NEW YORK — The entry lists for the US Open have been settled for more than a week. The wild cards have not, and they are now the only part of the field still genuinely in play. The United States Tennis Association published its main-draw entry lists on July 21, built on the ATP and WTA rankings of July 20. The cutoff landed at No. 101 in the men’s draw and No. 102 in the women’s.
Everyone below those lines needs either a qualifying run or an invitation. A handful of those invitations are already gone, and they went to college players. The USTA staged its American Collegiate Player Wildcard Playoffs at its National Campus in Orlando in June, a four-player invitational restricted to American citizens who compete in the college game.
Sebastian Gorzny, a recent University of Texas graduate and the reigning Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I men’s senior player of the year, beat SMU’s Trevor Svajda in the final to take the men’s singles main-draw place. Reese Brantmeier of North Carolina beat Tennessee’s Katrina Scott to claim the women’s.
“I was relieved to get the win, and I don’t really think it’s going to sink in that I’m playing in the U.S. Open until I get there and actually step on court,” Gorzny said in a statement released by Texas Athletics.
Svajda and Scott, as the beaten finalists, received wild cards into the respective qualifying draws. Two doubles teams also came through the event: Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin of Ohio State on the men’s side, and Auburn’s DJ Bennett and Ava Esposito on the women’s. Six wild cards in total, all decided before the North American hard-court swing had begun.
Two more main-draw places will be settled on court over the next fortnight. The US Open Wild Card Challenge, which opened July 13, awards one men’s and one women’s main-draw spot to the American who accumulates the most ranking points across a defined window of hard-court events. The women’s challenge closes August 9.
The men’s runs a week longer, through August 16. Americans who would otherwise earn direct entry are ineligible, and if the leader qualifies by ranking anyway, the place rolls down to the next eligible player. Amanda Anisimova and Learner Tien both won the challenge in 2024 and are now inside the world’s top 20.
A further pair of places are spoken for by agreement rather than merit. The USTA, Tennis Australia and the French federation operate a reciprocal system under which each major’s host nation receives two wild cards at the other two events to distribute as it chooses. Wimbledon does not participate. That leaves the discretionary pile, and the queue for it is long.
Jack Draper, a US Open semifinalist in 2024 and seeded fifth in New York a year ago, has slipped to No. 147 after a season broken up by arm and knee problems. He sits on the alternate list with more than 40 players ahead of him. Grigor Dimitrov, No. 142, reached the fourth round at Wimbledon this year but withdrew from Los Cabos this week after tests confirmed bursitis in his leg. Stan Wawrinka, three times a major champion and retiring at the end of the season, is No. 118 and absent from the entry list altogether. Gael Monfils is also in his final year.
The American cases are their own category. Sofia Kenin, a former world No. 4 and Australian Open champion, is close enough to the cut that withdrawals alone could carry her in as an alternate. Sloane Stephens, who won the title here in 2017, is ranked outside the top 300 and playing a WTA 250 in Memphis on a wild card. Taylor Townsend, at No. 106, reached the fourth round in New York last year.
And then there are the two names that need no explanation. Venus Williams already holds a main-draw wild card into next week’s National Bank Open in Toronto. Serena Williams is not entered anywhere on the hard-court swing. The USTA’s wild card committee works to criteria it describes only in general terms — good standing, special circumstances — and it has not said when the remaining names will be announced. The main draws begin August 30.
