Wawrinka Excluded From Wild Cards: One Spot Remains For A Final New York

The US Open announced seven of the eight men's wild cards on Tuesday, August 18, and Stan Wawrinka isn't among them. The eighth slot remains listed as "to be announced," and for the Swiss veteran, champion at Flushing Meadows in 2016 after beating Novak Djokovic in the final, it's now his most realistic path to playing New York one last time. The alternative is qualifying, where he currently sits as the eighteenth alternate.

The invitation went instead to Gaël Monfils, also in his farewell season, along with Alexei Popyrin, Martin Damm, Michael Zheng, J.J. Wolf, Jack Kennedy and Sebastian Gorzny. In the women's draw, the USTA handed out seven of eight wild cards, leaving the last spot open in case Serena Williams enters.

Wawrinka, 41 and outside the top 100, had asked for the wild card publicly after his last clay-court tournament:

"I asked for a wild card for the US Open, I hope I can play there one last time."

He played all three other Grand Slams in 2026. In Melbourne he reached the third round, losing in four sets to Taylor Fritz. At Wimbledon he fell in the first round to Matteo Berrettini, four sets and four tie-breaks over four hours and twenty minutes.

A year ago the answer was already no. In 2025, Wawrinka, then ranked 146th, didn't get the wild card and played neither qualifying nor the main draw, while the organization picked six home players and honored reciprocity agreements with the Australian Open and Roland Garros. This year's list follows the same criteria.

Monfils and Wawrinka have shared this farewell season together, down to the joint wild cards in Paris. In New York, the USTA picked only one of them. Qualifying begins August 24, the main draw on Sunday the 30th.