Defending champion

Pete Sampras Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...

defeated Michael Chang in the final, 6–1, 6–4, 7–6^(7–3) to win the men's singles tennis title at the 1996 US Open. Sampras saved a match point en route to the title, in the quarterfinals against Àlex Corretja. There, Sampras had a stomach bug and vomited during the fifth set, prompting a warning from the referee for delaying the match. He eventually won the fifth set in a tiebreak, 7–6^(9–7). In the draw for the tournament, there were accusations of American favoritism as world No. 3 Michael Chang, world No. 8

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major champion and an Tennis at the 1996 Summer Olympic ...

, and world No. 9 Jim Courier (all Americans) were seeded above their world ranking at numbers 2, 6, and 8 respectively. Other players were seeded above their world ranking, including world No. 6

Goran Ivanišević Goran Ivanišević (; born 13 September 1971) is a Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach. He is the only player to win a Wimbledon singles title as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001 while ranked world No. 125, after ...

(seeded at number 4) and world No. 7

Richard Krajicek Richard Peter Stanislav Krajicek ( cz, Krajíček; born 6 December 1971) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. In 1996, he won the men's singles title at Wimbledon, and remains the only Dutch player to have won a major singles title. In ...

(seeded at number 5). Conversely, other players were seeded below their world ranking, including world No. 2

Thomas Muster Thomas Muster (born 2 October 1967) is an Austrian former world No. 1 tennis player. One of the world's leading clay court players in the 1990s, he won the 1995 French Open and at his peak was called "The King of Clay". In addition, he won eig ...

(seeded at number 3), world No. 5

Boris Becker Boris Franz Becker (, ; born 22 November 1967) is a German former world No. 1 tennis player. Becker was successful from the start of his career, winning the Wimbledon Championships at the age of 17. He ultimately won six Grand Slam singles tit ...

(seeded at number 6), and world No. 4

Yevgeny Kafelnikov Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis p ...

(seeded at number 7). Becker withdrew from the tournament with an injury, and Kafelnikov withdrew from the tournament in protest of the seeding. This marked the last

major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

appearance of

Stefan Edberg Stefan Bengt Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 19 ...

; he lost to Ivanišević in the quarterfinals.

Seeds

The seeded players are listed below.

is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated.

Qualifying

Draw

Final eight

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Bottom half

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

External links

Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) – 1996 US Open Men's Singles draw1996 US Open – Men's draws and results
at the

International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:1996 US Open - Men's Singles Men's singlesMen's singles US Open (tennis) by year – Men's singles