Francesca Jones was the last one standing, and she made Iva Jovic work for the best part of two hours before the 14th seed closed out a 6-4, 6-4 win on the Flushing Meadows outside courts. With that, the 2026 US Open singles draws were emptied of British players — the fourth time in five majors that no Briton has reached the second week of a Grand Slam.
What makes the wipeout awkward is the number that preceded it. Nine British players made the main draws in New York, the highest total since 1981. Not one of them won a second-round match.
Nine in, none through
The men’s contingent was six strong and produced two genuine wins. Toby Samuel, a qualifier ranked 110, dismantled Tomas Machac 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round before running into 18th seed Jiri Lehecka. Jacob Fearnley, who had actually lost in qualifying and got in as a lucky loser, beat Martin Landaluce 4-6, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 across five sets and then lost in four to Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Elsewhere it was thinner. British No. 1 Cameron Norrie went out in the first round to Luca Van Assche, taking the opening set on a tie-break and winning six games thereafter. Arthur Fery, two months on from the run of his life at Wimbledon, was beaten 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 by 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti. Jan Choinski lost to Botic van de Zandschulp. Harry Wendelken, a qualifier on his US Open debut, at least took a set off 21st seed Luciano Darderi.
The women’s draw told a similar story with a harsher punchline. Katie Boulter, who inherits the British No. 1 ranking, came through her opener and was then beaten 6-1, 6-0 by seventh seed Karolina Muchova. Harriet Dart beat Peyton Stearns and lost 6-2, 6-2 to Marie Bouzkova while, by her own admission, under the weather. Jones beat Magda Linette to reach round two before Jovic ended it.
Hovering over all of it were the two absentees. Emma Raducanu, the 2021 champion here, withdrew with a stress fracture — her sixth Grand Slam miss in four years. Jack Draper, a US Open semi-finalist in 2024 and a former world No. 4, has been reduced to a ranking of 141 by an arm problem that has now dragged on 18 months. Britain’s two most gifted players did not hit a ball in New York.
The case for the defence
The counter-argument starts with Fery. In July he arrived at Wimbledon ranked 114 with a wildcard and left as a semi-finalist, beating ninth seed Flavio Cobolli 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-0 on Centre Court before losing to Alexander Zverev. He was the first wildcard to reach the men’s semi-finals at the All England Club since Goran Ivanisevic in 2001, and the run took him from 114 to a career-high 36.
That is not an isolated data point. Four different Britons have reached Grand Slam semi-finals since 2021 — a rate the country had not managed in the three decades before Andy Murray. Five British men will sit inside the world’s top 100 after this tournament, the most since February 2024, with Jones and Dart back on the cusp on the women’s side.
The doubles courts remain the reliable ones. Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara came to New York as top seeds, Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool arrived as Wimbledon champions and ninth seeds, and Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski are still collecting deep runs. Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid lead a wheelchair programme that continues to produce major titles at a rate the singles players cannot match.
What it means going forward
The structural picture is less flattering. Britain has fewer top-100 players than the United States, Australia and France, and sits behind Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic and Argentina. Twelve British players have passed through the top 100 in eight years; the elite countries churn through that many in a good season.
Cost is the recurring obstacle. Performance coach Chris Marshall puts the bill for funding a 12-year-old at county level at £500 to £1,000 a month once coaching and entry fees are counted — a filter that removes players before anyone has assessed their forehand. Set against that, the LTA points to participation numbers at all-time highs: 4.3 million juniors playing annually, 1.9 million monthly.
Jones, for one, is not panicking. “Do I think it’s something concerning? No, not at all,” she said. “The level is getting better.” She has a point about the level. The harder question is whether nine main-draw entrants who collectively win four matches represents depth or merely volume — and Britain will not get a cleaner answer until Draper’s arm and Raducanu’s back allow the two players capable of changing the conversation to actually play.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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