Andy Roddick states what he doesn’t want to hear people say about the new US Open mixed doubles tournament

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The restructuring of the mixed doubles tournament ahead of the 2025 US Open has caused quite the stir.

In 2024, 32 teams battled it out for the mixed doubles title at the US Open, as the Italian pair of Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori emerged victorious.

Earlier this year, the US Open announced a change to the mixed doubles tournament, cutting the field from 32 to 16 teams, holding the event over two days during fan week.

The move is designed to increase viewership for a discipline that receives little attention when the singles stars are in action.

A whole host of top ten stars on the ATP and WTA Tours will compete in the revamped US Open mixed doubles event, including Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and Aryna Sabalenka.

Some have criticised the changes, arguing that mixed doubles players will miss out on revenue and a chance to compete in New York.

Reacting to those criticisms, former world number one Andy Roddick has shared his thoughts.

Andy Roddick doesn’t want to argue with people who aren’t excited about the mixed doubles line-up

Roddick has previously expressed his support for the change to the mixed doubles tournament, as he now gives his verdict on the line-up.

“This entry list, I thought it would be fine, I thought we’d have some cool names and some cool matchups, this is a 12/10 with the people who are going to do this,” he said.

“Don’t argue with me about what mixed doubles should be if you don’t get excited about this.”

Nine top ten ATP players and nine top ten WTA players will participate in the tournament later this summer, with Coco Gauff and Holger Rune the two notable omissions.

The American addressed concerns over the mixed doubles players who will essentially be replaced by singles stars in 2025.

“People were like we had to grow the game of doubles, so we can’t take that away from the doubles that people don’t watch regularly… that was confusing to me,” said Roddick.

“Now, you get nine of the top ten on each side, biggest stars on earth, and then some. This is going to bring more eyeballs to the game of doubles.

“Now, is it taking jobs away from doubles players who kind of run this side tour? Yeah, it is.

“But, if your net, net, most important thing is, which is the defence that I get when people are mad at me when I talk about doubles is, ‘we have to grow the game of doubles’, there is not a better way to grow the game of doubles than to have the biggest stars on earth playing doubles, featured, ESPN prime time, in the lead-up to the US Open.”

The 2025 US Open mixed doubles tournament is scheduled to take place on August 19 and 20, before the singles event kicks off on August 24.

Andy Roddick says the new US Open mixed doubles event is tennis’ ‘All-Star game’

Excited for the tournament, Roddick compared the event to ‘All-Star’ games seen in the NBA and MLB.

“I had also never figured out how we would integrate an All-Star game style of thing in tennis, this two-birds-one-stone’s it, this is the All-Star game for tennis,” he said.

“It’s one less revenue stream for the doubles players that need the revenue stream, but don’t create any of the revenue. The argument against it is, I like my doubles players siloed into this offset tour, rather than, let’s blow this out, make tennis popular with kids that are nine years old who are watching this, it’s easily digestible, it’s short.

“The impact on tennis, having this level of stardom all in one place at one time, men, women, playing together [is massive].”

It remains to be seen how the new event will be received, but it will certainly be worth tuning in for.