The day after the conclusion of the 2026 NCAA Tennis Championships in Athens, Georgia, USTA announced that the second annual American Collegiate Player Wildcard Playoffs – featuring the best American men’s and women’s college tennis players competing for six total wild card entries into the US Open – will be played June 16-18 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
The winners of a four-player men’s and women’s singles playoff and a four-team men’s and women’s doubles playoff will earn US Open main draw singles and doubles wild cards, while the men’s and women’s singles finalists will earn US Open Qualifying wild cards.
The event was a big success in its first year and is poised to become a signature event on the American tennis calendar, as discussed here “USTA’s U.S. Open Collegiate Wild Card Event Can Grow Into An Important Part of American Tennis Landscape” https://worldtennismagazine.com/ustas-u-s-open-collegiate-wild-card-event-can-grow-into-an-important-part-of-american-tennis-landscape/25175
All matches will be played at the USTA National Campus’ Collegiate Center each night of the event (Tuesday–Thursday), with start times to be confirmed. Admission is free. Cracked Racquets will provide streaming coverage.
The full player fields will be selected on Wednesday, May 27. Player selections will be determined by a committee made up of USTA staff, college tennis coaches and an ITA representative. This season’s American NCAA singles and doubles champions and finalists earned automatic entry on both sides: men’s singles champion Michael Zheng (Columbia) and finalist Trevor Svajda (SMU); women’s singles champion Reese Brantmeier (North Carolina); and men’s doubles finalists Nikita Filin and Brandon Carpico (Ohio State).
The remaining slots will be filled based on a number of factors, including 2025-26 match record, ITA ranking, ATP/WTA ranking, professional and head-to-head results, and more.
The second-year playoff is part of an expanded NCAA-linked wild card pilot program that guarantees at least six US Open wild cards to American collegiate players each year, coinciding with the NCAA DI Individual Championships shifting to the fall. Last year, both winning doubles teams – Brantmeier and Alanis Hamilton (UNC) and Cooper Williams and Theo Winegar (Duke) – reached the second round at the US Open. Last year’s winners were Stefan Dostanic of Wake Forest and Valerie Glozman of Stanford.
American NCAA champions that have previously benefited from the US Open wild card as way to jumpstart their professional careers include Danielle Collins (Virginia – 2014, ‘16); Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA – 2016); Emma Navarro (Virginia – 2021); Ben Shelton (Florida – 2022); and Peyton Stearns (Texas – 2022).
