NEW DELHI: After missing the
US Open
three of the previous four years,
Rafael Nadal
, the four-time champion, was one of the players on the main draw entrance lists for the 2024 tournament that were made public on Tuesday.
The Spanish left-hander, 38, will enter the field for the Flushing Meadows fortnight, which starts on August 26, with a protected ranking of ninth.
The 22-time
Grand Slam champion
Rafael Nadal defeated Leo Borg 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday in his first singles match since May 27 at the Nordea Open. Nadal hadn't competed since falling to Alexander Zverev on the red clay of Paris in the opening round.
Since winning his fourth New York hard-court title in 2019, Nadal has only participated in one US Open, in 2022, as per AFP.
He was one of 14 players to secure a protected rating and a berth in the main event.
In addition to winning the US Open in 2013, 2017, and 2019, Rafael Nadal completed a career Grand Slam in 2010 in the event. After making it to the fourth round in 2022, he has only participated in two Slams and has never advanced past the second round.
The men's and women's fields are led by world number one
Jannik Sinner
, an Italian who won the Australian Open this year, and top-ranked
Iga Swiatek
, who won the French Open in June for the third time in a row.
There are also two world number twos,
Novak Djokovic
and
Coco Gauff
, who are the defending champions.
After winning the French Open and
Wimbledon
titles,
Carlos Alcaraz
of Spain, the 2022 US Open champion, has the potential to become the first player to win both the US Open and both trophies in the same year since Rafael Nadal in 2010.
Aryna Sabalenka, the reigning Australian Open champion, Barbora Krejcikova, the Wimbledon champion, and the 2023 US Open runner-up, who was sidelined by injury, are all in the lineup.
Due to injury, American Reilly Opelka, who is also entered by a protected ranking, will compete in his first Grand Slam event since 2022.
Sloane Stephens and Emma Raducanu on the women's side and Daniil Medvedev on the men's were the other three former US Open champions that were listed in the main event.
Raducanu qualified for the US Open and the world rankings' top 100 thanks to her run to the fourth round of Wimbledon.
Past US Open champions Andy Murray, Dominic Thiem, and Stan Wawrinka for the men, and Bianca Andreescu, Angelique Kerber, and Naomi Osaka for the women, did not make the direct acceptance list.
Due to injuries sustained by Andreescu, maternity leaves taken by Osaka and Kerber, and the exhaustion of their protected rankings for majors earlier this year, all three of these ladies missed the US Open last year.
On the women's alternate list, Osaka is ranked sixth. Wawrinka is the men's seventh alternate, followed by Murray (26th) and Thiem (36th), who has stated that he intends to retire after 2024.
In addition, the US Open field will consist of 16 wild cards, 8 men's and 8 women's qualifiers, and 16 qualifiers each for the men and women.
English (US) ·