The withdrawal of Jannik Sinner from the US Open raises fresh questions about the challenging schedule and its demands on players’ fitness.
The world number one has withdrawn from the last Grand Slam event of the season as he is unable to overcome a right knee complaint that has hampered him since victory at Wimbledon, with Carlos Alcaraz the only player in the sport’s premier rivalry to have featured in all four major events this year.
Former ATP winner Ryan Harrison thinks that Sinner’s position highlights a wider problem in the sport. “When you are that good, every time you enter an event you have to be expecting to play six or seven matches. When you are playing 50, 60, 70 matches in the first eight months of the year, is that too much tennis to have these guys healthy throughout the whole season?” Harrison questioned on Sky Sports.
Annabel Croft alluded to the non-stop nature of the tour, and Harrison pointed to slow courts and balls creating longer rallies that are proving to be more taxing for players.
Sinner is one of seven men so far to have withdrawn from the US Open, taking the total number of Grand Slam withdrawals in 2026 to 33 – one more than in 2025.
There may still be more withdrawals before the start of the US Open on August 30.
