The US Open organisers have made a big change to their scheduling and format for the mixed doubles tournament, but not without criticism. Two weeks ago, the USTA (United States Tennis Association) moved the main draw start to a Sunday – following in line with the Australian Open and the French Open – which are 15-day tournaments. The new dates for the fourth and final Slam of the year were confirmed to be August 24 to September 7.
The bigger change was announced on Tuesday (February 11) with the mixed doubles tournament set to get a massive change. Not without its share of criticism, though.
What is the new format?

US Open mixed doubles format for 2025.

In a bid to have more singles players enter the mixed doubles competition, the USTA have introduced a bumper $1 million prize money and a revolutionised scoring format.
The event size will remain the same as last year – 16 teams or 32 players – but what will change will be the scoring structure and the timelines. The matches are destined to be shorter with the competition to be played over two days.
The objective, the tournament organisers say, is to attract the sport’s biggest stars, many of whom have long passed on doubles to keep themselves fresh for singles.
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The scoring is arguably the biggest change introduced. Early round matches will be best-of-three sets played to four games, with a deciding point at deuce. Tiebreakers would be at 4-all—rather than 6-6 — and a 10-point match tiebreaker would be played if the teams split sets, rather than a third set.
The final, however, will 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 if there is no winner after two sets.
Eight teams will earn direct entry by virtue of their combined singles rankings, with eight other teams given wildcards into the field.
All matches will be played on the Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium courts.
When does the mixed doubles tournament start?
As per the plan announced on Tuesday, mixed doubles is set to be contested on August 19 and 20, during the week when the qualifying rounds for men’s and women’s singles are held at Flushing Meadows. Main draw in singles gets underway on August 24.
What did the USTA say about the format?

US Open has revamped the mixed doubles format for the 2025 edition.

“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 USTA. “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.”
Sherr added that USTA had discussed a format change in the past but it never got going until they witnessed the thrill and excitement generated by the “Mixed Madness.”
“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.”
What was/is Mixed Madness?
The “Mixed Madness” was a one-night only, four team competition played last year during the Fan Week which precedes the singles main draw.
With prize money of $500,000, the competition featured Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios, Amanda Anisimova and Taylor Fritz, Coco Gauff and Ben Shelton, and Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Team Badosa & Tsitsipas took the trophy with a final score of 6-4 against Team Anisimova & Fritz.
What has been the criticism?
Paul McNamee, the Australian former doubles World No. 1, was among critics of the shake-up, saying it would devalue the US Open mixed doubles title.

“Sets to four games in a Grand Slam? 16 teams with eight based on singles rankings and eight wildcards. I’m sorry, but the US Open now will not produce a bona fide mixed doubles winner,” McNamee wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“Devalued from a Grand Slam title to an exo (exhibition). Let’s just say I’m in shock.”
Poland’s Jan Zielinski, a winner of the mixed doubles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon last year, described the revamp as “sad.”

“No communication with the players, no thought behind what it means to some people’s careers, no respect to the history and traditions,” Zielinski wrote on X. “Sad to see.”

Last year’s US Open mixed doubles winners, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, lambasted the decision in a statement on social media, labeling it a “profound injustice.”
“Making decisions just following the logic of profit is profoundly wrong in some situations,” the duo wrote.
“In the last few weeks we received the news that the US Open mixed doubles tournament will be completely turned upside down, cancelled and replaced with a pseudo-exhibition focused only on entertainment and show.
“We see it as a profound injustice that disrespects an entire category of players… we don’t know at the moment if we’ll have the chance to defend our title but we hope this remains an isolated case.”
What has the USTA said about the criticism?
With the doubles specialists all but out of reckoning for the mixed doubles event, it will reduce the option to earn points and money for them.
“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.”