US Open 2026: Dates Every Pool Player Should Know

Every pool has that one member who asks "wait, when do picks lock?" the morning of the deadline. This post is for sending to them in advance.

Here is the US Open 2026 calendar as it matters to pool players — what happens, when it happens (all times Eastern), and what each date means for your picks.

The three dates that matter

That's the skeleton. Now the detail.

Now through draw day: get the pool built

You don't need the draw to get organized — and you shouldn't wait for it. Creating a pool takes about a minute: pick a game mode (Survivor, Bracket, or Bracket Scores), choose the men's or women's draw, name the pool, and share the invite link with your group. Everyone can join now, settle the buy-in question now, and trash-talk now.

Picks are the only thing that has to wait, because picks need a draw. The moment it's published, your pool opens for them automatically.

This window is also when the commissioner should make the format call. Full Draw locks before the first ball, so a group of busy people needs those days between the draw and Sunday to fill out brackets. The Sweet 16 format doesn't even start until the Round of 16 — more on that below.

Two setup details worth deciding now rather than on deadline day: which draw your pool follows (every pool tracks one singles draw — men's or women's — chosen at creation; run one of each if the group wants both), and whether members may enter more than once (the commissioner can allow up to 10 entries per member, each playing separately on the leaderboard). Both are creation-time choices, so make them while the calendar is still quiet.

Around August 27: the draw drops

Roughly three days before play, the US Open holds its draw ceremony and 128 names land in each singles bracket — men's and women's. This is the starting gun for pool players:

• Full Draw brackets open. All 127 match slots are pickable. The one-tap autofill starts you from the favorites; flipping your upsets takes a few minutes.
• Survivor opens. You can lock in your Round 1 pick — and more importantly, sketch who you'd use in all seven rounds. The no-reuse rule punishes people who plan one round at a time.
• The arguments begin. Who got the brutal quarter, which seed is in trouble early, whether your champion pick's path just got easier. This is the good part; don't rush it.

Sunday, August 30: first ball

Play begins in Flushing Meadows, and the deadline logic is simple: everything locks when the tennis it predicts starts.

• Full Draw brackets lock at the tournament's first ball. All 127 picks, one deadline. Miss it and you're a spectator (in that pool, anyway).
• Survivor Round 1 locks at the same moment. After that, survivor picks lock round by round — each round's deadline is its first match. You can change any pick freely until it locks.
• The tiebreaker locks with your bracket picks — total games in the final, closest without going over.

TennisPools emails a reminder before every deadline, but reminders only help people who joined the pool. Get your group in early.

August 30 – September 13: two weeks of scoreboard

From the first ball on, there's nothing to submit in a bracket pool and nothing for the commissioner to do. Every match is scored automatically as it finishes, the leaderboard updates live, and survivor members pick round by round with a reminder before each deadline.

One date inside the fortnight matters for latecomers: the start of the Round of 16, about a week in. That's when the Sweet 16 format — the 15-pick, Round-of-16-onward bracket — opens and locks (it opens once the R16 field is set and locks at the first R16 match). It's also the last moment you can start a Survivor pool: survivor pools can be created mid-tournament any time up until the Round of 16 begins, starting at the next round. So even if your office doesn't get its act together until September, you're not shut out.

The pool player's checklist

• This week: create the pool, share the link, pick your format, settle the buy-in (the commissioner collects it directly — TennisPools tracks who's paid and never takes a cut).
• Around Aug 27: draw drops. Fill out brackets, plan survivor paths.
• Before first ball Aug 30: every Full Draw bracket and Survivor Round 1 pick locked, tiebreakers in.
• After that: watch the tennis. The pool runs itself.

Fifteen days of Grand Slam tennis, and the best seat is the one with a leaderboard attached. Start your US Open pool while it's still August.