Rennae Stubbs is the latest to react to the changes made to the US Open mixed doubles event.
The New York-based Grand Slam made a big announcement regarding how they will stage the mixed doubles competition.
Several members of the tennis world have issued a reaction to the news, and it has been somewhat divisive.
Rennae Stubbs, who is a six-time doubles Grand Slam champion, is one of those who criticised the decision and she did not hold back.
Rennae Stubbs slams changes made to US Open mixed doubles competition
Coming into operation at the 2025 US Open, their mixed doubles tournament will be played in what is known as ‘Fan Week.’
It is usually held alongside the men and women’s singles and doubles events when the main draw commences, but now the mixed doubles competition will commence the week prior.
Furthermore, the size of the field will decrease from 32 to 16 teams, and during the first three rounds, teams will need to win up to four games to win a set, while the final will be played with regular sets.
While some players such as Taylor Fritz seemed to welcome the change, Stubbs is not happy at all and claims it will impact fans who have tickets to watch matches on the outside courts. “I don’t understand this move,” she said on her self-titled ‘Rennae Stubbs’ podcast.
“I put it in the week before the tournament, do not tell me it’s part of the tournament, it’s during qualifying. And it feels like a complete side show, it now feels like an exhibition of a mixed doubles event and that to me is not okay when it comes to handing out a Grand Slam title at the end of the day.
“I feel like in the second week of the US Open you struggle to have matches on the outside courts for people who buy a grounds pass and want to come and see the tennis. Now there is going to be a lot less matches going on out there.
“It feels like it’s an exhibition. And to four games? Like what are we doing here? It’s not a Grand Slam event any more, that’s how I feel. It’s not good.”
Has Renane Stubbs won the US Open mixed doubles title?
Stubbs is an accomplished player and he has four women’s doubles titles, one of which came at the 2001 US Open.
That same year, Stubbs clinched her lone mixed doubles title at Flushing Meadows alongside her fellow Australian Todd Woodbridge.
The pair entered the tournament as the top seeded team and they did not drop a set on the way to the final.
They faced the second seeded team Leander Paes and Lisa Raymond in the final, and it went right down to the wire.
Stubbs and Woodbridge went on to win 6-4, 5-7, [11-9] and lift the fifth of her six Grand Slam doubles titles.
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