US Open 2024 Preview: Everything you need to know about the final Grand Slam of the year
The 2024 US Open is nearly here, with top ATP and WTA stars set to continue a hectic couple of months at the final Grand Slam tournament of the year.
And we, at Tennishead, have everything you need to know ahead of the 144th edition of the prestigious tournament:
When is the US Open 2024 taking place?
The main draw of singles action will get underway on Monday 26th August, and the tournament will conclude on Sunday 8th August with the men’s singles final at 2pm local time (7pm BST).
Men’s and women’s doubles will start on Wednesday 28th August, with juniors beginning on Sunday 1st September.
Wheelchair tennis is absent from the US Open this year due to the Paris Paralympics taking place at the same time, but the United States Tennis Association (USTA) are still providing compensation to those that would have been entered into the tournament.
Play on most days gets underway at 11am local time (4pm BST), with night sessions on show courts starting later at 7pm Eastern Daylight Time (Midnight BST).
Where is the US Open held?
Once again, the US Open will be held at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in New York, as it has done since 1978.
The Flushing Meadows complex contains a total of 33 courts, headlined by the largest tennis stadium in the world in form of the Arthur Ashe Stadium (23,771 seats), accompanied by the Louis Armstrong Stadium (14,000 seats) and Grandstand (8,125 seats).
.@BillieJeanKing 🤝 @AndreAgassi
A legendary moment inside Arthur Ashe Stadium pic.twitter.com/bGaAI8tfqG
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 20, 2024
Video reviews have been a big topic of conversation in recent months, and the US Open will be having the system in use on eight courts this year.
Who is playing at the US Open 2024?
Both singles draws feature 128 players, with the men’s field headlined by World No.1 Jannik Sinner.
Sinner is just coming off the back of winning the Cincinnati Masters title, but has been in the headlines for different reasons this week after it was announced that he had failed two anti-doping tests back in March.
The Italian was cleared of any wrongdoing after a plea of contamination was accepted, and will be wanting to put the ordeal behind him as one of the big favourites for the US Open title.
— Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) August 20, 2024
However, Sinner will face tough competition from main rivals Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.
Djokovic is the defending champion from last year, but has not played since winning the Olympic title in Paris after electing to skip warm-up events in Montreal and Cincinnati.
There is also the added element for Djokovic of trying to win a 25th Grand Slam title, as he looks to become the first singles player in history to do so.
Pretending to be in Queen. In Queens. đź—˝ pic.twitter.com/JoyP6NYHYe
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) August 21, 2024
Alcaraz has won the last two major tournaments, but showed some rare signs of frustration after destroying his racket in a surprise defeat to Gael Monfils in Cincinnati.
The Spaniard will be hoping to draw parallels from 2022, when he won his first major title at the US Open.
Some of the other top seeds at this year’s tournament include 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Grigor Dimitrov, Stefanos Tsitsipas and the returning Alex de Minaur.
There is also plenty of home players featuring at the US major tournament, with Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda and Frances Tiafoe all seeded.
Wildcards have been awarded to two former champions in Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem, as well as Frenchman Alexandre Muller, Australian Tristan Schoolkate, and American hopefuls Chris Eubanks, Zachary Svajda, 2023 US Open boys finalist Learner Tien and Matthew Forbes.
Thiem revealed earlier this year that he would retire at the end of this season, meaning that this will be the 2020 US Open champion’s final Grand Slam tournament.
2024 Main Draw Wild Cards are set 👇 pic.twitter.com/Le4Q2o5V2I
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 14, 2024
In the women’s singles draw, World No.1 and 2022 US Open champion Iga Swiatek is the top seed once again.
Swiatek is coming into the tournament in relatively mixed form, having settled for a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, before losing in the Cincinnati semi-finals to rival Aryna Sabalenka.
Two pretty cool people in our book 🤩 pic.twitter.com/1asHJ9p48y
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 22, 2024
Sabalenka went onto win the Cincinnati title, her first since the Australian Open back in January, and will be looking to go one better than her runner-up position at the US Open last year.
Coco Gauff is the third seed and defending US Open champion, but is coming into the New York major having won only one of her past three singles matches.
Other top seeds in the women’s field this year include Elena Rybakina, Jasmine Paolini, Jessica Pegula, Qinwen Zheng, Barbora Krejcikova, Maria Sakkari, Jelena Ostapenko, Danielle Collins, Daria Kasatkina, Emma Navarro and Madison Keys.
The aforementioned Collins has had the best season of her career this year, but the US Open will be her final major tournament ahead of her upcoming retirement at the end of 2024.
There are also multiple former champions in the draw including Emma Raducanu and Sloane Stephens, alongside wildcards Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu.
🗽 New York prep @EmmaRaducanu #BackTheBrits 🇬🇧 | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/EnIQ3sF8sb
— LTA (@the_LTA) August 23, 2024
Osaka and Andreescu feature in a wildcard list alongside Taylah Preston, Chloe Paquet, Toronto finalist Amanda Anisimova, as well as other American’s including McCartney Kessler, Iva Jovic and Alexa Noel.
READ MORE – US Open 2024: Popcorn matches from the women’s singles draw
How many ranking points are on offer at the US Open 2024?
As well as the prize of winning the US Open title on the line, there are also big ranking points on offer in New York over the next fortnight.
And here is a breakdown of this for the various different events:
| Event | W | F | SF | QF | Round of 16 | Round of 32 | Round of 64 | Round of 128 | Q | Q3 | Q2 | Q1 |
| Men’s singles | 2000 | 1300 | 800 | 400 | 200 | 100 | 50 | 10 | 30 | 16 | 8 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s doubles | 1200 | 720 | 360 | 180 | 90 | 0 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â – | |||||
| Women’s singles | 1300 | 780 | 430 | 240 | 130 | 70 | 10 | 40 | 30 | 20 | 2 | |
| Women’s doubles | 10 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â – | ||||||||||
Juniors
| Event | W | F | SF | QF | Round of 16 | Round of 32 | Q | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys’ singles | 1000 | 600 | 370 | 200 | 100 | 45 | 30 | 20 |
| Girls’ singles | ||||||||
| Boys’ doubles | 750 | 450 | 275 | 150 | 75 | — | — | — |
| Girls’ doubles | — | — | — |
What is the prize money for the US Open 2024?
The US Open will offer the largest total prize pot in tennis history this year of $75million, which is an increase of $10million from last year’s tournament.
Here is how singles and doubles players can get hold of a share of that:
| Event | W | F | SF | QF | R16 | R32 | R64 | R128 | Q3 | Q2 | Q1 |
| Singles | $3,600,000 | $1,800,000 | $1,000,000 | $530,000 | $325,000 | $215,000 | $140,000 | $100,000 | $52,000 | $38,000 | $25,000 |
| Doubles* | $750,000 | $375,000 | $190,000 | $110,000 | $63,000 | $40,000 | $25,000 | Â Â Â – | Â Â – | Â Â – | Â Â – |
| Mixed Doubles* | $200,000 | $100,000 | $50,000 | $27,500 | $16,500 | $10,000 | Â Â Â Â – | Â Â Â – | Â Â Â – | Â Â Â – | Â Â – |
*Per team
Last year’s US Open champions
Last year, Novak Djokovic beat Daniil Medvedev in straight sets to claim his fourth US Open and record 24th Grand Slam title.
In the women’s singles tournament, Coco Gauff concluded her incredible American summer with her first major title in New York after fighting back to beat Aryna Sabalenka.
As a result, Gauff became the first American teenager to win the US Open title since Serena Williams in 1999.
There was also history in the men’s doubles draw, as the Brit-American pairing of Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram became the first team in the Open Era to win three successive men’s doubles titles at the US Open.
Here are all of the winners and runners-ups from the 15 events at the US Open last year:
| Event | Champion | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| Men’s Singles | Novak Djokovic | Daniil Medvedev |
| Women’s Singles | Coco Gauff | Aryna Sabalenka |
| Men’s Doubles | Rajeev Ram & Joe Salisbury | Rohan Bopanna & Matthew Ebden |
| Women’s Doubles | Gabriela Dabrowski & Erin Routliffe | Vera Zvonareva & Laura Siegemund |
| Mixed Doubles | Anna Danilina & Harri Heliovaara | Jessica Pegula & Austin Krajicek |
| Wheelchair Men’s Singles | Alfie Hewett | Gordon Reid |
| Wheelchair Women’s Singles | Diede de Groot | Yui Kamiji |
| Quad Wheelchair Singles |  Sam Schroeder | Niels Vink |
| Wheelchair Men’s Doubles | Stephane Houdet & Takashi Sanada | Takuya Miki & Tokito Oda |
| Wheelchair Women’s Doubles | Yui Kamiji & Kgothatso Montjane | Diede de Groot & Jiske Griffioen |
| Quad Wheelchair Doubles | Sam Schroeder & Niels Vink | Andy Lapthorne & Donald Ramphadi |
| Boys’ Singles | Joao Fonseca | Learner Tien |
| Girls’ Singles | Katherine Hui | Tereza Valentova  |
| Boys’ Doubles | Max Dahlin & Oliver Ojakaar | Federico Bondioli & Joel Schwarzler |
| Girls’ Doubles | Mara Gae & Anastasiia Gureva | Sara Saito & Nanaka Sato |
How can you watch the US Open 2024?
You can watch the US Open on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland, or on Tennis Channel in the United States of America.
For more information on how to watch the New York major in your location, visit the official website here.
READ NEXT – US Open 2024: Popcorn matches from the men’s singles draw
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