(Reuters) -Nine of the world’s top-10 men and nine of the top-10 women have officially entered into the U.S. Open’s revamped mixed doubles event, tournament organisers said on Tuesday, with former singles champions Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu teaming up.
The competition, which will take place a week before the singles main draw during its “Fan Week”, will award $1 million in prize money to the winning team.
Sixteen teams have entered and the entry window closes on July 28, after which the top eight teams with the best combined singles ranking will be in the draw via direct acceptance, with eight more wildcard entries.
“In our initial discussions about reimagining and elevating the U.S. Open mixed doubles championship, we wanted to find a way to showcase the world’s best men and women competing with and against one another,” USTA CEO Lew Sherr said.
“We were confident that we would be able to get the top players in the game excited about this unique opportunity. Seeing the teams that have already put their names on the entry list makes us all incredibly excited.
“It shows that the players are behind what we are trying to do, and we know that the fans will love it.”
Other pairs include twice U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka teaming up with Nick Kyrgios, as well as Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The matches will be best of three sets, with short sets to four games, no-ad scoring, tiebreakers at four-all and a 10-point tiebreak in lieu of a third set. The final will be a best-of-three set match to six games.
Although a number of big names such as Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka have entered, the format came in for criticism from renowned doubles players.
Reigning champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori said the new format was a “profound injustice” that disrespects doubles players, describing the new event as a “pseudo-exhibition focused only on entertainment and show”.
The U.S. Open had said the changes were made following the success of the “Mixed Madness” exhibition event held ahead of last year’s tournament, which paired up a number of high-profile singles players into teams.
“Making decisions just following the logic of profit is profoundly wrong in some situations,” Italians Errani and Vavassori had said.
The pair have entered the competition this year.
MIXED DOUBLES ENTRY LIST
Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz
Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud
Emma Navarro and Jannik Sinner
Aryna Sabalenka and Grigor Dimitrov
Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic
Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios
Qinwen Zheng and Jack Draper
Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul
Jasmine Paolini and Lorenzo Musetti
Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz
Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev
Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe
Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas
Belinda Bencic and Alexander Zverev
Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton
Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
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