Arthur Fery Draws Musetti on US Open Debut as British Hopes Reshape Without Draper and Raducanu
Arthur Fery will make his US Open main-draw debut against Lorenzo Musetti, the Italian who reached the quarter-finals of this tournament in 2025, after the first-round draw paired the 24-year-old Briton with the world number 15 in New York.
Fery, now ranked 37th in the world, broke into the top 40 for the first time after a run at Wimbledon that saw him push Grigor Dimitrov to a fifth set on Centre Court (BBC Sport). That result — and the ranking rise it triggered — earned him direct entry into the final Grand Slam of the year without needing to qualify. His career prize money on the ATP Tour stands at $1,593,304 (ATP Tour).
The draw hands him an immediate test. Musetti, seeded 15th on the US Open entry list, reached the last eight in New York 12 months ago and brings a clay-court pedigree that translates onto hard courts when his one-handed backhand is firing. Entry list positions placed Jannik Sinner at world No. 1, Alexander Zverev at No. 2 and Carlos Alcaraz at No. 3 for the men's singles (US Open).
Fery is not the only Briton facing a steep opener. Cameron Norrie, the British men's number one and the 29th seed — the seeding that protects top players from meeting each other early — plays France's Luca van Assche. Jan Choinski, who cracked the world's top 100 for the first time in June at the age of 30, meets Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands. Van de Zandschulp beat Carlos Alcaraz in the second round of the 2024 US Open, so Choinski's opener is no soft landing.
On the women's side, Katie Boulter was the only British woman guaranteed a main-draw spot through her ranking. She faces American wildcard Carol Young Suh Lee, ranked 143rd, in the first round. Six more British players — Francesca Jones, Jacob Fearnley, Toby Samuel, Heather Watson, Harriet Dart and Harry Wendelken — aimed to reach the main draws through their final qualifying matches (BBC Sport).
Two familiar names are absent. Jack Draper, who reached the 2024 US Open semi-finals, withdrew because of a long-term arm injury. Emma Raducanu, the 2021 champion, is sidelined with a shin fracture that also forced her to miss Wimbledon.
For Fery, the draw lands at a moment of momentum. He returned to action at the Cincinnati Open earlier this month, beating Damir Dzumhur in the first round before losing to Otto Virtanen (Tennishead). That was his first tennis since Wimbledon. Now he steps onto the Flushing Meadows courts for the first time in the main draw, seeded in the mid-30s, with a quarter-finalist standing across the net.
A debut against Musetti is about as demanding as unseeded draws get. But Fery has already shown, on Centre Court no less, that he can trade with the established order.
