Howdy y’all and welcome to Tennis Insider!
I’m reporting live from New York where I’ll be at the U.S. Open getting a close eye on all of the action and hopefully grabbing some in-depth interviews with players exclusive for you all (and maybe some special on-site goodies)!
Qualifying began yesterday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, with 128 women chasing 16 spots in a main draw that starts this upcoming Sunday. Qualifying falls under the tournament’s Fan Week and is usually my go-to recommendation for fans to check out elite action for free. Grand Slam qualifying usually has the same stories — journeywomen, former top players itching to get back to main draw or juniors looking for their first breakthrough — but something about the U.S. Open jumps out to me. Perhaps it’s the atmosphere and the hustle and bustle New York brings or just because I’m American and it’s been the most accessible Slam to drown myself in. There’s really nothing like the melting pot the city brings in and I think that’s the biggest intangible.
Like I always do when Slam qualifying happens, I’ll talk about three players that are ones to watch before the main draw but could also make a dent. However, Fan Week at the U.S. Open has become the tournament’s own story for a variety of reasons. Grounds passes for the paid portion of the tournament have been listed around $363, resale prices for marquee sessions have climbed into five figures and that’s just the beginning of the criticism.
The single biggest draw of Fan Week remains the U.S. Open’s revamped mixed doubles event, now in its second year after a format overhaul that moved the competition to the week before the main draw and attached a $1 million winner’s prize. This year’s 16-team field, contested Aug. 25-26 in Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong stadiums, is stacked with singles stars rather than doubles specialists: Aryna Sabalenka is teaming with Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams is making a notable return to competition alongside Carlos Alcaraz. Mirra Andreeva, Diana Shnaider, Taylor Townsend and Alexandra Eala round out a women’s contingent that gives the event as much star power on the women’s side as the men’s.
Not everyone is thrilled about what the format has become. Reigning champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori — a genuine doubles team, not a singles pairing dabbling for a week — won last year’s title while openly criticizing the new format beforehand, calling it a “profound injustice” to specialists who no longer have a straightforward path into the event. That criticism hasn’t gone away just because the field keeps getting starrier; if anything, a Sabalenka-Djokovic and Williams-Alcaraz headline only sharpens the argument that mixed doubles has become a made-for-content spectacle built around singles stars rather than a genuine showcase for the discipline itself. The traditionalist in me would rather see doubles players get a large piece of the pie and get some well-deserved attention but money and starpower always prevail.
Now, players that you should keep an eye on or that could make a dent over the fortnight. The USTA raised qualifying payouts roughly 16 percent this year as part of a record $108 million total prize pool, so even a first-round exit now nets $32,000, a second-round loss $48,000, and a run to the final round of qualifying (one match short of the big draw) pays $66,000. It’s a cushion, but the real prize is what those checks can’t buy: a place in the 128-woman main draw and a chance to follow Emma Raducanu’s 2021 run from qualifiers all the way to Grand Slam glory.
No. 17 Mary Stoiana
Stoiana arrives as the No. 17 seed in the women’s qualifying draw, sitting at a career-high ranking of No. 122. The 23-year-old former Texas A&M standout opens against Harmony Tan of France, and she’s playing with a specific kind of motivation: this isn’t her first time getting close to a Grand Slam main draw, it’s her fourth. She lost in the first round of qualifying at the 2023 U.S. Open to Viktorija Golubic, made it a round further the following year and has picked up two more near-misses this season alone — a second-round qualifying exit at the Australian Open and a third-round loss at the French Open. Each of those results put her one match closer without ever getting her over the line.
What’s different this time is the seeding. No. 17 is the best position she’s ever had entering a major’s qualifying draw, built on a 2025 season that included ITF titles at Austin and Chihuahua and a quarterfinal run at WTA 125 Austin, plus a runner-up finish at a WTA 125 event in Midland this year. She’s not a name casual fans will recognize, but for anyone who tracks the American depth chart below the top 100, Stoiana is as close as this year’s field gets to a player who’s simply due. She just missed out on a main draw wildcard and I think the snub might be enough motivation to get her through.
No. 14 Zheng Qinwen
The 2024 Australian Open finalist and Paris Olympic gold medalist has not had to survive Grand Slam qualifying since the 2022 Australian Open. Long before her run to No. 4 in the world, the Nike and Dior campaigns and before a U.S. Open quarterfinal appearance in both 2023 and 2024. This week is her first time ever attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open specifically.
The collapse in her ranking has been steep and largely injury-driven. Elbow surgery last year wiped out the start of her 2026 season; she didn’t relaunch her comeback until February, and the results since have been inconsistent — an 11-11 record through the summer hard-court swing, with first-round exits at both the French Open and Wimbledon along the way. A quarterfinal loss in Athens in July, where she blew leads in both sets against Barbora Krejcikova, closed the door on climbing back into the main draw on ranking alone; she needed to finish around the top 104 by the cutoff and instead sat at No. 121. No wildcard came, nor was expected. So Zheng, at 23, is playing qualifying rounds, seeded somewhere in the middle of the 32 qualifying seeds rather than anywhere near the top.
She’s been candid about where she is. In an interview last month, Zheng described herself as still working her way back to her best tennis rather than pretending she’s already there. It’s a level of self-awareness that hasn’t stopped Chinese tennis fans from debating whether qualifying is a fair test for someone with her resume or a step the sport shouldn’t be putting a former finalist through. Either way, three wins this week would be one of the more notable comeback stories of the entire tournament, main draw included.
Katie Swan
If Zheng’s story is about falling from the top of the game, Katie Swan’s is about climbing back from a place where she nearly walked away from tennis entirely. The British 27-year-old reached a career-high ranking of No. 118 back in 2022 before long-term injuries buried her; by her own account, she seriously considered retirement before deciding to give the sport one more shot. That decision paid off in 2025, when she won four ITF titles and climbed from outside the world rankings altogether back up into the 200s.
Swan is part of what’s become a fixture of U.S. Open qualifying week: a sizeable British contingent fighting for spots, this year including Francesca Jones (fresh off back-to-back WTA 125 titles) along with Harriet Dart, Jodie Burrage and Heather Watson. Unlike Stoiana, Swan isn’t seeded as her ranking sits outside the top 32 ranked players. But a player who was contemplating retirement two years ago and is now riding her best form in years, mentored by Andy Murray through their shared management group, is exactly the kind of story that gets lost in the shuffle of Grand Slam qualifying.
Will these three be among the 16 that qualify for the main draw? Only time will tell. Now, on to links!
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This Week in Women’s Tennis
The Grand Slams have formed an advisory council with players to give input for the four biggest tournaments on the calendar.
Coco Gauff took home her second Cincinnati Open title with a straight-sets win over Jessica Pegula in the final. The doubles title was captured by Linda Noskova and Marie Bouzkova, who defeated a rising Magali Kempen and Alexandra Panova.
Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend are the first players to qualify for the WTA Finals Indian Wells.
Bianca Andreescu won the U.S. Open seven years ago and now finds herself in qualifying on Court 7 as she continues to rebuild following injuries and mental health struggles.
Professional women’s tennis is making a return to Philadelphia this week with a WTA 125 and both players and fans are happy to have it back.
After coming out of nowhere to take her first WTA title in Memphis, Kristina Liutova is ready for more glory at the U.S. Open.
Reese Brantemeier is one main draw player looking to make a name for herself during her first year as a professional.
Interesting development within the ITIA:
In case you missed it, there’s a new heat rule in effect at the U.S. Open this year.
Aerie has donated $50,000 to the USTA Foundation to help promote women’s tennis.
With college tennis more vulnerable than ever, alums on tour are speaking out about the importance of it being a stepping stone to the biggest stage.
This offseason will see the revamp of World Team Tennis, who announced the team names competing later this year.
Tweet of the Week
Tennis Channel KILLED it with this trend:
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