There are now 22 withdrawals from the 2026 US Open across the men’s and women’s singles draws, with the opening round still underway at Flushing Meadows.

Main draw action began on Sunday 30 August at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, as the 146th edition of the event got under way. The volume of absences has continued a familiar pattern in 2026, with withdrawals again becoming a notable feature of major tournaments.

Of the 22 players who have stepped aside, 13 are men and nine are women. Twenty of those withdrawals were confirmed before the singles draws were released, while the latest developments came after play had already started.

Among the biggest names to pull out earlier were Jannik Sinner, Victoria Mboko, Joao Fonseca, Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper.

The newest ATP withdrawal was Casper Ruud, who had been set to open against Juan Manuel Cerundolo. The former world No 2 and three-time Grand Slam finalist withdrew on Sunday because of a back injury that forced him to retire at the Cincinnati Masters.

Marin Cilic then became the second prominent ATP player to exit after the tournament began. The 37-year-old Croatian pulled out before his scheduled first-round meeting with Andrey Rublev on Monday, also due to injury.

Cilic’s place in US Open history remains secure. He won his only Grand Slam title at the 2014 US Open, where he defeated Kei Nishikori in the final after beating Roger Federer in the semi-finals.

The withdrawal lists also show replacements across both draws, with several players coming in as lucky losers or direct alternates. In total, the early exits have reshaped both the men’s and women’s fields before the tournament has even reached its second round stage.

For the first time, a player born in the 2010s will appear in a Grand Slam main draw, and the US Open will also feature six other teenagers in the women’s field at Flushing Meadows.

Kristina Liutova is the youngest entrant in the 2026 draw, with the group also including one 17-year-old, two 18-year-olds and three 19-year-olds. Among them are players who have already collected major trophies, climbed inside the top five, or are moving toward the top 10.

Here is a look at the seven youngest women in the 2026 US Open main draw.

Tereza Valentova, 19 years and six months, arrives after reaching the Japan Women’s Open final in October 2025 and the third round of the Australian Open at the start of 2026. The Czech, who has been as high as No 42, won both girls’ titles at the 2024 French Open and was runner-up at the 2023 US Open. She opens against 24th seed Anastasia Potapova.

Mirra Andreeva, 19 years and four months, made her WTA debut at 15 in 2022 and went on to win the French Open this April. Now at a career-high No 5, she faces Janice Tjen. Her US Open record remains modest, with second-round exits in 2023 and 2024 and a third-round loss last year.

Alina Korneeva, 19 years and two months, begins against Madison Keys in her first US Open appearance. The Russian reached round two at the 2024 Australian Open as a 16-year-old qualifier and is now ranked No 67.

Iva Jovic, 18 years and eight months, reached the second round at both the 2024 and 2025 US Opens. She later won her first WTA Tour singles title in Guadalajara, was runner-up in Brisbane at the start of 2026 and followed that with a quarter-final run in Melbourne. She is now at a career-high No 14 and plays Magdalena Frech.

Lilli Tagger, 18 years and six months, made her WTA Tour debut in October 2025, reached the Jiangxi Open final and later won the Prague Open in July. The French Open girls’ singles champion is now No 48 and meets Tamara Korpatsch.

Thea Frodin, 17 years and eight months, makes her Grand Slam debut as a wildcard against No 2 seed Elena Rybakina after reaching the Australian Open girls’ semi-finals. She is ranked No 580.

Liutova, 16 years and six months, became the youngest tour-level women’s singles champion since Coco Gauff in 2019 when she won the Memphis Classic in July 2026 after qualifying. Now No 125, she also came through qualifying for her first Grand Slam main draw.

Aryna Sabalenka has made clear that she does not intend to suppress the emotions that have long defined her on court. The world No 1 said she will keep “scream”ing and “throw the racket” if it helps keep her inner aggression from “destroying me inside.”

Speaking to Andy Roddick on his podcast, Sabalenka explained that she once tried to model herself on a calmer approach. She experimented with breathing exercises and counting to 10, but said that effort to remain controlled left her feeling worse over time.

“I would say that at the beginning, I was really trying to follow in the steps,” she told Andy Roddick on his podcast. “Like doing the breathing exercises, like counting up to 10 or all the way around, and I was just trying to be like calm and in control.

“But what I figured, after like I don’t know how many years on tour, probably I spent too much time trying to be perfect, and that it was like really destroying inside of me, destroying myself inside.

“And I was just trying to figure it. ‘Okay, who am I?’ Like, should I be that way, or should I just sometimes, like, throw this racket, pay the fine but be free on court and feel like okay I’m ready to go.

“So I don’t have this aggression that was destroying me inside and I can just focus on the game and I just decided that well if I have to yell, if I have to scream, if I have to throw the racket, I will do it as long as it’s in control, as long as I’m not hurting anyone.”

Sabalenka said that approach has helped her, with the 28-year-old entering the US Open as the favourite to defend her crown. When asked about the pressure that comes with top-level tennis, she said she tries to “shift my focus on things that I can control.”

“I mean, I feel like at some point you just agreed to deal with that pressure all the time,” she said when reflecting on her choice of career. “So it just stays at the back of your mind and that’s it.

“You’re not trying to fight it. I feel like we’re all dealing with different sorts of pressure in our lives. It can be sport-related. It can be whatever related. It’s not necessary that it’s only in tennis, in sport, you’re dealing with pressure.

“So it’s just part of our lives, and I’m just trying to shift my focus on things that I can control and just trying to get better every day.”