World number one Jannik Sinner has withdrawn from this week’s Cincinnati Open because of a right knee injury — but the 24-year-old Italian insists he still expects to be fit for the US Open, which begins in New York on 30 August.
Sinner has not played since beating Alexander Zverev in last month’s Wimbledon final to collect his fifth Grand Slam singles title and a second consecutive crown at the All England Club. His late withdrawal removes one of the two biggest names from a Masters 1000 event that is already missing Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion, who is still recovering from a wrist injury.
The Cincinnati Open main draw begins on 13 August, with the final scheduled for 23 August. Zverev and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic are among the leading names now expected to carry the event.
The announcement: a precautionary withdrawal
Sinner’s camp confirmed the news on Monday after the world number one consulted with his medical team, and the tone of his statement was carefully managed: disappointed to miss the tournament, but clear that the decision was about the bigger picture — the season’s final Grand Slam.
“After consulting with my doctors and my team, I have to announce that I need to withdraw from the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati. My right knee has been bothering me and even though we have been working hard with my medical team, I have to accept I’m not ready to compete yet. I’m very disappointed not to be able to play in Cincinnati. I can’t wait to be back next year and I’m now focusing on getting ready for the US Open.”
The phrasing matters. Nothing in the statement suggests a serious structural problem; this reads as a player protecting himself from a niggle turning into a crisis in the middle of the North American hard-court swing. Sinner could have tested the knee in Ohio and pulled out mid-week — instead he made the call before the tournament even began, buying himself almost three full weeks of treatment and training before Flushing Meadows.
There is a financial and ranking dimension too. Cincinnati is the last Masters 1000 of the season — a title there is worth 1,000 ranking points, and the event anchors the US Open Series, the summer hard-court circuit that runs through North America ahead of the final Grand Slam. By skipping it, Sinner forfeits a big points haul and any chance of winning the US Open Series bonus. For a player with a healthy lead at the top of the rankings, that is a price worth paying for certainty about the knee. For his rivals, it is a rare chance to close the gap.
Why the knee is the story of Sinner’s summer
Sinner has not played a competitive match since lifting the Wimbledon trophy in mid-July. That run of inactivity was already notable for a player who normally thrives on rhythm; the knee issue now explains why the Italian has been so quiet on the exhibition and tune-up circuit.
It has been a remarkable 18 months at the top of the men’s game for the 24-year-old from San Candido. He became the first Italian man to top the ATP rankings, has spent long stretches at world number one, and now owns five Grand Slam titles — a collection that includes the 2024 US Open and this summer’s Wimbledon crown, secured with a straight-sets demolition of Zverev in the final.
Cincinnati, in particular, carries a painful recent memory for Sinner. In the 2025 final at the Lindner Family Tennis Center he was trailing Alcaraz 5-0 when illness forced him to retire, handing the Spaniard the title in the most anticlimactic of finishes. Twelve months on, the same tournament is again denying him a full run at the trophy — this time before a ball has been struck.
It is also a reminder of how much of Sinner’s game is built for exactly this part of the season. His combination of relentless depth, flat groundstrokes and elite movement is tailor-made for hard courts, where the ball skids through and rewards clean, early contact. He does not rely on spin or trickery; he simply makes opponents hit one more ball than they can handle, and on the quick Ohio and New York surfaces that style is at its most suffocating. Few players in the world are harder to beat on a hard court when fully fit — which is precisely why his absence in Cincinnati matters, and why the US Open is the prize he is protecting.
Cincinnati: a Masters 1000 missing its two marquee names
The Cincinnati Open is one of the oldest tennis tournaments in the world — first staged in 1899 — and today it is the final big hard-court tune-up of the season before the US Open. Played at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, it is a combined ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 event, meaning ranking points, prize money and prestige are all on the line.
This year’s men’s draw will be notable for who is not there:
- Jannik Sinner (world No. 1) — withdrawn with a right knee injury; last played at Wimbledon.
- Carlos Alcaraz (world No. 2) — absent with a wrist injury; has not played since the Barcelona Open in April and will not defend the Cincinnati title he won in 2025.
- Alexander Zverev — Wimbledon runner-up to Sinner last month, and now arguably the favourite for the title in Ohio.
- Novak Djokovic — the 24-time Grand Slam champion remains in the field, still hunting Masters 1000 silverware deep into his career.
For the chasing pack, this is a rare opportunity. Cincinnati is traditionally one of the strongest Masters fields of the year because every elite player wants hard-court matches under his belt before New York. With the top two seeds gone before the draw has even settled, the tournament has suddenly become wide open — a chance for a Zverev, a Djokovic, or a young challenger to bank a Masters 1000 title and a truckload of confidence.
What it means for the US Open
The US Open runs from 30 August to 13 September at Flushing Meadows in New York — the final Grand Slam of the season and the one played on the surface Sinner has mastered better than any other. He was the 2024 champion there, and a fully fit Sinner will be among the very short list of favourites again this year.
The question is what “fully fit” means in practice. Skipping Cincinnati means Sinner will arrive in New York without a single hard-court match since early summer — Wimbledon was on grass, and before that the clay season. Match sharpness and tournament rhythm are real commodities in tennis, and three weeks without competitive tennis can leave even the best player half a step slow in the early rounds.
Against that, Sinner has shown throughout his career that he can win majors straight after layoffs, and his team will point out that a cautious approach now beats a flare-up in the second week of the tournament. The medical staff will have roughly two and a half weeks to load the knee progressively, and Sinner’s own statement — that he is “focusing on getting ready for the US Open” — suggests he expects to be on court in New York.
The wider narrative is also worth watching. For the second year running, the men’s game is heading into the US Open with its two marquee names managing injuries: Sinner’s knee and Alcaraz’s wrist. When both are fit, their rivalry is the most compelling in the sport — and New York, with its night sessions and raucous crowds, is the stage where a fit Sinner–Alcaraz blockbuster would mean the most.
There is context beyond the men’s event as well. Cincinnati is a combined tournament, with the women’s draw running alongside the men’s, and the top of the women’s game is going through its own build-up to New York — world number one Aryna Sabalenka is using the North American hard-court swing to prepare for the defence of her US Open title. The men’s withdrawals do not diminish the tournament; they simply reshape it, and the players left in the draw have a golden opportunity to claim a Masters 1000 crown at a moment when the two favourites are watching from home.
What’s next
Cincinnati will now play out without its two headline acts. Watch for Zverev to assert himself as the man to beat, for Djokovic to make one more Masters push, and for a potential surprise champion from the chasing pack — the kind of result that reshapes seeding conversations before New York.
For Sinner, the schedule is simple: recover, train, and build towards Flushing Meadows. The US Open draw will be made in late August, and the first real test of his knee will come in the opening round at Arthur Ashe Stadium. If he is fit, he remains the man everyone else has to beat; if the knee is still barking, the hard-court season’s biggest prize suddenly becomes the most open it has been in years.
Key takeaways
- Sinner is out of Cincinnati: world number one Jannik Sinner has withdrawn from the Masters 1000 event with a right knee injury, before the main draw begins on 13 August.
- Rust, not crisis: the 24-year-old has not played since winning Wimbledon last month — his fifth Grand Slam title — and has framed the withdrawal as precautionary.
- Both top two absent: defending champion Carlos Alcaraz (wrist) is also missing, leaving Zverev and Djokovic to headline a wide-open field in Ohio.
- US Open focus: Sinner says he expects to be fit for the US Open in New York (30 August – 13 September), where he won the title in 2024.
- Watch this space: the fitness of Sinner and Alcaraz will define the men’s draw at the season’s final major.
