WTA icon and 7-time slam queen Venus Williams is set to make her US Open return in singles. After two years, the veteran, now 45, will step back on the hard court of her home slam thanks to a wild card invitation. Sounds great, right? But here’s the paradox on the ATP side. Three-time slam champion and former US Open winner Stan Wawrinka, aged 40, will miss out on the event this season. Now, you may ask: did he opt out or was he left behind? To make the growing speculations settle down, the Swiss pro has now come out to spill the truth over his absence from Flushing Meadows.

Wawrinka took to his Instagram story several hours ago and shared Lacoste’s CEO Thierry Guibert’s story. Apparently, Guibert had posted an image featuring Wawrinka with his 2016 US Open men’s singles trophy. Sharing his sentiments and key details on the Swiss pro’s absence from this year’s US Open edition, he simply wrote, “Not invited… A sham #usopen” while emphasizing that “Stan will be missed.” Guess what?

Wawrinka echoed Guibert’s sentiments, and possibly the reason, as he reposted his story on his own IG profile. He let the original story do the talking without mentioning anything himself. It seems one can very much interpret the actual cause.

For the uninitiated, the US Open confirmed this year’s eight wild card entries. The official list included the following ATP players who will compete in the main draw event:

• Tristen Boyer
• Nishesh Basavareddy
• Brandon Holt
• Emilio Nava
• Stefan Dostanic
• Darwin Blanch
• Valentin Royer
• Tristan Schoolkate

To many people’s surprise, Stan Wawrinka, who was given a wild card last year, was nowhere to be seen in this list. The veteran has been receiving wild card invitations lately to the slams given that he’s currently outside of top 100 (No.146). For example, he was awarded WC ticket to this year’s Australian Open and the French Open as well.

So why did the organizers refrain from awarding him the WC this time? While there’s been no official update, fans on social media have got their own, wild explanation.

Stan Wawrinka’s US Open snub and the Jannik Sinner connection

To understand the context, one needs to go back several months back. In early February, following a controversial doping situation, World No.1 Jannik Sinner accepted a three-month suspension owing to an out-of-court settlement with WADA. The agency previously wanted Sinner’s case to be heard at the Court of Arbitration in Sports (CAS). But the Italian’s acceptance for a 90-day ban eventually closed out the case. WADA’s statement revealed that it “entered into a case resolution agreement in the case of Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner, with the player accepting a three-month period of ineligibility for an anti-doping rule violation that led to him testing positive for clostebol, a prohibited substance, in March 2024.”

Moreover, the agency also made it official that Sinner “did not intend to cheat, and that his exposure to clostebol (banned substance) did not provide any performance-enhancing benefit and took place without his knowledge as the result of negligence of members of his entourage.” Still, he had to accept the suspension because “an athlete bears responsibility for the entourage’s negligence”

To many fellow ATP pros, this result seemed like a convenient way for Sinner to get out of the controversy. Simply because the duration of his ban (February 9 to May 4) prevented him from missing out on any slam event. And it was implemented after he already won the Australian Open title in January (his second-straight win in Melbourne). Among those who lashed out at this outcome was also Wawrinka. On X, The former World No.3 wrote, “I don’t believe in a clean sport anymore …”

Fast forward to August 2025, many fans on social media recently came up with a theory. They believe the US Open didn’t give Wawrinka a WC due to his strong reaction to Sinner’s case. So far, however, such speculations haven’t been confirmed. What’s your take on the 40-year-old veteran’s snub from the 2025 edition in New York? Let us know in the comments below.

For the latest news from Flushing Meadows, don’t forget to follow our live blog featuring real-time US Open updates.