US Open Mixed Doubles Set For Massive Success With New Changes To Format

Last year, the US Open decided to format its mixed doubles championship differently than it ever had.

Instead of holding the competition alongside the other doubles and singles championships, they moved it outside the standard fortnight and into fan week. Fan week takes place the week before the main draws begin, with exhibitions and fan events all leading up to the Sunday start.

Many tennis fans don’t watch much of the mixed doubles draw in most tournaments because it is just a lot of tennis with all the other draws going on, and for the same reason, many singles players and stars don’t play mixed doubles if they are already playing in the other draws.

The USTA moving the mixed doubles draw to a fast format (sets that are first to four instead of six) and during fan week has attracted singles stars and has drawn more eyeballs on the event. This also makes the US Open a full-blown three-week event, unlike any other Grand Slam.

However successful as last year’s event was, it did come with one issue. The problem with the inaugural run was that only one team in the 16-team draw was made up of doubles specialists. If you watch tennis, you learn quickly that singles and doubles are two completely different sports.

Many great doubles players aren’t great singles players, and vice versa. Many doubles specialists were upset that singles players took their spot. Singles rankings were how you qualified, and plenty of teams had never played with their partner before or played much doubles at all in the past. Doubles specialists practice week in and week out with the same partner, mastering their craft as a team.

This was highlighted when the singular doubles specialist team in the draw won the whole thing. Andrea Vavassori and Sara Errani are an Italian duo who have each won multiple Grand Slams. They opened casual fans’ eyes to just how different doubles and singles are. En route to their title, they defeated some of the best singles players in the world.

In the final, the pair beat six-time singles grand slam champion Iga Swiatek and her partner, two-time grand slam finalist Casper Ruud. Keep in mind Errani and Vavassori are two players that probably wouldn’t win more than a game against these stars in singles. Errani has not won a main draw singles match in over two years and is unranked, while Vavassori is ranked 613 in the world in singles. Swiatek was the reigning ladies’ Wimbledon champion when this took place.

This year, the draw has been expanded to get the best doubles specialists in the tournament. An eight-team qualifying draw begins today, filled with doubles specialists. Two teams will move on to the 16-team main draw that starts tomorrow, still primarily filled with singles players.

The change sets the event up for massive success, with all the eyeballs on it, while not completely taking spots away from doubles players. Some of the biggest names in the sport, such as Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Serena Williams, will be playing in the event.

Adding more doubles specialists will also be great for the sport, as it will continue to highlight how good these doubles athletes are. Doubles doesn’t get the same recognition as singles on TV, but it is very popular recreationally and is entertaining to watch when it is available to the casual fan.

The favorites to win the event will undoubtedly be the doubles specialists, but there are some primary singles players in the event that know their way around a doubles court, so there is always potential for an upset.

Fan week at the US Open will continue until Saturday, and the main singles draws will begin on Sunday.

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Article by Robert Blute