The US Open is the calendar's fourth and final Grand Slam, contested on hard courts at Flushing Meadows in Queens across the back half of summer — the 2026 edition runs August 30 to September 13. Founded in 1881 as the U.S. National Championships, it holds a distinction no other major can claim: it has been played on grass and then clay before settling permanently on hardcourt in 1978, the year the tournament moved to its current home. It closes out the North American swing that builds through the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open.
What sets it apart is the volume — literally. Night sessions inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest tennis arena in the world, turn the event into part match, part spectacle, with planes overhead, a partisan New York crowd, and a roof that since 2016 keeps play moving through late-summer storms. The medium-paced hardcourt rewards first-strike tennis and big serving more than Melbourne's slower surface does, and the fortnight's heat has historically been as much an opponent as anyone across the net.
The recent honor roll reads like the sport's transition of power. Carlos Alcaraz took the 2025 title over Jannik Sinner in four sets, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Sinner had claimed his maiden New York crown a year earlier, beating Taylor Fritz in straight sets for the first US Open men's title by an Italian. Before that, Novak Djokovic edged Daniil Medvedev in 2023 for the last of his record major haul.
Heading into 2026, the throughline is the Sinner–Alcaraz duopoly that has annexed the men's draw, with the title last changing hands between exactly those two — the matchup that now defines the back end of every Slam.