The US Open is moving its mixed doubles championship to the week before singles play begins, hoping a revamped format and $1 million ($1.59m AUD) prize will persuade top players to chase a grand slam doubles title.
This year’s event will feature 16 teams competing over two days in shorter matches. Tournament organisers believe that can attract the sport’s biggest stars, many of whom have long passed on doubles to keep themselves fresh for singles.
“What I would say is the reason behind this is to appeal to more fans and grow the fan base around the world,” said Lew Sherr, executive director and CEO of the US Tennis Association.
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“But the way to do that is to have the biggest names in the sport participating in doubles, and to showcase them teaming up and playing in a different format, we think is exciting.”
The plan announced Tuesday calls for mixed doubles to be contested on August 19 and 20, during the week when the qualifying rounds for men’s and women’s singles are being held. Main draw play in singles begins on August 24.
The early round matches will be best-of-three sets played to just four games, with a deciding point played at deuce. Tiebreakers would be at 4-all — rather than 6-6 in a regular match — and a 10-point match tiebreaker would be played if the teams split sets, rather than a third set.
Olivia Gadecki and John Peers of Australia celebrate after defeating compatriots Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith in the mixed doubles final. AP
Only the final will closely resemble a grand slam match, a best-of-three sets played to six games with no-ad scoring, tiebreakers at 6-all and a 10-point match tiebreaker.
The changes drew criticism from players — some of whom will have little chance of competing now — who believe the new event doesn’t meet the standard of a grand slam.
“No communication with the players, no thought behind what it means to some peoples careers, no respect to the history and traditions. Sad to see,” Jan Zielinski, who won two grand slam mixed doubles titles last year, wrote on X, ending his post with a circus tent emoji.
Sherr said the USTA had discussed a format change in previous years but the idea truly picked up steam after last year, when a “Mixed Madness” event during the qualifying week drew singles superstars such as Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka, Nick Kyrgios and Ben Shelton, and was won by Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa.
“We’ve known and we’ve had conversations over the years, like, why don’t they participate and we understand the scheduling challenges,” Sherr said. “I think last year’s task with that mixed madness event really informed our thinking, that if could unlock that week and free up the top singles players to participate, because it didn’t compromise their fitness or their health going into the singles, there was a huge opportunity to attract them and that’s what we saw.”
There was a $794,000 prize for that event, which had just four teams. By doubling the winner’s prize money and expanding the field, Sherr believes it will create a competition worthy of a grand slam title, rather than keeping it as an exhibition.
“The athletes played hard,” Sherr said. “It was not an exhibition, it was not a hit-and giggle, no kids got brought onto the court. It was a competition and that to me was the test. Would the athletes compete, and the answer to that was yes. Now we have an opportunity for a legitimate world championship, a grand slam championship, and we think the stakes only go up by making it the actual event.”
Eight teams will earn direct entry by their combined singles rankings, with eight other teams given wild cards into the field. Sherr declined to name any players who had committed but said enough have expressed interest that some teams may be announced in the coming weeks, long before the field is set in the summer.
“Sets to 4 games in a grand slam? 16 teams with 8 based on singles rankings and 8 wildcards. I’m sorry, but the US Open now will not produce a bona fide mixed doubles winner. Devalued from a grand slam title to an exo,” Paul McNamee, a five-time grand slam doubles champion and the former Australian Open tournament director, wrote on X.
The tournament will be played in Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong, the two biggest stadiums, and be televised by ESPN in prime time, exposure that is rarely given to doubles.
But it will squeeze out doubles specialists who count on grand slam pay cheques and now lose access to one of them. To compensate for that, Sherr said the prize money that was allocated to the 32-team mixed doubles tournament at last year’s US Open would be redirected toward men’s and women’s doubles.
“Yes, there’s some that will be disappointed that they won’t have the opportunity to compete in this event,” Sherr said. “On the other side, we know that there’s a huge opportunity to create more interest globally in doubles and there may be a cascading effect here, that the mixed creates a bigger spotlight on the men’s and women’s doubles when we get into that portion of the tournament.
“We’ll have to see how that plays out, but we do know that our mixed competition historically has been competing with the men’s and women’s singles, and so the fields have suffered and the attention has suffered. This is a chance to give it a massive spotlight over two nights.”
