-2 by a very sharp Alex de Minaur.
At the Grand Slam level in 2026, he went 8-3 across eleven matches. At Wimbledon, seeded third for the first time at a Major since his career began, he pushed Novak Djokovic to a fifth-set tiebreak in a five-and-a-quarter-hour Centre Court quarterfinal, losing 7-6 3-6 6-3 6-7 7-6 in one of the best matches played at the All-England Club this year.
The summer since Wimbledon has been messier. He pulled out of the Canadian Open due to a back issue, leaving him without a match for more than a month after his Wimbledon quarterfinal exit. He returned at Cincinnati, beat Tsitsipas and Cerundolo in straight sets to reach the fourth round, then was beaten 6-3 6-4 by Frances Tiafoe, the 23rd seed. It was not a bad loss in isolation but it was a reminder that his level, even when good, still has a ceiling that gets tested by aggressive players who take the ball early and give him no time.
That inconsistency is the central tension in every conversation about Auger-Aliassime. The talent is real and the results have improved dramatically. The ceiling, when someone cracks it, still feels lower than it should for a player of his profile.
Mar 23, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) serves against Lorenzo Musetti (ITA)(not pictured) on day six of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Why This Draw Is Genuinely Inviting
Auger-Aliassime opens against Rinky Hijikata, then could face Karen Khachanov in the second round. The third round brings Ignacio Buse, the 32nd seed, before a potential fourth-round match against Learner Tien. His projected quarterfinal is a rematch against Flavio Cobolli, who beat him in four sets at Roland Garros earlier this year, before a projected semifinal against top seed Alexander Zverev.
That is not an easy draw. But it is a navigable one for a player of his level, and critically, it keeps him away from Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic until the final at the earliest. The half of the draw he has been placed in does not have a player who is clearly better than him on current form. Zverev has been excellent this year, but Auger-Aliassime beat him in New York last year as a 25th seed and will arrive this time with the weight of a third seed and a full year more of experience at this level.
Last year, seeded 25th, he upset the third seed, Zverev, in the third round and then beat eighth seed Alex de Minaur over four hours to reach the semifinals. He did it without the pressure of expectation, without anything to defend, rolling through a draw as a player with nothing to lose. This year the dynamic is reversed. He is the anchor of his quarter. Players will be preparing specifically to beat him. The path however is about as manageable as a US Open draw gets for a third seed.
Alcaraz, for his part, is starting on the other side and faces a draw where every match will be a stress test after five months without competitive tennis. This will mark his first singles appearance in over four months, following the wrist injury he suffered at the Barcelona Open. Whatever Alcaraz is capable of producing at his peak, he is not at his peak right now, and Flushing Meadows does not reward rust with mercy.
ThereFelix AugerAliassimeJannik SinnerCincinnati OpenAugLindner Family Tennis CenterMasonSinnerSourceLastwordonsports.comAuger
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