At the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, the US Open in New York, the organizers provided new incentives with a reformed mixed competition. Last but not least, the enormous prize money of one million dollars for the winning couple led to the fact that numerous top stars have already given their promise for the mixed tournament. It has been clear since Tuesday: Germany’s number one, Alexander Zverev, will also be there.
Not only the significantly increased prize money in the mixed tournament, a new tournament mode also lure the stars into the mixed competition this year. In addition to Zverev, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz had already announced their participation with their partners.
Alexander Zverev will be at the start in New York together with the Swiss Belinda Bencic, the organizers officially announced on Tuesday. Like Zverev, the 28-year-old won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo four years ago and is currently fighting back into the top of the world after a baby break.
“In our first conversations on how we could redesign and upgrade the Mixed Doubles Championship of the US Open, we wanted to find a way to let the best men and women in the world compete together-in a team and against each other,” said Lew Sherr, CEO and managing director of the US tennis association Usta.
The US Open chief organizer continued: “If you see which teams have already entered the list of participants, we are all incredibly enthusiastic.”
The new tournament and game mode means no less than a revolution of the mixed conference at the Grand Slam tournament in the United States: The profit of four games is enough to decide one sentence. A match-tiebreak replaces the third set, the advantage is also eliminated-the next point decides decides. In addition, the starter field is reduced from 32 to 16 participant duos.
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In addition to Zverev/Bencic, Emma Navarro (USA) and Sinner (Italy), Jasmine Paolini (Italy) and Lorenzo Musetti (Italy), IGA Swiadek (Poland) and Caspar Ruud (Norway) as well as Emma Raducanu (Great Britain) and Alcaraz (Spain) will form a double.
Prominent names that not only provided enthusiasm and approval: Some double specialists no longer receive any places in the mixed competition. Among other things, the German player Laura Siegemund also feels disadvantaged, who already said to the “tennis magazine”: “As a former US Open Mixed winner, I think it’s a shame what should become of this event. A serious competition is demonstrated to a short shewevent, whose counting system gain or lose a matter of luck than a quality feature.”
The US Open will take place in New York from August 24th to September 7th. In its shortened form before the Grand Slam on August 19 and 20, the mixed competition will take place.