US Open Introduces Mixed Doubles Event

The US Open’s new mixed doubles event has attracted many tennis stars. This list includes Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and Aryna Sabalenka. These pairs include Emma Navarro and Jannik Sinner, Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz, and Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic. Only 8 pairs are guaranteed a spot; the others will be drawn based on wild cards.

Some players have expressed outrage about the wild cards, some calling it an injustice. Jan Zieliński commented on the lack of communication, tweeting, “No communication with the players… no respect to the history and traditions. Sad to see.” The US Open shrunk the number of pairs from 32 to 16. As mentioned above, eight of the teams will be drawn by wild cards. Former doubles world No. 1 Paul McNamee described it as “devaluing” the mixed doubles champion and warned it “will not produce a bona fide mixed doubles winner.” This is due to 8 of the pairs being randomly put together, instead of knowing who your partner would be or whether you would get in or not.

The USTA has also increased the stakes, changing the prize from $200 thousand to $1 million. Instead of 6 games, there will be 4 games in each set. USTA CEO Lew Sherr explained that last year’s “Mixed Madness” exhibition was part of what inspired the decision. In addition, 9 out of 10 men’s and women’s singles are playing this event, causing analysts to believe that it will be very exciting. Carlos Alcaraz remarked that he specifically requested Emma Raducanu as his partner, saying that “she’s going to be the boss.”

Overall, it’s a risky decision that some support but others criticize. There are nearly equal chances of it going extremely well or being extremely underwhelming, since it’s exclusively over 2 days. The results of this event could very well change the U.S. Open in many different ways.