Aryna Sabalenka is trying to become the first women's singles player to win three straight US Open championships since Serena Williams did it from 2012 to 2014, and the whole tournament is built around that kind of hierarchy: a top-ranked player trying to hold the line while everyone else scrambles beneath her. Sabalenka, the world's top-ranked player, is one of seven former champions entered this year, and two wild cards went to 46-year-old Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens. The draw is crowded with names, but the structure is simple. A few stars get the spotlight. Everyone else has to fight through it.
Who Gets the Privilege
Sabalenka is the two-time defending champion, but she hasn't won a Grand Slam this year and is hanging on to her No. 1 ranking by a thread. Anything less than a deep run at the US Open could cost her her nearly 100-straight-weeks run at the top. That’s the pressure of the ranking machine in plain view: one bad stretch, and the throne starts wobbling. Elena Rybakina already has a hard-court Grand Slam title this year after winning the Australian Open, but she has never advanced past the fourth round at the US Open. The system loves its champions, but it also loves reminding them that status can vanish fast.
Coco Gauff is due for a championship run in New York. Since winning the title in 2023, she has been beaten in the fourth round in each of the last two tournaments. Strong finishes at the Miami Open and in Toronto have her primed for another strong showing, especially if her forehand and serve cooperate. The language of expectation hangs over her like a directive. Win, advance, perform. The tournament doesn't care about anything else.
The Ladder Beneath the Stars
Jessica Pegula, at age 32, is the oldest woman currently ranked in the top 10 and has played her best tennis on hard courts despite losing to Diana Shnaider in the round of 16 in Toronto. She has made the finals and semifinals in the past two years and is expected to repeat those performances in 2026. That expectation says plenty about how the sport sorts people: the top 10 get treated like a permanent class, even when results wobble.
Iga Świątek, known more for her clay court prowess, beat Rybakina in the Montreal final and could be the favorite to dethrone Sabalenka. The former No. 1 is attempting to keep alive her streak of winning at least one Grand Slam title, which she's done each of the prior four years. Another streak. Another metric. Another reminder that the game is measured in titles, rankings and the constant pressure to keep producing for the machine.
Wild Cards and the Gatekeepers
The wild card Alexandra Eala, 21, from the Philippines, has burst onto the scene in the past year and is now firmly in the top 20 heading into the US Open. Her lefty forehand is described as something to be reckoned with. Amanda Anisimova could have been the choice for the wild card mention, since she has a US Open finals appearance to her credit. Even here, access runs through gatekeeping. Wild cards are handed out. The tournament decides who gets a door opened and who keeps knocking.
Venus Williams, a two-time champion, and Sloane Stephens, who won the tournament in 2017, got the two wild cards. Seven former champions are in the field. The names are famous, the hierarchy is fixed, and the whole setup still depends on who the organizers choose to elevate. The rest of the field has to live with the brackets, the rankings and the narrow path upward. That's the order of things. Clean, profitable, and built to keep the top looking inevitable.