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US Open tennis 2025: Schedule, seeds, prize money, tickets and how to watch
The biggest names in tennis will look to see out 2025 in style and with a trophy in hand as the main round of the US Open gets under way on Sunday in New York.
The last Grand Slam of the year attracted extra eyeballs and controversy when it revamped the mixed doubles category this year, scheduling it a week earlier than the rest of the tournament and inviting top men’s and women’s singles players to team up for exhibition-style matches.
Here’s all you need to know about the US Open 2025:
When is US Open 2025 main round starting, and when are the finals?
The first round of men’s and women’s singles matches starts on Sunday, August 24.
The women’s singles final will be played at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday, September 6 and the men’s singles final will be played a day later.
Where is the US Open played?
The US edition of the Grand Slam tour is played on the hard courts of the USTA Billie Jean National Tennis Centre in Flushing Meadows, located in the Queens borough of New York City, New York.
Who are the favourites to win the US Open 2025?
An exciting mix of former champions and current top-ranked players count among the favourites to lift the title at the end of two weeks.
Jannik Sinner: The top-seeded and top-ranked player is also the defending champion, making him a clear favourite for his fifth Grand Slam title. Sinner has won two of this year’s three major’s titles, and while his injury-forced retirement in the final of the Cincinnati Open was a cause of concern, the Italian brushed it aside by taking part in a pre-tournament public practice session on Thursday.
Carlos Alcaraz: The Spaniard’s first Grand Slam title came in New York, and he will aim to repeat his feat from 2022 for his second major title of 2025 and tie the year with his modern-day tennis rival Sinner. Alcaraz has a 54-6 win-loss record and comes to New York with the Cincinnati title in the bag, making the second seed a joint top favourite.
Taylor Fritz: The tall American has been knocking on the doors of Grand Slam finals for more than a year, and his closest shot came at his home major in 2024 when he lost to Sinner. The fourth seed will, once again, have the home crowd’s backing as he seeks his maiden major title on a surface he has previously thrived on.
Aryna Sabalenka: The defending champion has twice fallen at the last stretch of Grand Slams since winning the title in New York last September and will aim to finish the year with the high of a winner’s trophy to complement her top seeding. Sabalenka faces stiff competition from her contemporaries and her inability, in 2025, to cross the final hurdle, but will hope to overcome her blues on the blue courts of the US Open.
Coco Gauff: The French Open champion is an outright home favourite and will enjoy the unabashed support of the crowd at Flushing Meadows every time she steps on court. Besides her popularity, Gauff also has the pedigree to be counted among the favourites, having won the US Open in 2023 for her first major title, as well as her current ranking and seeding of three.
Iga Swiatek: The Polish player has been in scintillating form this year, having won Wimbledon and qualified for the mixed doubles final in New York on Wednesday. The second seed also won bronze at the 2024 Olympics and enters the tournament on the back of a hard-court title win in Cincinnati on Monday.
Who are the top seeds?
Men’s:
- Jannik Sinner
- Carlos Alcaraz
- Alexander Zverev
- Taylor Fritz
- Jack Draper
- Ben Shelton
- Novak Djokovic
- Alex de Minaur
- Karen Khachanov
- Lorenzo Musetti
Women’s:
- Aryna Sabalenka
- Iga Swiatek
- Coco Gauff
- Jessica Pegula
- Mirra Andreeva
- Madison Keys
- Jasmine Paolini
- Amanda Anisimova
- Elena Rybakina
- Emma Navarro
When are Alcaraz, Sinner, Sabalenka, Gauff and Djokovic playing their first game?
Women’s top seed and holder Sabalenka will begin her title defence at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday, while her male counterpart Sinner will also be in action on the opening day.
The rest of the top picks, including five-time former champion Novak Djokovic, 2022 winner Carlos Alcaraz and home favourite Gauff are all set to begin their campaigns on the same day.
Can there be Sinner vs Alcaraz and Sabalenka vs Gauff US Open finals?
Yes, as these players have been placed in opposite halves of the draws. Sinner or Alexander Zverev could also face Djokovic or Fritz in the final, should they make it all the way through.
In the women’s draw, Sabalenka faces the possibility of a final against Gauff or Swiatek, who are in the same half of the women’s singles draw.
It’s not the journey, it’s the destination.
Are Jannik and Aryna repeating as champions? 🏆 pic.twitter.com/vIdxRPJg49
What was the controversy surrounding the mixed doubles at the US Open?
The tournament’s organisers changed things up in the mixed doubles category by scheduling it a week prior to the main singles’ draw and doing away with the doubles’ team rankings in order to qualify for the draw. Instead, top singles players were encouraged to team up on the basis of their singles’ ranking and by ensuring the matches do not clash with the singles draw.
This, however, led to a backlash by top-ranked doubles teams, who missed out on playing for the title as their doubles rankings were not considered. The top-ranked pairing of Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori were handed a wildcard entry and ended up showing the singles stars how it is done by winning the mixed doubles title in a thrilling match against Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud.
How to buy tickets the US Open 2025?
Tickets are up for grabs on the tournament’s official website.
How much is the prize money for the US Open 2025?
The total prize money on offer will be $90m, while the men’s and women’s singles champions will receive $5m each.
How to follow and livestream the US Open 2025?
The tournament will be shown by local and terrestrial broadcasters, as well as digital streaming services around the globe.
Trump threatens to fire US Fed Governor Lisa Cook
United States President Donald Trump says he will fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook if she doesn’t quit, intensifying his effort to gain influence over the central bank.
“I’ll fire her if she doesn’t resign”, Trump told reporters on Friday during a visit to a Washington, DC, museum focused on the White House.
Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, said she had “no intention of being bullied to step down” after Trump on Wednesday called for , her resignation , on the basis of allegations about mortgages she holds in Michigan and Georgia.
Cook on Wednesday said she took any questions about her financial history seriously as a member of the Fed’s board and was gathering accurate information to answer any legitimate questions.
Asked about the matter on Friday as she attended the Fed’s annual research conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Cook said she had no further comment beyond her earlier statement.
Cook is among three Fed governors appointed by former President Joe Biden whose terms extend beyond Trump’s time in office, complicating the president’s efforts to gain more control by appointing a majority of the seven-member Board of Governors. Two of the Fed’s board members were appointed by Trump – Governor Christopher Waller and Vice Chairwoman for Supervision Michelle Bowman.
Trump has repeatedly criticised Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May, first over his failure to reduce benchmark interest rates and more recently over cost overruns on a renovation of a Federal Reserve building.
US Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte raised the allegations against Cook in a post on X on Wednesday, saying she had designated a condo in Atlanta, Georgia, as her primary residence after taking out a loan on her home in Michigan, which she also declared as a primary residence. Pulte told CNBC he is also investigating property Cook has in Massachusetts.
Loans for a primary residence can carry easier terms than those for second homes or investment properties. Pulte said the loans in question date to mid-2021 before Cook was appointed to the Fed and confirmed by the Senate in 2022. Cook, a native of Georgia, was an economics professor at Michigan State University at the time the mortgages were taken out.
Pulte asked US Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate, and Trump quickly amplified the allegation. The Department of Justice is taking the matter very seriously, a department official told the Reuters news agency earlier this week.
Allegations ‘ cobbled together ‘
Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, blasted Trump’s attack on Cook on Friday, saying in a statement that it was a clear continuation of his ongoing effort to “undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve” and deflect attention to signs of economic challenges caused by his policies.
“Their latest target is Dr. Lisa Cook, a highly qualified, trailblazing economist, and the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors since Congress created it in 1913”, Waters said. “Let me be very clear, the allegations against Dr. Cook have been cobbled together as a pretext to try to replace her with someone who will be loyal first to Trump instead of the US Constitution or US law”.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is heading the effort to find a replacement for Powell.
Iran rejects sanctions threats before renewed nuclear talks with Europe
Iran and three major European powers have agreed to resume nuclear talks next week, even as the threat of revived sanctions looms.
Iranian state media reported on Friday that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held a call with his French, British and German counterparts, during which they agreed deputy ministers would meet on Tuesday.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul confirmed the talks, warning that Europe was prepared to re-impose United Nations sanctions under the so-called “snapback” mechanism unless Iran committed to a verifiable and lasting deal. “Time is very short and Iran needs to engage substantively”, he said.
According to Iranian outlets, Araghchi rejected the threat, accusing the European trio of lacking “legal and moral competence” to trigger snapback sanctions and warning of consequences if they did so.
The three European governments, backed by the United States, have accused Tehran of advancing uranium enrichment in violation of international commitments and say its programme could be used to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran has said its work is strictly for civilian purposes, and Western governments have not provided any evidence that Tehran is weaponising its nuclear programme.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, has said Iran remains far from building a nuclear weapon. In March, US National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard testified that intelligence agencies had found no evidence of Iran moving towards a bomb.
Talks between Iran and the US collapsed in June after Washington and Israel attacked Iranian nuclear sites during a 12-day conflict.
Since then, IAEA inspectors have not been allowed into Iran’s facilities, despite the agency’s chief, Rafael Grossi, stressing that inspections are essential.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned the IAEA to abandon its “double standards” if it hopes to restore cooperation over the country’s nuclear programme, amid an acute mistrust following Israeli and US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, and the UN nuclear watchdog’s refusal to condemn the strikes.
In July, Pezeshkian signed a law suspending Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA, with Tehran making it clear that it no longer trusts the agency to act impartially.
Negotiations between Tehran and the Europeans last took place in Geneva on June 20, while the fighting was still under way. Little progress was reported at the time.
Why is there a rift in the US Republican Party?
This debate takes on the growing rift in President Trump’s party. Is it driven by conservative principles , or allegiance to one man?
America First was the slogan Donald Trump championed during his re-election campaign as he promised to put the interests of Americans above those of foreign governments, immigrants and large corporations. However, the United States president has made several policy decisions that have divided his electoral base. The two guests in this episode of The Stream voted for Trump in the 2024 election but now find themselves on the opposite side of several issues: economic policy, foreign military spending and the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Presenter: Stefanie Dekker
‘On edge’: Trump’s military deployment in Washington stirs fear, confusion
Washington, DC, United States – Outside Union Station in the US capital, bored-looking soldiers linger near two large armoured vehicles as commuters and tourists snap photos of the unusual scene.
Inside the century-old transportation hub, a dozen National Guard soldiers pace the marble floors, appearing to be armed only with zip-tie handcuffs.
Their presence has not directly disrupted traffic, but the Trump administration’s deployment of federal forces – part of its takeover of city policing – has left Washington, DC, residents fearful and confused.
Randy Kindle, a 48-year-old Air Force veteran, called the deployment a “show”.
“It’s disrespectful to our troops to have to invade their own country essentially and be pitted against their own citizens”, Kindle told Al Jazeera outside Union Station.
He said he witnessed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in neighbouring Maryland during which the immigration agents had their own film crew.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security released a video of golden-branded ICE trucks with President Donald Trump’s name on the back featuring a rap song that says: “My heart so cold I think I’m done with ice”.
“This is a reality show for them”, Kindle said. “It’s a f****** idiocracy”.
Throughout Washington on Thursday, soldiers were seen going up and down the escalators at metro stations, chatting among themselves and loitering on street corners.
“From what I’ve seen and heard, many of the troops are standing around, many of them out in the elements, not supported with proper equipment or vehicles – frankly looking bored”, Washington Council member Zachary Parker told Al Jazeera.
“This is a manufactured crisis made up by the Trump administration for their own political gain”, Parker said.
Trump said the federalisation of Washington’s policing was necessary and aimed to combat what he described as rampant crime in the city.
But official data show that crime has seen a sharp decline in the US capital over the past few years, hitting a 30-year low in 2024, according to the US Department of Justice.
Parker warned that Trump’s move in Washington should not be taken lightly by the rest of the country.
He said that, at best, the Washington takeover may be an attempt to make Trump look tough on crime and distract from issues the US president is facing.
“A darker view of this moment is that this is a precursor of militarising American cities and streets and confronting American citizens with military might”, the council member told Al Jazeera.
“I think we ought to take this moment very seriously – both those of us here in DC, but Americans writ large”.
Trump praises the crackdown
Since the federal takeover began last week, the Trump administration has centred the issue in its public messaging.
For example, as of Friday morning, seven of the past 10 posts on X by Attorney General Pam Bondi were about Washington, DC.
Bondi has been sharing daily updates about arrests made in the city – a total of 719, including 40 on Thursday. Washington police arrested an average of 56 people daily last year, according to city data.
The Justice Department, which did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment, has not specified whether the arrests were made entirely by federal agents or whether they include law enforcement action by Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department.
But local TV channel ABC 7 News quoted federal officials as saying the numbers included arrests by all agencies in the city.
It’s also not clear whether the detention of undocumented immigrants is included in the tally. Arrests made by ICE were only distinguished in Bondi’s daily announcements on Thursday and Friday.
But Trump and his aides are talking up the arrests as a considerable feat.
On Thursday evening, Trump rode around Washington with law enforcement officers in a show of control and defiance against critics of the crackdown.
“Some incredible outcomes have been achieved. … It’s like a different place. It’s like being in a different place. The capital is there. It’s going to be the best in the world”, the US president told soldiers and law enforcement officers.
On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Union Station and ordered burgers from a fast food restaurant as protesters chanted against them.
Trump  first suggested federalizing law enforcement in Washington after an employee of his Department of Government Efficiency’s cost-cutting Department was assaulted early this month.
On Friday, Hegseth ordered National Guard troops in Washington to start carrying firearms, according to the Pentagon.
Washington, why?
Since he entered politics in 2015, Trump has described major cities, which are almost all run by Democrats, as infested by crime, drugs and homelessness.
Some rural conservative beliefs toward liberal cities were echoed by that perception.
Trump has for a while threatened to send the military to dangerous cities, but the US Constitution grants state policing authority, not the federal government.
Washington, DC, however, is not a state. It has no enshrined state rights or no votes in the US Congress as the capital.
The local government has some control over the city thanks to the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973, but the federal government still has some authority. For example, Congress may overturn local resolutions approved by the city council.
Additionally, the law grants the president the 30-day power to take over policing in the capital.
With 92.5 percent of the ballots last year, the city has been ripe for a Trump crackdown because Kamala Harris, who won in Washington against Republican incumbent Donald Trump, has overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party.
Several residents expressed bewilderment to Al Jazeera and questioned the need for patrols by federal forces in crowded metro stations and tourist areas that are low-crime spots.
Iced out . pic . twitter.com/xhexqgmbzS
DC crime
Washington is a city of 700, 000 people with a metropolitan area that extends into suburbs in Maryland and Virginia and encompasses more than six million residents.
According to Kindle, some visitors and Republican officials prefer that Washington appear less touristy and crowded than it is.
They believe this to be Disneyland-like. This is a tourist spot. He claimed that they should be sanitized. They are seeing what their own cities would not.
Despite improvements in recent years, several residents told Al Jazeera that crime still remains a concern in Washington.
The city has a homicide rate of about 25 per 100,000 residents, which is significantly higher than the national average but lower than those in similar cities like Memphis, Tennessee and Detroit, Michigan.
Washington is not listed among the 25 most dangerous cities in the nation according to US News & World Report, which compiles crime data.
Some welcome the National Guard
With 190 incidents recorded this year so far, Washington continues to experience violent property crime, particularly juvenile carjackings.
The White House argued on its website that Washington has the fourth-highest homicide rate in the nation, “nearly six times higher than New York City and also higher than Atlanta, Chicago, and Compton,” in support of troop deployments in the city.
Leroy Miles, a 75-year-old retiree, said “it’s good” that federal forces are helping the local police.
Miles claimed he disliked Trump and called him a “crook”; however, he also alleged that local authorities had failed to do a good job of preventing crime.
“These young people are robbing and killing,” the statement read. They’re carjacking. They also require some form of outdated law and order, according to Miles, who has lived in Washington all his life.
What’s happening is that many people don’t like it but it might work, he said.
Less secure, then.
Parker argued that Washington’s absence of a crime crisis “does not mean that we don’t have more work to do.”
“There are ways in which our local government can productively work with the federal government”, Parker said.
“And what is happening here, where there are National Guards, people deployed, and federal officers, including those from other states, is not the way. This is not the proper course of action.
He underscored that the Republican-controlled Congress has cut and so far failed to restore $1bn in funding for Washington – money that would go to fighting crime, paying police officers and supporting city services that enhance public safety.
The council member praised the National Guard’s soldiers, who are frequently called on to assist in emergencies and natural disasters, but warned that bringing in outsiders to policing the city could erode trust between the citizens and law enforcement.
“I already notice it,” I have heard directly from residents who are second-guessing calling 911 in instances of true emergencies for fear of what’s going to be the outcome or who might show up at their door”, he said.
Parents are complaining that their kids’ first day of school is the following week, and I’m hearing from them. Residents who are voicing their opposition to ICE patrols’ plans to criminalize our neighbors are speaking out.
Parker said the federal crackdown is making Washington “less safe”.
We are ‘We are ‘numb’ to it.
A Washington Post poll released on Wednesday suggested 80 percent of Washington residents oppose “Trump taking control of DC’s police and federal troops patrolling the streets” while 72 percent of respondents favour the city becoming a state.
Another factor causing protests against the Trump takeover is the loss of local control in a place where tax-paying citizens lack federal voting rights.
According to Parker, “We have allowed the disenfranchisement of Washingtonians, and now there is an effort to undermine the local autonomy we do have.”
Wes, a Washington resident who wished to be identified by his first name only, citing fear of reprisal by the government, warned that the tensions around the issue could boil over.
“We’re hysterical,” You have people who are afraid to leave their homes, Wes said outside the Columbia Heights metro station, which had been heavily ICE-occupied earlier this week.
“You got people scared to walk the streets like they used to because of this show of force. We have no faith in the police in this place. You now bring a person who we don’t know but who is completely untrained. They’re not even from here. They are ignorant of how this city operates.
He claimed that Trump would be to blame for the rise in riots and violent riots as people become angry with excessive policing and social programs.