The US Open mixed doubles teams announcement has got everyone talking.
Tennis fans have been left shocked by the number of top singles players included in the lineup, with Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka all taking part.
So much so that Holger Rune and Coco Gauff are the only players not involved in the mixed doubles lineup from the current top 10 on the ATP and WTA Tours.
The US Open mixed doubles event has received a complete overhaul this year, and former world number one Jimmy Connors thinks he knows why.
Jimmy Connors suggests why he thinks the US Open has changed the mixed doubles format
This year the US Open mixed doubles draw will now take place in the same week as qualifying, and will be conducted over just two days.
Other changes to the format include the number of teams being halved from 32 to 16, as well as sets being played to four instead of six.
At the time of the announcement, US Open tournament director Stacey Allaster claimed that the decision was made to not let the singles competitions ‘overshadow’ mixed doubles, that will have $1million in prize money on the line this year.
After the announcement of the teams for the mixed doubles this year including former US Open singles champions Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu, Connors has explained why he really thinks the tournament has made this change.
The eight-time Grand Slam singles champion pointed to the growing popularity of other racket sports like pickle ball and padel, suggesting that the US Open is trying to combat that for tennis.
“You have changed the scoring to get the big names in there and they are trying to fill the stadium for another four or five days, maybe?” Connors said on his podcast. “It’s okay. They are trying to do anything to continue to create interest in the game because pickle ball and padel is kind of wriggling their way into the tennis now.
“It’s a lot easier. You get better a lot quicker than you do at tennis, so they have wiggled their way into the conversation now when you talk about tennis.
“So what’s it going to take to keep tennis on this level and keep the interest in the game and keep young people playing and get them out there on the public courts? And start lining them up like they used to in the 70’s and 80’s to get people out there playing.
“Maybe this is the way, to change the scoring for mixed doubles and don’t have the sets go so long. I don’t know – pretty soon they are going to say you can’t hit more than four balls a point! Maybe they should do that in the singles, that’s what should be done.”
US Open mixed doubles champions since 2020
While there is a lot of excitement surrounding this latest announcement, there has also been heavy criticism towards the US Open for this decision.
This includes from defending mixed doubles champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, who claimed the US Open had disrespected doubles specialists with their decision.
Since the turn of the decade, all the US Open mixed doubles tournaments have been won by players that are generally considered to be more doubles specialists.
| Year | Champions | Runners-up |
| 2021 | Desirae Krawczyk & Joe Salisbury | Giuliana Olmos and Marcelo Arevalo |
| 2022 | Storm Sanders & John Peers | Kirsten Flipkens & Edouard Roger-Vasselin |
| 2023 | Anna Danilina & Harri Heliovaara | Jessica Pegula & Austin Krajicek |
| 2024 | Sara Errani & Andrea Vavassori | Taylor Townsend & Donald Young |
Notably, Errani and Vavassori are the only doubles specialists that have been included in this year’s 16-team draw.
The US Open mixed doubles event this year will take place on August 19 and 20.
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