The revamped US Open mixed doubles event has officially got underway for the first time.
Earlier this year, the US Open announced that they would be making big changes to the mixed doubles format.
Some of these changes have catered to singles players, with some big names signing up for the US Open mixed doubles for the first time.
One of those is former Roland Garros finalist Karolina Muchova, who may have accidentally made a dig at the US Open’s new event.
Karolina Muchova appears to unintentionally call the US Open mixed doubles event an exhibition
The US Open have received a lot of backlash for their new mixed doubles event, particularly for the lack of doubles specialists included.
This is the first time that players like Muchova, who partnered Andrey Rublev, have played mixed doubles at a Grand Slam.
Muchova had only ever played doubles with Rublev at an official exhibition event in Macau, and she has now made a comment that suggests how she actually feels about the US Open mixed doubles event.
After winning their first round match against Venus Williams and Reilly Opelka, Muchova called the US Open mixed doubles event an ‘exhibition’.
“Yeah, I mean we played an exhibition and a few months later we hear that there is this exhibition, so we thought why not try it again,” said Muchova. “We had fun in Macau and we had fun today, so I think we are a good matchup and yeah I am happy that Andrey played with me.”
Muchova is actually not the only player who have done this, as Jack Draper was told off for calling the mixed doubles an exhibition.
While they appeared to have fun playing with one another, Muchova and Rublev’s run came to an end in the quarterfinals where they were beaten by defending champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.
The key reason why the US Open mixed doubles feels like an exhibition
There is no doubt that day one of the US Open mixed doubles event has been a success, but comments from both Muchova and Draper have summed up the general feeling about the event.
While tennis fans have clearly enjoyed seeing their favourite singles stars pairing up with one another, there has certainly been an exhibition feel about it.
Some players do not appear to be taking it as seriously as others, and the US Open mixed doubles scoring system could be a big factor in that.
For every match other than the final, sets are played up to four instead of the traditional six.
The US Open are desperate for this event to be taken seriously and are billing it as a real Grand Slam event, but it is hard to when the scoring is just not the same as every other event.
Regardless of how it is viewed, the first champions of this revamped US Open mixed doubles event will be crowned on Wednesday, August 18.
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