In a bit of tennis news that we all probably should've seen coming, the US Open will move to a Sunday start this year. It was really only a matter of time until this happened. The French Open went to a Sunday start a few years ago, and the Australian Open did the same in 2024. Now the US Open will join them, leaving Wimbledon as the only Grand Slam starting on Monday. And, considering the importance of tradition at Wimbledon, I don't see them going to a Sunday start anytime soon, either.
From a business perspective, it makes complete sense. The US Open is already the highest-attended annual sporting event. Adding a day means six more sessions for which they can sell tickets (day and night sessions at both Arthur Ashe & Louis Armstrong Stadiums, day session reserved seats at the Grandstand, grounds passes). Arthur Ashe stadium seats 24,000 people, so that's at least 45,000 more tickets to be sold right there, plus 14,000 per session at Louis Armstrong Stadium. The USTA isn't exactly hurting for money, but if you had the opportunity to make even more, why wouldn't you take it?
It doesn't actually change the schedule too much, either. In fact, the schedule is unchanged after the first round. The first round was extended to take place over three days instead of two, but, otherwise, everything is the same. They're simply able to spread the matches out a little more, which means (presumably) fewer matches on each court and an earlier finish. More significantly, it decreases the congestion on Monday and Tuesday, which helps with scheduling doubles matches.
Speaking of doubles, the other bit of US Open news that just came out definitely was surprising. The mixed doubles tournament is being completely revamped and will no longer be played at the same time as the main draws in singles and men's/women's doubles. Instead, it'll be held during the week before the main draw. Not only that, it'll be limited to 16 teams and played over two days.
Matches will be fundamentally different, too. Sets will be significantly shorter, played to four instead of six, with no-ad scoring and a tiebreaker at 4-4. If it gets to a third set, that's a 10-point match tiebreak (which is a change that was already made a few years ago). The only exception is the final, which will be played to the traditional six (still with no-ad scoring) in the first two sets before the third set match tiebreak.
The USTA, of course, is extolling the virtues of this revamped mixed doubles tournament. Specifically, they mentioned the increased exposure for mixed doubles by making it, essentially, a separate event. Every match will be played in one of the two main stadiums, with ESPN2 covering both days, including the semifinals and final in primetime for the first time. The thought process is that mixed doubles will no longer be overshadowed by the other events.
Another argument being made is that it'll be easier for the players to enter mixed doubles since they won't have to worry about how it impacts their singles or doubles schedule. The top players generally avoid playing mixed doubles for that very reason. That obviously played into the decision, too. They want the marquee names in mixed doubles. The hope is that now they won't have an excuse not to play. Or, even better, it will motivate them to play when otherwise they might not have. A $1 million winner's prize is likely being used as another incentive to draw the top players to mixed doubles.
This idea didn't just come out of the blue. Last year, they had a "Mixed Madness" event inside Arthur Ashe Stadium during US Open Fan Week that was very well-attended and a tremendous success. The positive feedback they received from players, broadcast partners and fans likely served as inspiration for this revamped mixed doubles showcase.
Players, at least according to the press release, are on board with this change. Jessica Pegula enjoys playing doubles and said she's excited to play mixed doubles during the first week. Taylor Fritz participated in the "Mixed Madness" event last year and also sees the virtue of this format. He even mentioned his experience with mixed doubles at the United Cup (the mixed-gender version of Davis Cup) and the Olympics.
Mixed doubles was added as a medal event at the Olympics in 2012, and plenty of top singles players jumped at the opportunity to go after another Olympic gold. The Olympics is usually the only time we see some of these players play doubles, let alone mixed doubles. It's obvious why. It's because it's the Olympics.
At the Olympics, you expect that. Winning a medal for your country is all you care about. At Grand Slams, meanwhile, the focus is on singles. It's rare to see a top player play both singles and doubles, let alone all three. The hope seems to be that more players will be willing to enter mixed doubles if it's a separate, stand-alone event.
That seems to be at least part of the motivation for this massive change to mixed doubles at the US Open. Eight teams will get direct entry based on the combined singles rankings of the two players. The other eight will be wild cards. Nothing is mentioned about doubles rankings. They want singles players, particularly marquee names, to play mixed doubles and think this is a way to get them to do that. That's why the language in the first paragraph of the press release very deliberately said "a blockbuster field of the sport's biggest stars."
Personally, I don't know how I feel about this change. Part of me has a feeling that it'll actually have the opposite effect. Mixed doubles will fall further into insignificance, almost as if it's being relegated to the first week because it's not important enough to be featured with the other events. It also feels gimmicky with the no-ad scoring and shorter sets. Plus, there are players who make their livelihoods through doubles (both single-gender and mixed) who it seems like are trying to be pushed out in favor of bigger names.
But, at the same time, maybe it'll be a massive success. So maybe they're on to something. And mixed doubles is a great event, so giving it the spotlight and getting the top singles players to sign on may be exactly what's needed to let everybody know that. I guess we'll find out. And, who knows, if this works, the other Grand Slams might follow.
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