The 2026 US Open is still more than five weeks away, but the WTA withdrawal list has already grown to five as two more players will join Victoria Mboko on the sidelines.
The singles main draw of this year’s season-ending Grand Slam gets underway on Sunday, 30 August at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and many of the top stars are still to kick off their North American hard-court swing.
But four players have already been forced to withdraw from the Flushing Meadows event due to injury and that list will no doubt get longer in the coming weeks, especially with a couple of stars already struggling with knocks.
World No 32 Hayley Baptiste will miss her home Grand Slam as the American suffered a horrific injury during the second round of the French Open as she injured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus.
It was a tough blow for the 24-year-old as she was enjoying the best season of her career, as she climbed to a career-high No 25 in the WTA Rankings after reaching the semi-finals of the Madrid Open.
US Open News
The injury brought a premature end to her season, ruling her out of Wimbledon and the US Open.
Mboko is also out with a knee injury as she sustained medial collateral ligament damage to her left knee during a fall at the Queen’s Club Championship in June.
After being forced to withdraw from Wimbledon, there were initially hopes she would return ahead of the US Open, but the Canadian’s name was missing when US Open organisers released the entry list for the 2026 tournament.
World No 99 Varvara Gracheva was also a confirmed absentee as the Frenchwoman also has a torn ACL as she picked up the injury in March.
Veronika Erjavec, Anastasia Zakharova and Kaitlin Quevedo were the last three players to make the cut as they were bumped up following Baptiste, Mboko and Gracheva’s setbacks.
Latest Withdrawal
Since the release of the official entry list, Ajla Tomljanovic has become the latest player to pull out of the tournament.
The Australian struggled with a knee injury during the clay-court season, but it was thought that she recovered as she played a full grass-court campaign, reaching the semi-final of the Libema Open.
However, her last match was at Wimbledon where she lost in the first round.
Germany’s Ella Seidel has earned a direct entry as a result of Tomljanovic’s withdrawal.
US Open WTA Withdrawal List
- Victoria Mboko
- Hailey Baptiste
- Varvara Gracheva
- Ajla Tomljanovic
British Concerns
British No 4 Sonay Kartal was not on the main entry list, but she will also not feature at the US Open as she has withdrawn from the alternate list, ruling her out of the qualifying competition as well.
Kartal is struggling with a stress fracture in her back and has not played since retiring from her round of 16 match at the Indian Wells Open in March.
She was ranked No 56 at the time, but has since slipped to No 122.
There are also major concerns over Emma Raducanu as the 2021 US Open champion’s last match was the final of the Queen’s Club Championship on 14 June as she was forced to withdraw from the Nottingham Open, Eastbourne Open and Wimbledon due to a stress fracture in her right leg.
Her comeback has been pushed back as she also won’t feature at the upcoming Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open.
Although her name is still on the US Open entry list, it remains to be seen if she will play given she will likely have to start the year-end Grand Slam without any matches on hard courts under her belt.
