US Open 2025: Mixed doubles offers big names, big money and big question mark

Time of India

3 days ago

Carlos Alcaraz will team up with Emma Raducanu at the 2025 US Open mixed doubles event.
For long, doubles has been the overlooked event in tennis. Matches were largely played on the outside courts and moved up to the main courts only as the latter stages of the competition drew in.
The prize money pales in comparison to the singles competitions. The big names, the highlights of the sport, would stay away from doubles and focus on singles.
Even among the doubles events, mixed doubles played the inferior role. It is played only at the four majors and the team events in United Cup and Hopman Cup. The draws are smaller than the men's and women's doubles events. At the COVID-affected 2020 US Open, mixed doubles was one of the events scrapped.
Even when the event has gone ahead, the broadcast coverage has been limited.
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That will all change this year. Carlos Alcaraz, Emma Raducanu,
Novak Djokovic
, Iga Swiatek, Daniil Medvedev, Naomi Osaka, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Belinda Bencic, Ben Shelton, Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz are some of the big names who will be playing the mixed doubles competition.
So what changed, you ask? Plenty. For one, the mixed event will take place before the main draw kicks in on August 24.
It will be played over the course of two days (August 19-20) and held on the Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium - the biggest courts at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center.
The format also sees radical changes that will result in shorter, quicker matches which would be fitting for the singles specialists who can then take a breather before their set of matches get underway.
US Open 2025 mixed doubles format
The event will take place over two days. Day one features the first round and the quarter-finals.
Matches are best-of-three sets, with four games needed to win a set and no advantage at 40–40; the next point wins the game.
If the score is one set all, a 10-point match tie-break decides the winner instead of a third set.
In the final, the format is also best-of-three sets, with sets up to six games and no advantage.
If the sets are split, a 10-point match tie-break will decide the match instead of a third set
Amid the glittering action, fans have lapped up the tickets to see their favourites in doubles action in this new format.
Except the benefits of it will be reaped less by the doubles specialists.
Only two doubles specialists - defending US Open champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori - were initially drafted into the 16-team field. Among the doubles top-10, Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend are the other players in the draw.
US Open 2025 mixed doubles teams
FILE - Novak Djokovic and Olga Danilovic of Serbia laugh on court during their mixed doubles match against Qinwen Zheng and Zhizhen Zhang of China during the United Cup tennis tournament in Perth, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Trevor Collens)
Direct entrants:
Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper
Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud
Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz
Amanda Anisimova and Holger Rune
Belinda Bencic and Alexander Zverev
Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev
Caty McNally and Lorenzo Musetti
Wildcards:
Katerina Siniakova and Jannik Sinner
Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz
Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe
Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic
Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton
Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori
Venus Williams and Reilly Opelka
Karolina Muchova and Andrey Rublev
Naomi Osaka and Gael Monfils
When the announcement was made in June, it created an immediate clamour.
Kristina Mladenovic, who won the 2013 Wimbledon mixed title, said it shouldn't be called a Grand Slam.
Wimbledon mixed doubles champion Sem Verbeek, who is not in the draw and won't be able to target consecutive major titles, was sombre in his assessment: 'As a doubles athlete, my heart is bleeding.'
'A grand slam is a competition steeped in history, in singles and doubles,' said Mladenovic. 'And now, all of a sudden, the doubles becomes a super exhibition without anyone or anything having a say. There's no problem putting on such an event, but above all, don't call it a grand slam!'
FILE - Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, react after defeating Taylor Townsend, of the United States, and Donald Young, of the United States, in the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)
US Open 2025 mixed doubles Prize money
Winners: $1,000,000
Runners-up: $400,000
Semi-finalists: $200,000
Quarter-finalists: $100,000
Round of 16: $20,000
Many agree with that belief. Teams were created based on star status rather than actual camaraderie.
Emma Navarro and Jannik Sinner had barely spoken before they were paired as direct entry into the draw. Ever since, Navarro has pulled out and Sinner, who had illness issues in the Cincinnati Open final, could bow out too. Also not in contention with be USA's Coco Gauff and Tommy Paul.
"It's a glorified exhibition in my eyes," said British doubles star Jamie Murray, as per BBC. And Murray has every reason to hold a gripe - with five, he has the most mixed doubles Grand Slam titles out of any active player.
The opposing argument is that will bring in more eyeballs to tennis and help in an already saturated market. Or as US Open organisers call it, "reimagine" mixed doubles, "elevate" it and bring "greater focus."
US Open 2025 mixed doubles matches
Pegula/Draper vs Raducanu/Alcaraz
Danilovic/Djokovic vs Andreeva/Medvedev
Swiatek/Ruud vs Keys/Tiafoe
Osaka/Monfils vs McNally/Musetti
Siniakova/Sinner vs Bencic/Zverev
Townsend/Shelton vs Anisimova/Rune
Venus/Opelka vs Muchova/Rublev
Errani/Vavassori vs Rybakina/Fritz
"We are always trying to find new initiatives to make our sport more interesting for the fans. I think it is fantastic," Daniela Hantuchova, who won the 2005 US Open mixed doubles title, told BBC Sport.
Signs are already there. Alcaraz and Raducanu have been the biggest headlines since the announcement and Sinner, Swiatek, Venus Williams only take the star quotient higher.
"For the excitement levels and for getting the fans to pack the stadium, it is a cool idea to have that star power come out," Mike Bryan told BBC Sport. "Fans want to see Djokovic, Alcaraz and Sinner even if they are brushing their teeth."
Sure. But to label it as a Grand Slam win, going down in history books, handing the champions a $1 million prize cheque, feels disingenuous. Possibly adding an asterisk over the champions' name won't be the worst idea in such a scenario.
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