2025 US Open Mixed Doubles Draw Features Alcaraz Raducanu Sinner Djokovic Williams

The 2025 US Open is trying something completely new with its mixed doubles tournament, and the draw is finally here. But don’t get too attached to these matchups just yet.

This new format has tennis fans pretty divided. Some love the idea, others think it’s a complete mess.

Doubles specialists are mostly upset because there’s only one actual doubles team in the entire field. Everyone else? They’re excited to see some dream pairings they never thought possible.

The timing couldn’t be more complicated though. With the Cincinnati Open finals happening just hours before the US Open mixed doubles starts, several top teams might have to pull out.

The Scheduling Nightmare

Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper are the top seeds, and they’re supposed to face Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz in what would be an absolutely electric first match.

But here’s the problem: Alcaraz has to play the Cincinnati final at 3 p.m. on Monday. His mixed doubles match in New York? Scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday.

That’s physically impossible, even with a private jet.

Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud have it even worse. Swiatek’s Cincinnati final doesn’t start until 6 p.m., meaning it could easily run until 9 p.m. or later.

Think about this timeline: finish the match, do press conferences, travel to the airport, fly to New York, get to the hotel. She’d be lucky to get to bed by 2 a.m., only to wake up for a noon match the next day.

That’s not exactly ideal preparation for a Grand Slam.

Another team in serious doubt is Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic. Djokovic was spotted practicing in Montenegro over the weekend, and reports suggest he’s dealing with some kind of injury issue.

If they do play, it’ll be an all-Serbian team against an all-Russian squad of Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev.

The Teams Actually Likely to Show Up

Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz are the second seeds, and they’ve got a real shot here. These two actually won the Eisenhower Cup earlier this year and have been talking about wanting to win a Grand Slam together.

They’ll face the tournament’s only pure doubles pairing: Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.

The home crowd will go crazy for Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton, who’ll take on Amanda Anisimova and Holger Rune in an interesting first-round clash.

But the most exciting storyline might be Venus Williams stepping back onto the big stage. At 44, she’s teaming up with Reilly Opelka to face Karolina Muchova and Andrey Rublev.

Venus hasn’t played much recently, but seeing a living legend compete at Arthur Ashe Stadium is pretty special.

The format itself is pretty unique too. They’re playing best-of-three sets, but each set is first to four games with no-ad scoring. If it goes to a third set, there’s a 10-point tiebreak to decide it.

Everything happens fast. First and second rounds on Tuesday, then semifinals and final on Wednesday. All matches will be on either Arthur Ashe Stadium or Louis Armstrong Stadium.

What Makes This Tournament Different

This isn’t your typical mixed doubles event. Instead of regular doubles teams, the US Open paired up some of the biggest names in tennis, regardless of whether they’ve ever played together.

The result? Potentially amazing tennis, but also a logistical nightmare.

Jannik Sinner, the current world No. 1, is paired with doubles world No. 1 Katerina Siniakova. They’re supposed to play Belinda Bencic and Alexander Zverev, but both teams might withdraw due to scheduling and injury concerns.

The tournament organizers clearly wanted to create buzz, and they’ve succeeded. The question is whether the top players will actually be able to participate.

With so many potential withdrawals, we might see some last-minute substitutions that could completely change the tournament’s dynamics.

2025 US Open Mixed Doubles Draw:

It’s going to be fascinating to see which teams actually make it to New York and whether this new format lives up to the hype.