U.S. Open mixed doubles entries: Why Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu will need wild card

New York Times

6 hours ago

The U.S. Open's new mixed doubles event has secured entries from the singles stars it was designed to attract. Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka have all expressed interest, but as yet, there is no Coco Gauff.
Nine of the world's top-10 singles players on both the ATP and WTA side have expressed a desire to play in the event, but only eight of the 16 pairs announced Tuesday will receive automatic entry, based on their combined singles ranking as of July 28. The remaining eight spots will be allocated using wild cards, so there is still time for other players, like 2023 singles champion Gauff, to express interest.
The 16 initial entries are as follows, with the top eight eligible for direct entry based on their current ranking:
Some of the most exciting pairs, like U.S. Open singles champions Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu, and compatriots Novak Djokovic and Olga Daniloviċ, would be reliant on the wild cards.
So would Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, who won the event last year but are ranked outside of the world's top 200 for singles. When the new format was announced in February, the Italian pair said in a joint statement on Instagram that: 'Making decisions just following the logic of profit is profoundly wrong in some situations. In the last few weeks we received the news that the U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament will be completely turned upside down, cancelled and replaced with a pseudo-exhibition focused only on entertainment and show.
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'We see it as a profound injustice that disrespects an entire category of players. We don't know at the moment if we'll have the chance to defend our title but we hope this remains an isolated case.'
Martina Navratilova, a 10-time Grand Slam mixed doubles champion (on top of 18 major titles in singles and 31 in women's doubles), said in a video interview at the time that: 'The other teams will be wild cards, which means, what are you going to do — a song and dance routine in front of the ref to get in?'
'It kind of makes a mockery of the event. It's an exhibition, not a proper event.'
The controversially revamped event, which replaces the traditional mixed doubles tournament with a two-day extravaganza primarily for singles players, will take place on Tuesday Aug. 19 and Wednesday Aug. 20 ahead of the singles main draw getting under way Sunday Aug. 24. All matches will be played in Arthur Ashe Stadium or Louis Armstrong Stadium and the event will be broadcast by ESPN. The winning pair will receive $1 million (up from $200,000 last year), and the United States Tennis Association (USTA) believes it will elevate the mixed doubles format by pitting the world's most high-profile players with and against one another.
In a statement sent to The Athletic, a USTA spokesperson said: 'We understand and are sympathetic to the feedback from doubles specialists. We acknowledge that change is difficult, however overall we believe this reimagined Mixed Doubles Championship will elevate mixed doubles with a bigger spotlight and provide a greater opportunity to inspire more people to play and grow the sport.'
The format for the event will be best-of-three-set matches with short sets to four games, no-ad scoring, tiebreakers at four-all and a 10-point match tiebreak in lieu of a third set. The final will be a best-of-three set match to six games, featuring no-ad scoring, with tiebreakers at six-all and a 10-point match tiebreaker in lieu of a third set.
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'The US Open has long strived to find innovative and new ways to make the game more accessible and entertaining for our fans,' said Stacey Allaster, US Open Tournament Director, Tuesday. 'We believe that this reimagined US Open mixed doubles championship will do exactly that, with the top men and women players in tennis competing side-by-side in a fast-paced, highly competitive format.'
(Photos of Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu: Getty Images)