Venus Williams and Reilly Opelka among pairs hoping to compete in US Open mixed doubles

New York Times

21-07-2025

The U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament keeps getting more intriguing.
With the deadline for registration approaching next week, the United States Tennis Association released an updated list of teams hoping to compete for the $1million in prize money during the week before the singles and doubles competitions take place.
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The new list of teams, 25 in all – nine more than the roster the USTA released last month – had another collection of big names, including Venus Williams, the 45-year-old seven-time singles Grand Slam winner, who wants to team up with Reilly Opelka, literally the biggest player in the sport, when measured by height. Opelka is nearly seven feet tall.
Amanda Anisimova, a finalist in singles at Wimbledon, wants to play with Holger Rune.
Some notable names have also dropped off. Jack Draper and Zheng Qinwen are no longer on the list. Both are injured. Draper pulled out of the Canadian Open with an arm injury; Zheng just underwent elbow surgery.
Stefano Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa have taken a pass. They, too, have been dealing with chronic injuries. Also, after two years of romance, they recently unfollowed each other on social media and removed pictures from their individual channels – never a good sign for a mixed doubles partnership, on or off the court.
For those who want romance from their mixed doubles though, there is some relief. Alex de Minaur and Katie Boulter, the Aussie-Brit couple who are engaged, have signed on.
Many of the biggest-name teams, several of which the USTA organized in a fit of match-making, seeking to bring attention and interest in mixed doubles, are still there. That includes, Jannik Sinner and Emma Navarro, Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu, Novak Djokovic and Olga Danilovic, Aryna Sabalenka and Grigor Dimitrov, and Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud.
However, the new entrants include a slew of hard-core and successful doubles players. That means the USTA is going to have some hard decisions to make about its priorities for the 16-team field.
The top eight teams with the best combined singles ranking next week will gain automatic entry. The USTA will award wild cards to the next eight teams.
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Here's the issue: Katerina Siniakova wants to play with Marcelo Arevalo; Desirae Krawczyk wants to play with Evan King; Hsieh Su-Wei wants to play with Jan Zielinski; Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori had already signed up; Gaby Dabrowski wants to play with fellow Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.
All those women are ranked among the top 12 in the WTA doubles rankings. So is Taylor Townsend, the world No. 2 in doubles but No. 97 in singles. She has teamed up with Ben Shelton. Arevalo is the world No. 1. Errani and Vavassori are the defending champions.
What's a tournament organizer to do?
'Earlier this year, the USTA announced the reimagining of the US Open Mixed Doubles Championship, with the goal of driving greater awareness for this storied competition, giving fans both in attendance and across the globe the opportunity to see tennis' biggest stars – both men and women – compete side-by-side for a US Open Grand Slam title,' the USTA said in the statement that accompanied the roster of registrants.
The reimagining included shrinking the tournament to a two-day event scheduled for August 18 and 19 to allow big-time singles players to use it as a competitive warm-up for their singles competitions. The format will be best-of-three sets with a match tiebreak for the third set. Also, the sets are first to four games rather than six.
Several top doubles players have complained that the USTA has turned a legitimate competition into an exhibition. Even Djokovic said recently awarding a Grand Slam title to a team after a two-day competition of mini-matches seemed a bit weird.
Now it appears the organizers may have made it too appealing – and pitted committed doubles players against stars in singles. That said, they have also given themselves an opportunity to test the age-old question of whether two singles stars are better than doubles specialists at their own game.
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The question now though is how many of those doubles specialists will get the opportunity to represent their cohort and how the USTA will justify its choices.
The full list of entrants so far…
Emma Navarro and Jannik Sinner
**Amanda Anisimova and Holger Rune
Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud
Jasmine Paolini and Lorenzo Musetti
Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz
Belinda Bencic and Alexander Zverev
Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev
Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe
Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul
Aryna Sabalenka and Grigor Dimitrov
**Karolina Muchova and Andrey Rublev
Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic
Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz
**Katie Boulter and Alex De Minaur
**Donna Vekic and Hubert Hurkacz
Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios
Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton
**Iva Jovic and Jenson Brooksby
Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori
**Gaby Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime
**Demi Schuurs and Tallon Griekspoor
**Katerina Siniakova and Marcelo Arevalo
**Desirae Krawczyk and Evan King
**Su-Wei Hsieh and Jan Zielinski
**Venus Williams and Reilly Opelka
**Denotes new entrant since initial announcement on 6/17
(Cover photo of De Minaur and Boulter:)