1996 US Open – Men's singles

Defending champion Pete Sampras defeated Michael Chang 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 title overall. Sampras saved a match point en route to the title, in the quarterfinals against Àlex Corretja. 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 Michael Chang, world No. 8 Andre Agassi, and world No. 9 Jim Courier (all Americans) were seeded above their ATP ranking at numbers 2, 6, and 8 respectively. Other top players were also seeded above their world ranking, including world No. 6 Goran Ivanišević (seeded fourth) and world No. 7 Richard Krajicek (seeded fifth). Conversely, other players were seeded below their world ranking, including world No. 2 Thomas Muster (seeded third), world No. 5 Boris Becker (seeded sixth), and world No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov (seeded seventh). Becker 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; he lost to Ivanišević in the quarterfinals.

Seeds
The seeded players are listed below. Pete Sampras is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated. • 🇺🇸 Pete Sampras (champion)

• 🇺🇸 Michael Chang (final)

• 🇦🇹 Thomas Muster (quarterfinals)

• Goran Ivanišević (semifinals)

•  Richard Krajicek (first round)

• 🇺🇸 Andre Agassi (semifinals)

• 🇷🇺 Yevgeny Kafelnikov (withdrew)

• 🇺🇸 Jim Courier (withdrew)

•  Wayne Ferreira (first round)

•  Marcelo Ríos (second round)

• 🇺🇸 MaliVai Washington (second round)

• 🇺🇸 Todd Martin (third round)

• 🇸🇪 Thomas Enqvist (fourth round)

• 🇪🇸 Albert Costa (first round)

•  Marc Rosset (first round)

• 🇫🇷 Cédric Pioline (third round)

• 🇪🇸 Félix Mantilla (second round)