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Sports · US Open 2026 · Men's Singles · Round of 128
Lloyd Harris vs 
Jack Kennedy
Sunday, August 30, 2026 · Round of 128
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Lloyd Harris to advance · locked 2026-08-29 01:40 UTCPrediction
Harris qualified at 139th; Kennedy is an 18-year-old wild card ranked 386th with a 0–1 career hard-court record. The gap is stark, but the context is the interesting part: Harris made the quarter-finals here in 2021 and has 171 career hard-court matches behind him, and he is 3–4 this season because injury has taken most of the last four years. Whoever wins runs into Tsitsipas or Fils. Harris in three.
The case for Lloyd Harris
85% to winHarris has been to a US Open quarter-final and is 100–71 on hard courts for his career; Kennedy has played one tour-level hard-court match and lost it. Three qualifying wins this week means Harris is sharp, and an 18-year-old wild card is not the opponent to expose rust.
The case for Jack Kennedy
15% to winKennedy is 18, at home, and on a wild card — the exact circumstances in which American teenagers have made first-round noise here before. Harris's 3–4 season and 1677 hard-court Elo are a long way from the player who made the 2021 quarter-finals.
Both cases written 2026-08-29, before the first ball — frozen into the record exactly as written, whatever the result. The percentages are mine — opinions with a percent sign on. They add to 100 because tennis has no draw to hide the rounding in.
Tale of the tape
Lloyd HarrisJack KennedyPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-08-28.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-28.
The briefing
Storylines
- Kennedy, 18, is making his Grand Slam debut on a US Open wild card, ranked 386th.
- Harris reached the quarter-finals here in 2021; he arrives now through qualifying at 139th.
- The winner meets Stefanos Tsitsipas or Arthur Fils in the second round.
Head to head
They have never met. Kennedy has a 0–1 career record on tour-level hard courts.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-28.
Watch: Opening-round coverage runs across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, with ESPN Deportes in Spanish — and every court streams in the ESPN app, including the whip-around channel that only exists in the early rounds. (ESPN press-room release and listings, as of 2026-08-27)
Court & schedule: Court 12, Sunday 30 August. The US Open posts each day's order of play the evening before; this one is on the board. (Official US Open order of play, as of 2026-08-28)
Weather: The forecast cooled since the draw: Sunday opens partly sunny near 80°F with a slight shower chance after 2 p.m., and a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms arrives with Sunday night. Monday is similar at 81°F, and the storm odds climb through Tuesday and Wednesday. Ashe and Armstrong close their roofs; the field courts wait. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-08-28)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.
At this Stage
The Round of 128 is the widest the net ever gets: 64 matches a draw, spread across three days, every seed in action and every qualifier playing the biggest match of the year. This half of the bracket filled in late — qualifying ran a day long after rain pushed the last round to Friday, so these names were still blank slots on draw night. First-round losers leave with $140,000. The winner draws Tsitsipas or Fils in the Round of 64.
