US Open 2026: With Novak Djokovic suffering an unprecedented first-round exit from US Open 2026, fans will be hooked to their screens as Carlos Alcaraz will open his campaign at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on August 31, Monday. Alcaraz, seeded second, will take on 29-year-old Russian Roman Safiullin in a bid to reach the second round of the Grand Slam event as smoothly as possible.
It will be the first time in more than four months that Alcaraz will be in action, almost 12 months after winning the US Open title and it proved to be his sixth Grand Slam crown. The 23-year-old’s wrist injury forced him to miss the better part of the season, including French Open 2026, Wimbledon 2026 and the recently-concluded Cincinnati Masters. He returned to competitive action during the mixed doubles’ match alongside 23-times singles Grand Slam champion Serena Williams but lost. Alcaraz’s most recent singles competitive match was during the Monte Carlo Masters. Despite lack of match time, the youngster should manage to beat the 98th ranked Roman Safiullin. However, bigger challenges will await against the likes of Ben Shelton, Daniil Medvedev, Frances Tiafoe or Brandon Nakashima.
Reflecting on the recent injury period, the Spainard had said the below, as quoted by The Reuters:
“The first month was kind of difficult for me because I couldn’t do anything with my right arm. It was tough. But at the same time, I enjoyed my time with family, friends and staying at home. But once I started to practice a little bit, that I didn’t know when I’m going to start, that thoughts are really difficult to deal with, because I don’t know if I’m going to be ready for Cincinnati, for U.S. Open, or I’m going to miss the whole American swing. But finally, here we are. My goal was try to be healthy as soon as possible and try not to miss more competitions. So I would say that intrusive thoughts were the most difficult things to deal with in this process.”
Where to watch Carlos Alcaraz vs Roman Safiullin US Open 2026 Singles match in India?
The current scheduled time of the match is 10:10 PM IST. Fans in India can catch the live telecast of the match on Star Sports Network TV channels, while the live streaming of the match will be available on Jio Hotstar App and website.
