The revamped mixed doubles tournament at the US Open sees the sport's biggest stars from the singles tour make their way onto court alongside star names from the opposite gender, the week before the tournament is set to begin proper in New York.
While it has been a contentious decision to replace the traditional mixed doubles with a format built to maximise the marketability of the biggest names in tennis, there was nonetheless a lot of excitement around the teams and draws being formed — not least between ATP number two Carlos Alcaraz, who joined forces with British star Emma Raducanu.
It was a star-studded first round contest for this team in New York, as they drew the number one seeds for this tournament, Brit Jack Draper and American home favourite Jessica Pegula. Although Raducanu and Alcaraz were the biggest draw for this tournament as two of the more popular players in world tennis, Draper and Pegula were number one seeds for a reason, and made it count, running out 4-2 4-2 winners in this ‘fast four’ format tournament.
However, what many fans noticed at the end of a fun match was the interaction at the net: during the handshakes at the net, all the players seemed to be extremely positive and jovial, sharing hugs with one another — interestingly, all except the two Brits, as Raducanu and Draper only had a glancing handshake and nothing else.
{{/usCountry}}However, what many fans noticed at the end of a fun match was the interaction at the net: during the handshakes at the net, all the players seemed to be extremely positive and jovial, sharing hugs with one another — interestingly, all except the two Brits, as Raducanu and Draper only had a glancing handshake and nothing else.
{{/usCountry}}This was a moment that wasn’t ignored by tennis fans, who reacted to the interaction.
Draper and Pegula also made easy work of their quarterfinal, beating the Russian pair of Daniil Medvedev and Mirra Andreeva 4-1 4-1 to progress to the semifinals. Here they will run into Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud, who have been the most impressive singles-stars pairing of this tournament so far.
Alcaraz, who was crowned Cincinnati Open champion less than 24 hours before this match, goes into the US Open as the favourite after Jannik Sinner heavily struggled with illness during their final at the Masters event. The Italian retired down 5-0 in the first set, visibly struggling, and subsequently withdrew from the mixed doubles event as well. Draper, meanwhile, will be trying to improve his semifinal showing in New York from last year.
Raducanu, who won the US Open in 2021 after a miraculous against-the-odds run to the final after having entered the tournament as a qualifier, has not had the same taste of success in grand slam tennis since. However, she is on a great run of form and on the verge of the top 30, and is set to be a potential early banana peel for the higher-ranked seeds in the women’s draw.