Carlos Alcaraz’s comeback to tennis will begin with his U.S. Open first-round match against Roman Safiullin on Monday afternoon. Grigor Dimitrov came through qualifying last week and now faces Alexei Popyrin.
Roman Safiullin vs. (2) Carlos Alcaraz
Alcaraz will be playing singles for the first time in more than four months when he takes the court at the U.S. Open on Monday. The seven-time Grand Slam champion has been sidelined by a right-wrist injury since Barcelona, keeping him out of the French Open and Wimbledon. However, some intense practices — including a week with Holger Rune in Murcia — and even a foray into mixed doubles apparently has Alcaraz ready to go for the real thing. The 23-year-old Spaniard teamed up with Serena Williams last Tuesday and advanced one round in the 16-team U.S. Open draw before bowing out to Flavio Cobolli and Belinda Bencic.
Alcaraz’s first match is a dangerous one. At No. 99, Safiullin may be nowhere near one of the highest-ranked unseeded players in the field, but he has a history of success at majors — well, at Wimbledon to be exact. The 29-year-old Russian advanced to the quarterfinals at the All-England Club in 2023 and the fourth round this summer. Safiullin has reached round two at Flushing Meadows on three consecutive occasions. Alcaraz will be on red alert for this matchup, which could be a good thing for him. The world No. 3 should be able to survive, but it probably won’t be pretty.
Pick: Alcaraz in 4
(Q) Grigor Dimitrov vs. Alexei Popyrin
Like Stan Wawrinka initially, Dimitrov was denied a main-draw wild card by the USTA. Wawrinka eventually got one after flying home to Switzerland (he promptly returned, of course, and will also play on Monday), while Dimitrov was relegated to qualifying. The 35-year-old Bulgarian had no trouble punching his ticket to the main draw, easing past Lorenzo Giustino and Timofey Skatov before getting a walkover in the final round from Otto Virtanen.
Up next for Dimitrov is a fifth showdown against Popyrin. They have split their four previous encounters (all on outdoor hard courts), with two coming in 2021 and two more in 2024. The proverbial rubber match is probably coming at the right time for Dimitrov, because Popyrin is struggling in a big way. With a 10-18 record in 2026, the 27-year-old Australian is all the way down at 130th in the world. This is a guy who once beat Novak Djokovic at the U.S. Open (2024), but that version of Popyrin probably isn’t walkin’ through that door.
Pick: Dimitrov in 4
WWW?
Carlos is READY!…in 3….and Dtrov in 3.
El Scorpio is ready!
Rest of the field must be praying for Carlos to lose early. If he gets through the first 3 matches it’s curtains for everyone.
He did all right in the first match back. Looking good!
Popyrin showing up when few people expect him to because he’s nosedived ever since he won that Masters two years ago. Surprised me too.
And the same Otto Virtanen who was unwell for R3 Qualifying managed to take two sets off Rublev when Cilic pulled out!
I was not the least surprised that Hijikata took a set off FFA. That was a very competitive match!