Revealed: How Carlos Alcaraz made a 'special request' to partner with Emma Raducanu for box-office US Open mixed doubles - as French Open champion dubs British No1 'the boss'!
Carlos Alcaraz has revealed how his highly anticipated mixed-doubles partnership with Emma Raducanu for this year's US Open came about, and shared how he plans to let the British No1 be 'the boss' on the court.
The French Open champion is one of a number of tennis' biggest stars to have signed up for the new-look competition, which is set to take place before the final Grand Slam of the year.
While some have criticised the shutting-out of tour-level established mixed-doubles pairs, fans were delighted to learn on Tuesday about the 16 star-studded partners competing.
World No1 Jannik Sinner is set to partner Emma Navarro, and his female counterpart Aryna Sabalenka links up with tour veteran Grigor Dimitrov, while British No1 Jack Draper will pair up with Queen's semi-finalist Zheng Qinwen.
But in possibly the most eye-catching of the pairings, Alcaraz will become the first mixed partner of Raducanu's professional career.
Asked about the new arrangement in the aftermath of his first-round match against Adam Walton at Queen's, Alcaraz seemed overwhelmed with his good fortune.
'She's going to be the boss,' the 22-year-old grinned after being asked how the pairing would work in practice.
'The US Open came to us and gave us the opportunities to play mixed doubles. I'm super excited about it. I think it's going to be great. It was an amazing idea for the tournament.
'I've known Emma since a really long time ago, so we know each other. I have a really good relationship with her. So it's just going to be interesting.
'We are going to enjoy it for sure. I will try to put my doubles skill on it. We will try to win. But obviously, it's going to be really, really fun.'
Neither player had a particularly distinguished doubles record, although Alcaraz partnered his compatriot Rafael Nadal at both last year's Olympic Games, and for the legend's Davis Cup farewell in November.
Raducanu will be the novice of the pairing, however, having won her first doubles match of her career just last week when she partnered fellow Briton Katie Boulter for the debut of their 'Boultercanu' double act.
The pair were despatched in the second round at Queen's by number-one seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Erin Routliffe, but Raducanu seemed sufficiently won over by the new format, writing 'long live Boultercanu' on the camera after her second-round singles win against Rebecca Sramkova.
When asked how the partnership came about, Alcaraz continued to explain, adding: 'The tournament told us about the mixed tournament.
'I was thinking that I couldn't play better if it wasn't with Emma. I just asked Emma if she wants to play doubles with me. Yeah, I made that special request.'
'She took a while (to respond),' he joked. 'No, not that much, not that much.
'But obviously she had to ask, and she had to think a little bit. But it wasn't a minute, so...'
Weighing on Raducanu's mind may have been her abortive first attempt at mixed doubles, which saw her withdraw late on during last year's Wimbledon from her blockbuster set-up with Andy Murray.
In doing so, the 22-year-old inadvertently called time on his tour career, with the star only playing Olympic doubles with Dan Evans the following month before retiring in August.
Alcaraz and Raducanu were last summer plagued with speculation over a possible romantic relationship between them.
The British star was in the crowd when the Spaniard successfully defended his Wimbledon title in SW19, with Raducanu's social media comments flooded with messages from fans who believed it was a sign the two were an item.
'I don't know, I don't know. I think a lot of people came to see the final,' the five-time Grand Slam champion said when awkwardly asked about her presence on Centre Court. 'I think Novak and I always put on a good game, a show on the court. I think it is a beautiful game to watch.
'And she is from here, so I imagine that she wanted to come and see it. If there was a Grand Slam in Murcia (his home town) I would 100 per cent go to the final, even if I wasn't playing.'
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