Stan Wawrinka has been denied a main-draw wild card for the 2026 US Open, leaving the three-time Grand Slam champion facing qualifying for what could be his final appearance at the tournament.
Stan Wawrinka’s farewell season has taken an unexpected turn after the US Open opted not to award the former champion a main-draw wild card.
The Swiss veteran, who is in the final year of his professional career, had appeared to be a strong candidate for one of the available spots. Instead, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) distributed its wild cards among American players and recipients of reciprocal agreements with Tennis Australia and the French tennis federation.
The decision means Wawrinka, currently ranked outside the world’s top 120, would need to go through qualifying to earn a place in the US Open main draw.
Wawrinka’s remarkable US Open legacy
Wawrinka has a special history at Flushing Meadows. He won the US Open in 2016, defeating Novak Djokovic in the final to claim the third Grand Slam title of his career.
His record in New York is among the strongest of his major performances. Wawrinka has won around 74% of his matches at the US Open and has also reached the semi-finals in 2013 and 2015.
He made the quarter-finals in 2010, 2014 and 2019, further underlining his long-standing success at the tournament.
The 2016 victory remains one of the defining moments of his career, particularly because it came during the era dominated by Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Why Wawrinka missed out on a wild card
The USTA had a limited number of wild-card places to distribute. Two were allocated through reciprocal arrangements with France and Australia, while several others went to American players.
Michael Zheng, Martin Damm, J.J. Wolf, Sebastian Gorzny, Jack Kennedy and Patrick Kypson received the remaining American wild cards.
Gaël Monfils, who is also nearing the end of his career, received a wild card through the French arrangement. Alexei Popyrin initially received the Australian allocation before entering the main draw directly, with the place subsequently going to fellow Australian Dane Sweeny.
Wawrinka was therefore left without one of the coveted main-draw invitations.
A difficult decision for the former champion
The omission is particularly notable because Wawrinka has received wild cards at the other three Grand Slam tournaments this year.
At the Australian Open, he reached the third round before losing to Taylor Fritz in four sets. He subsequently exited in the opening round at both the French Open and Wimbledon.
Despite those results, his career record and popularity have made him a major attraction at Grand Slam events.
Other established players, including Grigor Dimitrov and Kei Nishikori, also missed out on main-draw wild cards. Nishikori was awarded a qualifying wild card instead.
Wawrinka’s last chance in New York?
At this stage, it remains unclear whether Wawrinka will enter US Open qualifying, which begins next week.
There has been no official statement from the Swiss player regarding the USTA’s decision.
If he does compete in qualifying and successfully reaches the main draw, it could give fans one final opportunity to watch the 2016 champion compete at the venue where he produced one of the biggest victories of his career.
For now, however, Wawrinka’s path to a potential final US Open appearance has become considerably harder.
