Defending champion and world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz has been handed a tricky draw at the 2023 US Open as the men’s singles draw was was released on Thursday, officially setting the stage of the main draw for the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The 2022 winner, who heads the ATP field in New York, could likely face Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals yet again, a year after that epic night on the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic, who will mark his return to the competition for the first time since missing out on the historic opportunity to script a Calendar Slam in 2021, anchors the bottom half of the draw and is seeded second.
Alcaraz, who will be aiming for his third major of his career, second in the calendar year after Wimbledon haul and heads to New York on the back of a run to the final in Cincinatti, will begin his title defence against Dominik Koepfer. The 20-year-old also has a possible run in with 16th seed Cameron Norrie in the fourth round.
2021 US Open champion Medvedev, who joins Alcaraz in the same half, will open his campaign against Attila Balazs before setting up a likely clash against Canadian Open finalist Alex de Minaur in the fourth round. His friend Andrey Rublev is a potential quarterfinal opponent, but the young Russian will have to overcome Hubert Hurkacz, who reached the semi-final in Cincinnati last week.
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Djokovic, who is a three-time champion in New York, will face Frenchman Alexandre Muller in the first round. The 36-year-old heads to US Open on the back of stellar title-winning run in Cincinnati, where he dropped only one set, en route to his 39th Masters 1000 haul in the final against Alcaraz.
The Serb is seeded to face Laslo Djere in the third round and 2021 semi-finalist Felix Auger-Aliassime in the pre-quarters. Seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas is also part of the same quarter, but to ensure a possible Djokovic clash, the Greek will have to overcome American Taylor Fritz in the fourth round. Tsitsipas will open his campaign against former World No. 3 Milos Raonic.
2022 runner-up Casper Ruud finds himself in the same half of the draw, where he is seeded to face fourth seed Holger Rune in the quarter-finals.
