Essential guide to the 2026 American hard court season
• 5 minute read
As the grass court season comes to an end, tennis heads to North America for the hard court swing – all leading up to the US Open in New York.
Here, we break down every WTA and ATP Tour tournament on the schedule for the 2026 American hard court season, including dates, events, players to watch and how to follow the action in Great Britain.
2025 American hard court season recap
At the US Open, then world No.1s Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz secured more Grand Slam success in New York.
Sabalenka defended her women’s singles title after defeating home favourite Amanda Anisimova in the final. This marked her fourth and most recent Grand Slam title.
Meanwhile, Alcaraz produced an incredible performance to see off his biggest rival Jannik Sinner 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Young Canadian Victoria Mboko won her first WTA 1000 tournament in her home tournament at the National Bank Open – beating Naomi Osaka in the final.
Ben Shelton was crowned the men’s singles champion after a three-set epic final against Karen Khachanov.
At the Cincinnati Open, Iga Swiatek won the women’s singles title for the first time in her career after a straight sets win over Jasmine Paolini, while Alcaraz took home the men’s trophy.
Other American hard court champions from last year included Leylah Fernandez (Washington), Alex De Minaur (Washington), Diana Shnaider (Monterrey), Iva Jovic (Guadalajara), Denis Shapovalov (Los Cabos), and Martin Fucsovics (Winston-Salem).
Must-watch tournaments of the American hard court season
|
Dates |
Event |
Location |
|
27 July – 1 August |
Mifel Tennis Open (ATP 250) |
Los Cabos, Mexico |
|
27 July – 2 August |
Mubadala DC Open (ATP 500 & WTA 500) |
Washington, USA |
|
27 July – 2 August |
Memphis Classic (WTA 250) |
Memphis, USA |
|
2-13 August |
National Bank Open presented by Rogers (ATP Masters 1000 & WTA 1000) |
Montreal & Toronto, Canada |
|
13-22 August |
Cincinnati Open (ATP Masters 1000 & WTA 1000) |
Cincinnati, USA |
|
23-29 August |
Abierto GNP Seguros (WTA 500) |
Monterrey, Mexico |
|
23-29 August |
Winston-Salem Open (ATP 250) |
Winston-Salem, USA |
|
23 August – 13 September |
US Open (Grand Slam) |
New York, USA |
|
13-19 September |
Guadalajara Open (WTA 500) |
Guadalajara, Mexico |
|
14-20 September |
SP Open (WTA 250) |
Sao Paulo, Brazil |
Changes for the 2026 American hard court season
The biggest change to the calendar this year is the return of the Memphis Classic WTA 250 from 27 July – 2 August.
This will be the first time an event has been held in Memphis since 2013, when it was an indoor tournament. The latest edition of the Memphis Classic will be an outdoor hard court event.
Players to watch out for in the 2026 American hard court season
A big area of focus coming into the American hard court season will be the players returning from injury.
There is hope that reigning US Open and Australian Open champion Alcaraz could return to the court, while from a British perspective, Jack Draper and Sonay Kartal are aiming for comebacks. At the same time, Emma Raducanu’s next scheduled event is the US Open.
Elsewhere on the women’s side, world No.1 Sabalenka is still the player to beat on her favourite surface – but will face stiff competition from a strong WTA Tour.
2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff will be hoping to build on her semi-final run at Wimbledon as she returns to home soil, and world No.3 Jessica Pegula is also enjoying a brilliant season with titles in Dubai and Charleston.
Mirra Andreeva will be looking to add to her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, all eyes will be on newly crowned Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, and Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk has emerged as one of the in-form players of the year.
Sinner has seen his hard court dominance disrupted by Alcaraz over the last year and the five-time major winner will be hard to stop in 2026.
American Shelton has had an up-and-down season but is at his most deadly on the hard courts. Rising stars Joao Fonseca and Rafael Jodar will also be ones to watch over the next few months.
British fans will be keen to see how Arthur Fery progresses after his dream Wimbledon semi-final run, while Cam Norrie hopes to bounce back to form after his grass court campaign. Katie Boulter already has a hard court title this year in Ostrava and Francesca Jones is on the rise after winning the WTA 125 Rome.
Past British success in the US hard court swing
US Open
Virginia Wade, Andy Murray and Raducanu are the three British players to have won US Open singles titles.
Wade won the first women’s singles event in the Open Era back in 1968. Murray lifted his first Grand Slam at the US Open in 2012, four years after making his first final in New York. Meanwhile, Raducanu made history in 2021 as the first qualifier to win a major title, and did so without dropping a set along the way.
Other former British US Open champions in the Open Era include:
• Peter Curtis (mixed doubles)
• Roger Taylor (men’s doubles)
• Jamie Murray (men’s & mixed doubles)
• Joe Salisbury (men’s & mixed doubles)
• Alfie Hewett (wheelchair men’s singles & doubles)
• Jordanne Whiley (wheelchair women’s singles & doubles)
• Peter Norfolk (wheelchair quad singles)
• Andy Lapthorne (wheelchair quad singles & doubles)
• Gordon Reid (wheelchair men’s doubles)
National Bank Open
Murray has won the Canadian Open three times in his career in 2009, 2010 and 2015. It was one of only two ATP Masters 1000 events that Murray won on three occasions.
Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool are the reigning men’s doubles champions heading into 2026. Anne Hobbs, Salisbury and Neal Skupski are all past winners.
Cincinnati Open
In the Open Era, Wade was the first British winner in Cincinnati, coming through the 1971 final against Linda Tuero.
Murray is a two-time champion in Cincinnati in 2008 and 2011, defeating Djokovic in both finals, and also lost in the 2016 final to Marin Cilic.
Tim Henman also reached the final in 2000, losing out to Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist. Jamie Murray and Salisbury are both past doubles champions.
Other
In recent years, Dan Evans was crowned champion at the 2023 Citi Open in Washington, the biggest title of his career.
Norrie landed his maiden ATP title at Los Cabos in 2021, where he beat Taylor Fritz and Brandon Nakashima.
Johanna Konta lifted her first WTA title in Stanford back in 2016, defeating Venus Williams in the final.
Heather Watson won the 2016 Monterrey title when the event was played in March instead of its current place in the WTA calendar.
Who is considered the best hard court tennis player of all time?
A few players level as all-time greats in the American hard court season. On the men’s side, Roger Federer, Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras are all equal with five US Open titles.
However, many would argue that Djokovic’s 10 Australian Open titles, four US Open trophies, and 10 finals in New York make him the best men’s hard court player of all time. He also has the best winning record on hard courts in Grand Slams at 88% (199-26).
On the women’s side, Serena Williams and Chris Evert are level on six US Open singles titles each.
Williams is arguably the best hard court tennis player of all-time, having won the most matches at the US Open (108) and also lifting a record seven Australian Open trophies on hard courts.
How to watch the 2026 American hard court season
All WTA and ATP matches across the American hard court season – including Canada, Cincinnati and the US Open – will be available to stream exclusively on Sky Sports Tennis and Now TV.
