US Open revamps mixed doubles format, adds $1 million prize to incentivize "biggest names in the sport"

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Open is moving its mixed doubles championship to the week before the tournament begins, hoping a revamped format and $1 million prize will persuade top singles players to chase a Grand Slam doubles title.

This year's event will feature 16 teams competing over two days in shorter matches. Tournament organizers believe that can attract the sport's biggest stars, many of whom have long passed on doubles to keep themselves fresh for singles.

"What I would say is the reason behind this is to appeal to more fans and grow the fan base around the world," said Lew Sherr, executive director and CEO of the U.S. Tennis Association. "But the way to do that is to have the biggest names in the sport participating in doubles, and to showcase them teaming up and playing in a different format, we think is exciting. In fact, we know it's exciting."

The plan announced Tuesday calls for mixed doubles to be contested on Aug. 19 and 20, during the week when the qualifying rounds for men's and women's singles are being held. Main draw play in singles begins on Aug. 24.

The early round matches will be best-of-three sets played to just four games, with a deciding point played at deuce. Tiebreakers would be at 4-all—rather than 6-6 in a regular match—and a 10-point match tiebreaker would be played if the teams split sets, rather than a third set.

Only the final will closely resemble a Grand Slam match, a best-of-three sets played to six games with no-ad scoring, tiebreakers at 6-all and a 10-point match tiebreaker.

Sherr said the USTA had discussed a format change in previous years but the idea truly picked up steam after last year, when a "Mixed Madness" event during the qualifying week drew singles superstars such as Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka, Nick Kyrgios and Ben Shelton, and was won by Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa.

"We've known and we've had conversations over the years, like, why don't they participate and we understand the scheduling challenges," Sherr said. "I think last year's task with that mixed madness event really informed our thinking, that if could unlock that week and free up the top singles players to participate, because it didn't compromise their fitness or their health going into the singles, there was a huge opportunity to attract them and that's what we saw."

There was a $500,000 prize for that event, which had just four teams. By doubling the prize money and expanding the field, Sherr believes it will create a competition worthy of a Grand Slam title, rather than keeping it as an exhibition.

"The athletes played hard," Sherr said. "It was not an exhibition, it was not a hit-and giggle, no kids got brought onto the court. It was a competition and that to me was the test. Would the athletes compete, and the answer to that was yes. Now we have an opportunity for a legitimate world championship, a Grand Slam championship, and we think the stakes only go up by making it the actual event."

This year's event will feature 16 teams competing over two days in shorter matches. Tournament organizers believe that can attract the sport's biggest stars, many of whom have long passed on doubles to keep themselves fresh for singles.

Eight teams will earn direct entry by their combined singles rankings, with eight other teams given wild cards into the field. Sherr declined to name any players who had committed, but said enough have expressed interest that some teams may be announced in the coming weeks, long before the field is set in the summer.

The tournament will be played in Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong, the two biggest stadiums, and be televised by ESPN in primetime, exposure that is rarely given to doubles.

But it will squeeze out doubles specialists who count on Grand Slam paychecks and now lose access to one of them. To compensate for that, Sherr said the prize money that was allocated to the 32-team mixed doubles tournament at last year's U.S. Open would be redirected toward men's and women's doubles.

"Yes, there's some that will be disappointed that they won't have the opportunity to compete in this event," Sherr said. "On the other side, we know that there's a huge opportunity to create more interest globally in doubles and there may be a cascading effect here, that the mixed creates a bigger spotlight on the men's and women's doubles when we get into that portion of the tournament.

"We'll have to see how that plays out, but we do know that our mixed competition historically has been competing with the men's and women's singles, and so the fields have suffered and the attention has suffered. This is a chance to give it a massive spotlight over two nights."