With prize money of $1 million, a shorter format and a slew of singles tennis stars set to compete, a revamped version of the mixed doubles event at the US Open will begin on Tuesday, resembling something closer to an exhibition than a proper Grand Slam competition.
It represents a big punt from US Open executives, who hope to exploit the commercial potential of the event by filling it with big names and having it before the singles main draw of the last Major of the calendar year, which kicks off next week. Traditionally, mixed doubles – an event only played at the Majors – would take place alongside the singles, making it a deterrent for stars hoping to go deep in their individual events.
Big names have turned up for the revamped tournament. Men’s world No.1 Jannik Sinner will team up with women’s doubles World No.2 Katerina Siniakova, while Carlos Alcaraz will be seen alongside Briton’s Emma Raducanu, opening their campaign against top seeds Paula Badosa and Jack Draper. Novak Djokovic will team up with compatriot Olga Danilovic.
Altogether 16 pairs will vie for the title – and the million-dollar prize money – with seven teams being seeded and the others receiving wild cards. The seeds were drawn on the basis of the combined singles rankings of the two players.
The draw is smaller – only four wins required to emerge with the title – and the matches will take place in a reduced best-of-three-sets format. Only four games will be required to win a set; there will be no deuce, instead a single point at 40-40 will win the game; and at one-set a piece, matches will be decided by a 10-point match tie-break as opposed to a full third set.
The new event drew interest from the sport’s big names but was roundly criticised by the top doubles players for reducing a Major trophy event to a virtual exhibition. After the new tournament was announced in February, last year’s mixed doubles champions, the Italian pair of Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, said in a joint statement: “Making decisions just following the logic of profit is profoundly wrong in some situations… The US Open mixed doubles tournament will be completely turned upside down, cancelled and replaced with a pseudo-exhibition focused only on entertainment and show.”
“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,” they added.
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Drastic measures
Arguments of this being a “disservice” to the doubles category have been countered simply: the US Open executives believe that the rate at which audiences and viewership are sliding for doubles tennis itself is doing the biggest disservice to the game, and without something new and exciting that sees buy-in from the big stars, it is likely to fade away entirely.
While that buy-in has been achieved, the latest headache for the US Open will be whether those whose names feature on the posters, for whom high-value tickets have been bought in New York, will all feature in the competition. They found a small window to hold the standalone event prior to the main draws but the packed tennis schedule makes it difficult for all the top players to play.
Sinner and Alcaraz, both set to feature in the late session on Tuesday, will cross swords in a highly-anticipated final at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati, just 24 hours prior to their match starts in New York. Iga Swiatek, who is the third seed alongside Norway’s Casper Ruud, will be playing the final of the Cincinnati event less than 16 hours before she is expected to play the opening match at the US Open.
Her opponent in Monday’s final, Jasmine Paolini, has already withdrawn from the mixed doubles event. So too has Emma Navarro – Sinner’s original partner – and Jessica Pegula, who was supposed to play alongside Draper.
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Still, all three players are scheduled to arrive in time in New York, and the US Open remains bullish on the new initiative providing an additional revenue stream. Its success may signal commercial genius on their side, but would raise greater existential questions about the future of doubles specialists, those of whom the executives rejected while scripting this format.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
