The US Open seeds: who's in your hat.
Up to 32 of the 128 players in each US Open singles draw are seeded - ranked, protected from meeting each other early, and the names your sweepstake group will fight over. Here are the full 2026 seed lists for both draws, and an honest guide to what each tier of ticket is actually worth.
How seeding works (and why your ticket cares)
Seeds are placed in the bracket so the best-ranked players can't knock each other out early: the top two seeds can only meet in the final, the top four in the semis, the top eight in the quarters. In sweepstake terms that makes seeds 1-8 the gold tickets - the bracket itself protects them deep into the second week. Seeds 9-16 can't meet a higher seed until the fourth round, and 17-32 are safe from them until the third. An unseeded player, meanwhile, can land the world number one first up - which is exactly the lottery that makes the full-draw sweep fun.
Men's Singles seeds, US Open 2026
With Jannik Sinner withdrawn before the tournament with a knee injury, the men's seedings shuffled up a place - and the draw opened right out. Alexander Zverev, this year's Roland Garros champion, holds the top seeding, with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz at two and Novak Djokovic lurking at four. The men's list stands at 31 this year: seed 19 - originally Casper Ruud - dropped out after the draw was made, and an unseeded lucky loser took the slot in the bracket.
- Alexander Zverev
- Carlos Alcaraz
- Felix Auger-Aliassime
- Novak Djokovic
- Flavio Cobolli
- Alex de Minaur
- Daniil Medvedev
- Ben Shelton
- Taylor Fritz
- Arthur Fils
- Frances Tiafoe
- Rafael Jodar
- Lorenzo Musetti
- Learner Tien
- Alexander Bublik
- Brandon Nakashima
- Jakub Mensik
- Jiri Lehecka
- Tommy Paul
- Luciano Darderi
- Valentin Vacherot
- Andrey Rublev
- Francisco Cerundolo
- Alejandro Tabilo
- Arthur Rinderknech
- Tomas Martin Etcheverry
- Alexander Blockx
- Cameron Norrie
- Matteo Arnaldi
- Zizou Bergs
- Ignacio Buse
Women's Singles seeds, US Open 2026
Aryna Sabalenka tops the list as world number one and two-time defending champion - but 2026 has been the year the women's majors got shared around: Elena Rybakina (seeded two here) won the Australian Open, Mirra Andreeva took Roland Garros as a teenager, and Linda Noskova won Wimbledon. Four different champions from the first three Slams means no ticket in this draw is a dead one.
- Aryna Sabalenka
- Elena Rybakina
- Jessica Pegula
- Coco Gauff
- Mirra Andreeva
- Linda Noskova
- Karolina Muchova
- Iga Swiatek
- Elina Svitolina
- Amanda Anisimova
- Marta Kostyuk
- Belinda Bencic
- Naomi Osaka
- Iva Jovic
- Diana Shnaider
- Sorana Cirstea
- Alexandra Eala
- Ekaterina Alexandrova
- Jasmine Paolini
- Maja Chwalinska
- Anna Kalinskaya
- Madison Keys
- Elise Mertens
- Anastasia Potapova
- Marie Bouzkova
- Emma Navarro
- Barbora Krejcikova
- Sara Bejlek
- Ann Li
- Jelena Ostapenko
- Leylah Fernandez
- Maria Sakkari
What each ticket is worth
- Seeds 1-4: the favourites. If you drew one, act insufferable immediately - but remember a Slam is seven matches, and top seeds lose early every single year.
- Seeds 5-16:the value tickets. Deep runs are common from this band, and in a year with the world number one absent from the men's draw, this is where surprise finalists come from.
- Seeds 17-32: respectable. Your player is good enough to be protected in the bracket and dangerous enough to beat anyone across best-of-three sets - or five in New York.
- Unseeded:the fun tickets. Most go out in week one; one or two always don't. Every office has a story about the year someone won the pot with a qualifier - the hat remembers.
Put the seeds to work
The full 128-player draws - seeds, qualifiers and all - are loaded into the US Open sweepstake generator. Draw from the whole field for maximum chaos, or flip the pool to Seeds only and deal just these 32 names to a smaller group. Either way it's free, takes about a minute, and the share link shows everyone the same result. New to organising? Start with how to run an office sweepstake.