Draw full of traps for Alcaraz and Jódar at the US Open

The US Open 2026 will experience one of its first important moments this Thursday, the draw for the individual draws. The main favorites for the title will know, starting at 6:00 p.m. Spanish peninsular time, their roadmap in a last Grand Slam of the year marked by the loss of Jannik Sinner and the reappearance of Carlos Alcaraz.

The Murcian will seek to revalidate the title won last year, although This time he does not start as the top favorite after a long inactivity of more than four months due to the wrist injury he suffered during the last Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell-Trofeo Conde de Godó.

Second seed, Alcaraz needs a friendly draw in its first rounds to get into the rhythm of the competition and face the second week with the greatest possible guarantees. To do this, he must avoid very tough bones to crack on the fast track such as Matteo Berrettini, Hubert Hurkacz, Karen Khachanov, Denis Shapovalov or his executioner in the year 2024, Botic Van de Zandschulp.

In the third round the time would come to begin to see each other with seeds located between 25th and 32nd, with Alejandro Tabilo, Arthur Rinderknech and Alexander Blockx as the most notable nameswhile in the second round he could meet players of the stature of Lorenzo Musetti, Learner Tien or Brandon Nakashima and in the quarterfinals with Flavio Cobolli, Alex de Miñaur, Daniil Medvedev or Ben Shelton. All this before a few hypothetical semifinals against Novak Djokovic or Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Nor will Rafa Jódar’s path be free of obstacleswhich arrives in New York in top form after a great American tour in which it reached the final in Washington and the semifinals in Montreal.

The Madrid native, who will start as seed number 12, could meet in the third round with Brandon Nakashima, Jakub Mensik, Jiri Lehecka or Tommy Paulamong others, and in the round of 16 with a rival from the top 10. Without a doubt, a litmus test for the great sensation of the season, who aspires to make history and qualify for the ATP Finals in his first year as a professional.

In the absence of the preliminary phase being completed this Thursday, Dani Mérida, Jaume Munar, Martín Landaluce and Pablo Carreño will be the other Spanish representatives in the final draw of a tournament that is more open than ever and in which Alexander Zverev will start as the first seed.