Alcaraz-Roducanu is an American mixed mixed double. The same goes for Osaka-Kyrgios, Keys-Tifoe, Swiatek-Rud
New York – Imagine Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu in competition for a Grand Slam trophy. And Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe in duet? IGA Swiatek alongside Casper Ruud? Or Naomi Osaka with Nick Kyrgios?
These are among the pairs of highs and at the height of the Tuesday preliminary entry list for the US Open Reimagined Mixed Double Tournament from August 19 to 20, before the start of the Simple competition on August 24.
Ten of the 11 best women in the classification of singles WTA – Coco Gauff, which has just won the French Open for its second Grand Slam title, is the only missing – and 10 of the 11 best men in ATP Tour, including the n ° 1 Jannik Sinner and the big champion at 24 Novak Djokovic, registered to compare the last year of the last year.
“Look at the field we have,” said Stacey Allaster, who is in his last year as director of the US Open tournament. “It’s going to be fantastic for fans.”
Others on Tuesday’s list: Sinner and Emma Navarro, Djokovic and Olga Danilovic, Zheng Qinwen and Jack Draper, Jasmine Paolini and Lorenzo Musetti, Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul, Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev, Elena Rybakina and Taylor, Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas, Belinda Bencic and Alexander Zverev, Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton, and 2024 US Open Mixt Double Champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.
It is a star group which is far from the mixture of double specialists usually found in a mixed double support of the Grand Slam. Some criticized the changes when they were announced in February, Errani and Vavassori calling for the new format of “pseudo-exhibition focused only on entertainment and the show” which would close the players of double.
This time, there are 10 main single champions hoping to play, with Djokovic, Osaka, Alcaraz, Raducanu, Sinner, Sabalenka, Swiatek and Medvedev all the former winners of Flushing Meadows.
Pegula and Fritz were finalist last year in New York, while Ruud, Zverev and the Champion of Australia Open 2025, Keys, were also finalists at the US Open.
“There is nothing more excited, energized, than this event and what it will represent for sport in the future: an opportunity to innovate and present sport differently,” said Lew Sherr, who recently announced that he would leave the post of Director General of the US Tennis Association to become president of commercial operations with the New York Mets. “It is the only sport of all meaning (with) men and women on the same playground, at the same time, materialize against each other.”
The mixed double event shrinks from 32 pairs to 16, and there is a shortened format – the first games of the first games to the final; No-Ad Scoring; Make the equality break up instead of a third set.
Players still have time to register before the July 28 break, and there is no guarantee that the 16 teams announced on Tuesday will actually be in the draw in New York. The eight best teams based on their single handset ranking will automatically enter the field; The other eight pairs will receive jokers determined by a USTA committee.
“Once there was an understanding of what the event was, (the players) went and ran with it,” said Eric Butorac, principal director of relations with the players and the business of the USTA players. “They found their own partners – whether it is a friendship, a compatriot or a team even with a partner they have out of the field.”
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More tennis AP: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
