US Open announces radical mixed doubles change as event targets top singles players
The US Open has announced a radical overhaul of its mixed doubles event – with the competition moving to two days in qualifying week in an attempt to attract top singles players.
The mixed doubles will take place between 16 pairs, halving the number of entrants from last year's event, and will be staged on the two biggest courts, Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong, over Tuesday 19 August and Wednesday 20 August.
It means that the mixed doubles champions will be decided before even the draw for the singles events are confirmed.
The scoring system, until the final, will be sets played to four games with sudden death deuce and a tiebreak at 4-4, with a 10-point tiebreak instead of the third set. The final will be the same but with normal six-game sets.
Most controversially for tour doubles players, eight pairs will earn entry based on their combined singles ranking with the other eight pairs decided by the US Open's wildcard committee.
Top American singles players Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz have already committed to the event. Six-time Grand Slam doubles champion Rajeev Ram criticised the entry process, with the world's best doubles players likely to miss out on playing mixed doubles in favour of top singles players.
The prize money for the winning pair will also rise to $1m, an increase of $800,000 from 2024.
'This is something we're really excited about,' Lew Sherr, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) chief executive, told The Athletic.
'I'm hopeful this becomes a new franchise and tentpole in tennis, not just at the U.S. Open, but elsewhere and throughout the year to attract more folks.
'It truly is something unique in sport where you have the best athletes, male and female, competing on the same field of play at the same time against one another. It doesn't exist in other professional sports.
'This is not an exhibition. This is a Grand Slam championship with significant prize money at stake. And we think it is unique and singular in sports. Our broadcasters all feel the same way.'
Sherr added that the success of an exhibition 'Mixed Madness' event in the build-up to last year's US Open, which was won by Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas, encouraged executives to make the radical move.
'From every reaction that we received, including broadcasters, players, it was unequivocally a success,' he added.
'That emboldened us to go further, which is where we are today.'
The semifinals and final will air on ESPN2 in the US, while matches will be made available to Sky Sports and therefore viewers in the UK.
The announcement comes a few weeks after the Grand Slam held in New York confirmed a Sunday start date, extending the tournament to 15 days in line with the Australian Open and French Open. Wimbledon, however, will not be following suit, as confirmed by Tim Henman.
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Telegraph
26 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Why Oakmont is the world's scariest golf course
It had not happened to Paul Casey before and has not happened to anyone since. When the Englishman walked towards the recorder's hut in the 2007 US Open, his fellow pros on the practice green put down their putters and delivered a collective round of applause. Casey had not won – it was only the Friday – but with a 66 he had, for one day only, conquered Oakmont. 'That was a one-off, not just my score, but the reaction from the guys,' Casey told Telegraph Sport. 'Anywhere else and you shoot a good score and all you get from them is a grunt of 'Well done'. It just shows the difficulty of Oakmont. It bites and it bites hard.' Indeed, the joke in the clubhouse is that the 18 holes would be more appropriately placed in Transylvania than Pennsylvania. The members cherish its reputation as the hardest course on the major rotas – maybe too much – and love to repeat the statement of the founder's son, WC Fownes: 'Let the clumsy, the spineless and the alibi makers stand aside.' When his father, Henry Clay Fownes, designed the layout in 1903 he did so with the intent of replicating the unyielding nature of the links he encountered during his formative years in Britain. Fownes was not thinking major headaches for the multi-millionaire superstars of the next century, but only of the locals at that time and to this day they are unique in demanding their greenstaff ensure it is kept at championship severity. Another quip in the spikes bar is that the greens – described by Jack Nicklaus as 'the quickest and most daunting in the world' – are actually slowed down for US Open week. At least, the eavesdroppers assume it is a quip. Gilbert Hanse is not so sure. The renowned architect was brought in a few years ago to update the layout but was definitely not handed carte blanche. He was given one order from the club: 'It better not be easier when you're done.' Jim Furyk was born in Pittsburgh and knows the Oakmont denizens well. 'I don't know if they're gluttons for punishment, but they are very proud of their course and the fact that it's hosted more US Opens than any other,' Furyk, twice a runner-up here, said. 'I think a lot of them hold memberships at other clubs so as not to get their rear end kicked all the time.' They cannot wait to see their pride and joy taking lumps out of the game's elite. They are golfing ghouls, the type of sadists who would be minded to crowd on the bridges on the M6 just to watch the crashes, which is ironic as there is an actual motorway going through the middle of Oakmont Country Club. The course is elevated, so the drivers have no idea what they are zooming past. But if they turn off the radio and open their windows they might hear the wails coming from up above. Rory McIlroy shot an 81 in practice – ' I birdied the last two and felt I played well ' – and Scottie Scheffler has been similarly flummoxed. 'This is probably the hardest golf course that we'll play,' the world No 1 said. 'Maybe ever.' The ferocity of the challenge is written all over the scorecards. In its 98-year status as a US Open venue, 1,385 players have teed it up and only 28 have finished under par, according to the United States Golf Association. What makes it such a fearsome test? Four factors. The tightness of the fairways (at an average of 27 yards wide); the thickness of the rough (five inches tall and extra juicy); the malevolence of the bunkers (175 in number and callously deep); and the slopes and speed of the greens. The latter defines everything. The unparalleled putting surfaces – if you think Augusta's have gradients, they are but salt flats compared to these pistes – are so difficult to hold the ball on that the golfer must be playing their approach from the fairway. Nightmare fuel. 😱 #TeamTaylorMade — TaylorMade Golf (@TaylorMadeGolf) June 10, 2025 Saying that, those errant off tee will only be chopping out from the rough anyway. And the thick stuff surrounding the greens means that you will see pitches travelling a few inches. There are hundreds of spotters, but the wise money is at least a few balls being lost in the cabbage. And there is no first cut, so this could occur a matter of feet from the fairway. With four putts an inevitability, expect fury from the participants. And if it does not rain, mutiny could be in the air. 'The fairways have strong slopes, making them extra narrow if firm, ' Paul McGinley, the former Ryder Cup captain and Sky pundit said. 'The greens are the fastest and most undulating in golf. Firm ground conditions would produce scoring carnage.' McGinley predicts a five-under winning total if the thunderstorms strike. But the forecasters say that it is 50-50. If the weather remains warm. 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Reuters
3 hours ago
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Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Paige Spiranac sets pulses racing in revealing outfit as golf glamour girl previews US Open
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