Jannik Sinner announced his withdrawal from the upcoming Cincinnati Masters on Sunday. Sinner, who also missed the National Bank Open in Montreal and has not played since winning Wimbledon, is dealing with a knee injury.
“After consulting with my doctors and my team, I have to announce that I need to withdraw from the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati,” the top-ranked Italian stated. “My right knee has been bothering me and even though we have been working hard with my medical team, I have to accept that I’m not ready to compete yet.
“I’m very disappointed not to be able to play in Cincinnati and wish [tournament director Bob Moran] and his whole team a great and successful event. I can’t wait to be back next year and I’m now focusing on getting ready for the U.S. Open.”
Carlos Alcaraz will also miss each of the two Masters 1000 events on the North American hard-court swing. Alcaraz has not played since sustaining a wrist injury at the Barcelona Open in April.
It is now a race against time for the top two players in the world in their effort to suit up for the U.S. Open. The season’s fourth and final Grand Slam is set for August 30-September 13.
welp
Sinner coming in cold to the USO will now be very interesting and likely means he won’t be as favored as normal. Nole and others will be licking their chops at this news.
probably won’t even play
Yeah wow. Looks like a wide-open US Open then. I think Djokovic is unlikely to get through to the final of such a marathon best-of-five tournament without withdrawals and Zverev to my mind would have to get lucky as well. There’s a raft of up-and-coming under-23s making things very interesting indeed.
Funnily I don’t think Cobolli, Medvedev, de Minaur or FAA are in US Open title contention either, despite their Top 10 status. With luck maybe Shelton and/or Fritz make it to the semis and maybe the final. But most of the real contenders for me seem to be outside that group for next month. What do others think?
Zverev, Fritz, Shelton, and Jodar would be the top favorites
Something that makes the upcoming competitions really interesting is that some of the best up-and-coming players may be meeting more established players comparatively early because their rankings haven’t caught up with their current performance yet!
I guess Zverev has to get no luckier than Fritz or Shelton, and doesn’t need as much luck as Djokovic. All of them more likely than Cobolli, Medvedev, de Minaur, FAA. I’m so looking forward to the US Open! And I think this batch of young players we’ve seen make waves in Montreal are going to be a group to watch.
Only if Sinner withdraws from the event which is highly unlikely. I believe he is prioritizing the Us Open and his withdrawal from Cincinnati is only a precaution.
skipping Cincinnati is not ideal prep for the US Open
he would play Cincy if he was 100 percent — or probably even close to 100 percent
Time will tell but lack of preparation isn’t a hurdle for a player like Sinner. Despite not playing any event in the lead up to Wimbledon he still won. Zverev, Fritz Shelton haven’t beaten Sinner in years not even in a best of 3 set match. They have all struggled to take sets of Sinner even on his off days. Jodar is just a rookie. In 2025 he lost to Alcaraz. I don’t see anyone who is beating even an underprepared Sinner.
Nobody knows how serious his injury is. It could be just a precaution. I don’t think playing a ton of matches before the US Open makes a difference to a player of Sinner’s caliber he won Wimbledon without playing on grass in the lead up. He can play himself into form in week 1. Who is beating even an under prepared Sinner in a best of 5 set match?
Italian publications are saying it’s just precautionary. The Sinner team is presumably doing everything they can to avoid a RG style exit.
It’s too early to tell what is going on.
Best of fives aren’t as kind to him as to other elite players though. Especially when it’s hot. He’s from a place that’s very close to where they found Ötzi and it’s not impossible they are distantly related.🙃
Sure but we don’t make predictions based on exceptional circumstances. Sinner has won 13 of his last 14 matches at the US Open based on that he will start the tournament as the clear fav. FAA, Shelton, Fritz, Fils, Fonseca, Jodar, Mensik these guys are still not good enough. Zverev played really well at Wimbledon but could still only push Sinner to 4 sets. Sinner finds a way to win even when he isn’t playing at his best.
New York can get famously hot and that could factor if Sinner plays. Of course the chances of them scheduling him for midday/early arvo are remote…