NEW YORK, August 27. /TASS/. Russian tennis player Roman Safiullin will play in round one of the 2026 US Open, which kicks off this Sunday, against World No. 3 and defending champ Carlos Alcaraz from Spain, according to the men’s draw which was revealed on Thursday.

Three other Russian men are also playing at this year’s closing Grand Slam tournament. Russia’s top male racquet Daniil Medvedev will play in the opening round against an as-yet unknown qualifier, Andrey Rublev will begin the tourney against Croatia’s Marin Cilic and Karen Khachanov will face off against Roman Burruchaga from Argentina in the opening round.

The 2026 US Open is played on outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York between August 30 and September 13. The tournament will award $90 million in prize money. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz is the tournament’s reigning champion.

Russian tennis players are participating in international tournaments under a neutral status and the US Open is no exception.

Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC's recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations moved to exclude athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022, to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also canceling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.

On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from participating in the 2022 Davis Cup and the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.