Defending champion

Pete Sampras Pete Sampras (born August 12, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player. One of the most successful tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the A ...

defeated

Michael Chang Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked world No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in 1996. Chang is the youngest man in history to win a singl ...

in the final, 6–1, 6–4, 7–6^(7–3) to win the men's singles tennis title at the 1996 US Open. It was his fourth US Open title and eighth

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

title overall. Sampras saved a match point en route to the title, in the quarterfinals against

Àlex Corretja Alejandro Corretja Verdegay (; born 11 April 1974) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in 1999. Corretja won 17 ATP Tour singles titles, incl ...

. 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

, world No. 8

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...

, and world No. 9

Jim Courier James Spencer Courier (born August 17, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 58 ...

(all Americans) were seeded above their

ATP ranking The PIF ATP Rankings (previously known as the Pepperstone ATP Rankings) are the merit-based method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for determining the qualification for entry as well as the seeding of players in all single ...

at numbers 2, 6, and 8 respectively. Other top players were also seeded above their ranking, including world No. 6

Goran Ivanišević Goran Ivanišević (; born 13 September 1971) is a Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in July 1994. Ivanišević won 22 ATP To ...

(seeded fourth) and world No. 7

Richard Krajicek Richard Peter Stanislav Krajicek (; born 6 December 1971) is a Dutch former professional tennis player and tournament director. Krajicek won 17 singles titles during his career, including the 1996 Wimbledon Championships, becoming the first (an ...

(seeded fifth). 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 professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Muster ...

(seeded third), world No. 5

Boris Becker Boris Franz Becker (; born 22 November 1967) is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Becker won 49 c ...

(seeded sixth), 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 professional tennis p ...

(seeded seventh). Becker eventually withdrew from the tournament with an injury, and Kafelnikov withdrew from the tournament in protest of the seeding. This tournament marked the last major singles appearance of six-time major singles champion

Stefan Edberg Jan Stefan Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in both men's singles and men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), one of two players in the ...

; 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. there are 211 nat ...

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