US Open 2026: Whos who as Argentine tennis stars take over New York

The 2026 US Open, the last tennis major of the season, is nearly upon us, with action set to begin at the courts in Flushing Meadows, New York, on Sunday.  There’ll be no shortage of Albiceleste representation, with 13 Argentine players set to appear, 11 on the men’s singles draw and two in the women’s. With the draws announced on Thursday, and the scheduling yet to come, let’s take a look at who each of them will be facing. On the men’s side, it’ll be once again Francisco Cerúndolo leading the ranks. The 28-year-old reached the tournament as the 25th-ranked player in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings, still Argentina’s top-listed player. However, his run up to the tournament has been anything but stellar. Cerúndolo has won just a single match since claiming his second title of the season at the Queen’s ATP 500 tournament in June, including first-round defeats at Wimbledon and the ATP Masters 1000 at Toronto and Cincinnati. He even went viral for an outburst during a practice session at Cincinnati with Brazilian teenager João Fonseca.  “I can’t play. I swear I want to go back to Buenos Aires. I don’t want to play anymore. I hate [the US hard court swing] with all my heart,” he was caught venting. The US Open is comfortably Cerúndolo’s worst grand slam, having never made it out of the second round. It’s a trend he’ll aim to change, perhaps taking inspiration from his doubles antics at Toronto’s doubles tournament, where he and long-time friend Tomás Etcheverry reached the semifinals, beating top-ranked couple Henry Patten and Harri Heliövaara. He’ll take on Austrian Filip Misolic (530). Man-of-the-hour Tirante faces a challenge Perhaps no Argentine player reaches this year’s US Open in as good form as Thiago Tirante. The 25-year-old from La Plata started this season ranked outside the top 100, but he’s had the best run of his career, reaching the last major of the year with a career-best ranking of 42.  Moreover, he comes fresh off deep pushes at Toronto, where he reached the round of 16 and Cincinnati, where he not only made the quarters but also defeated 24-time grand slam winner Novak Djokovic (5), marking the first win by an Argentine player over the former world number one in a decade, after Juan Martín del Potro at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. “It was very special. It was my first time facing Novak—I’d never even practiced with him before,” Tirante said after the win. “Facing him today at a major tournament like this and coming away with the win, I’m extremely happy.” He’ll face a tough challenge in the always tricky 38-year-old Adrian Mannarino (67) Etcheverry and Baez get challenging draws Two other Argentine players who’ll be aiming to change their recent luck at Flushing Meadows will be Tomás Etcheverry (31) and Sebastián Báez (50). Like his long-time friend Cerúndolo, Etcheverry has been winless for a while. He has not won a set since July 23 in the second round at Kitzbühel, a clay tournament, and has, in fact, not won a grand slam match since the Australian Open in January. Despite being the second-best-ranked Argentine in the men’s draw, luck didn’t fall Etcheverry’s way, setting him up with the always challenging Czech Vit Kopriva (69), who took him to three sets in their only meeting at Rio earlier this year. Báez’s form looked to be on an upswing in form after back-to-back second-round losses in Toronto and Cincinnati, reaching the Cancún Challenger final. However, he had to withdraw from his clash against countryman Juan Manuel Cerúndolo in Winston-Salem on Wednesday, raising concerns about his fitness. The draw was quite unkind, with the seven-time ATP Tour title winner setting him up in the first round against in-form United States player Brandon Nakashima (17), who reached the final in Toronto and the semis at Cincinnati. Mixed luck elsewhere The rest of the Argentine contingent for the men’s singles tournament saw mixed luck in the draw. Mariano Navone (48), who’ll be representing Argentina in September against Turkey in the Davis Cup, will aim to repeat Tirante’s magic as he matches up with Djokovic in the first round. Juan Manuel, the younger of the Cerúndolo brothers and world No. 51, faces a tough first-round test against Norway’s Casper Ruud (20). Meanwhile, Román Burruchaga (59), who’s set to make his US Open debut, will open against Russia’s Karen Khachanov (49). Camilo Ugo Carabelli (76) will take on Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff (44) and could set up an Argentine duel against Francisco Cerúndolo with a win. Argentina Open 2024-winner Facundo Díaz Acosta (82) faces France’s Quentin Halys (52).  The last two Argentines who were able to make it directly to the main draw, Marco Trungelliti (83) and Francisco Comesaña (123), will face off against China’s Juncheng Shang (227) and Italy’s Flavio Cobolli (6), respectively. Sierra and Podoroska in the women’s draw For the second time this year, Argentina will have two players in the women’s singles draw, with Solana Sierra (ranked 87 in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings) and Nadia Podoroska, ranked world No. 447 and entering on a protected ranking. Sierra is coming off the best year of her career, with big wins at Roland Garros against Brit Emma Raducanu and Italian Jasmine Paolini, and reaching a WTA 1000 fourth round for the first time in April at Madrid. She’ll face a difficult challenge, taking on 2019 semifinalist and current world No. 9 Elina Svitolina from Ukraine. Podoroska got a better draw, facing off against Swiss Simona Waltert (85).