It took place on outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City.

In the men's singles competition, Stan Wawrinka defeated defending champion Novak Djokovic in the final.

Angelique Kerber defeated Karolína Plíšková in the women's singles to become the first German player to win the tournament since Steffi Graf in 1996.

This tournament turned out to be the last one in the career of former No.1 player in the world and 2008 French Open women's singles champion Ana Ivanovic, who announced her retirement from professional tennis at the end of the year.

Due to the 2016 Summer Paralympics, no usual singles, doubles and quad events for men's and women's wheelchair tennis players as part of the UNIQLO tour under the Grand Slam category were played.

This made the US Open the most lucrative and highest paying tennis grand slam in the world, leapfrogging Wimbledon in total prize money fund.

[5][6] On top of listed above, $600,000 will contribute Champions Invitational events prize money, while $1,478,000 is estimated as players' per diem.

The top three men's and top three women's finishers in the 2016 US Open Series also earn bonus prize money at the US Open, with the champions of the Series Bonus Challenge having the opportunity to win $1 million in addition to their tournament prize money.

[24] Djokovic received two medical timeouts midway through but was unable to prevent Wawrinka from winning the set 6–3 and his first US Open title.

Plíšková reached her first grand slam final, having never previously made it past the third round, by beating home favorite Serena Williams in the semi-finals.