For the first time ever, more women than men make up tennis’ top-10 highest-paid players over the past 12 months, according to Forbes.

The sport’s leading earners collected a combined $333m (£245m) over the period, which is 17% higher than the $285m (£210m recorded in 2025) and only slightly below the $343m (£252.5m) total from 2020.

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz remain the financial heavyweights despite both missing key Grand Slam events in 2026. Sinner is absent from the 2026 US Open, while Alcaraz was injured for the French Open and Wimbledon, yet the two still sit at the top of the earnings table.

Serena Williams, now 44 and away from the sport for nearly four years, is still in the top three thanks largely to her commercial portfolio. She is listed ahead of Novak Djokovic, with off-court income continuing to drive her position on the ranking.

World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka and two-time Grand Slam winner Coco Gauff complete the top five. Gauff’s value away from the court remains especially strong.

Serena’s wider financial profile remains striking. Forbes reports her net worth at $400m (£295m), making her the world’s richest woman to have built her fortune primarily as an athlete. She has been with Nike for 23 years and also has deals with Heineken, Factor, and Ro, where she became the face of a campaign focused on GLP-1 weight loss medications.

That commercial strength helps explain why she leads all players in off-court earnings at $40m (£29.5m). Alcaraz follows on $38m (£28m), with Sinner next on $35m (£26m).

At the other end of the scale, Elena Rybakina and Alexander Zverev post more modest off-court figures of $6m (£4.4m) and $5m (£3.7m). Qinwen Zheng also stands out for endorsement income despite dropping outside the world’s top 100 after elbow surgery just over a year ago.

Naomi Osaka does not appear in the list, while Alex Eala, although highly marketable, is still some way from breaking through into this group. The 21-year-old is nearing $2m in on-court prize money this year, but remains outside the top 10 for now.

Six American men arrive at the 2026 US Open seeded inside the draw, but Mats Wilander sees Taylor Fritz as the player with the clearest path to the title on home soil.

The United States has waited a long time for a men’s singles champion at this event. Andy Roddick remains the last American to win the trophy, doing so 23 years ago after defeating Juan Carlos Ferrero in the 2003 final.

There is renewed optimism this year that the wait may end. Ben Shelton leads the American seeds at Flushing Meadows as the world No. 8, with Fritz next at No. 9. Frances Tiafoe follows at No. 11, then Learner Tien at No. 14, Brandon Nakashima at No. 16 and Tommy Paul at No. 20.

Among that group, Fritz has the strongest recent US Open resume. He was runner-up to Jannik Sinner in 2024, while Tiafoe has reached the semifinals twice and Shelton has made one run to the last four.

Tiafoe also arrives with momentum after finishing runner-up at the Cincinnati Open, and Wilander acknowledged the 28-year-old’s upside. Even so, the Swede placed Fritz ahead of him when weighing who is most likely to turn potential into a title.

“Tiafoe probably has the most potential, but I think Taylor Fritz plays at a very high level, even when he plays poorly. And I think that’s what sets him apart from the others,” the Swede told Eurosport.

“He doesn’t give you the match. He fights until the end. And if he plays well, he has all the weapons at his disposal. So for me, the American favourite is Taylor Fritz. Tien is just a step away. Ben Shelton is a surprise; he can beat anyone.”

Even so, the American men are not the leading names in the field. Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic are all rated ahead of them.

“In my opinion, despite his recent disappointing results, Zverev is the number one favourite, although not by a huge margin,” he said. Djokovic and Alcaraz are probably in second place, and then there are players like Fritz, Ben Shelton, and others. But Zverev, yes, is much stronger than he’s shown in the last two weeks.”

Zverev enters as top seed after Jannik Sinner withdrew because of injury, though he lost early in both the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open. Alcaraz’s form is also under scrutiny, with the US Open set to be his first singles event since he injured his wrist in April. Djokovic, meanwhile, has played just one match since Wimbledon, a second-round loss in Cincinnati.

Patrick Mouratoglou has raised the most intriguing question around Carlos Alcaraz’s return to the US Open: not how high the Spaniard can fly, but how far his level can dip and still hold up over a best-of-five match.

Alcaraz arrives in New York as the defending champion after more than four months away with a wrist injury. The 23-year-old has not appeared on the ATP Tour since hurting himself at the Barcelona Open in mid-April. There were doubts he would even make it to Flushing Meadows after withdrawing from Cincinnati, yet he is in the draw and ready to begin his title defense.

He has already eased himself back into competition this week by partnering Serena Williams in the mixed doubles event. After two shortened matches in that revamped format, he appears to be fit enough to start the tournament. Even so, questions about his match sharpness remain.

Mouratoglou, Serena’s former coach, said on Instagram that he will be watching one thing above all in Alcaraz’s opening round. He said, “Is he ready to win the US Open? 99% of players cannot play consistently at the very high level throughout a five-set match. The question that I will ask myself while watching Carlos Alcaraz’s first round is: how low is his low level?

“Because his high will always be crazy high. The question is, how low is his low, but also how long does the low last? Is it going to be one full set or just one game and then, right after, he’s going to break back, for example?

“So that will be very important. If he checks out for long periods and is very much up and down, then we can worry.”

Alcaraz will not have much time to settle in. He opens against Roman Safiullin, who has climbed more than 100 places this season to No 99 after returning from injury. Safiullin reached the fourth round at Wimbledon this year and took Novak Djokovic to four sets, while he also beat Alcaraz in straight sets at the 2023 Paris Masters.

Their head-to-head stands at 1-1, and Alcaraz says he is simply grateful to be back. He said earlier this week, “ After a couple of months recovering from my injury, I miss everything. I miss this place, I miss the crowd, I miss the ball kids. I think I couldn’t have started at a better place than here, so I feel very grateful. I’m just happy.”