NEW YORK — The US Open is transferring its combined doubles championship to the week earlier than singles play begins, hoping a revamped format and $1 million prize will persuade high gamers to chase a Grand Slam doubles title.
This yr’s occasion will function 16 groups competing over two days in shorter matches. Match organizers consider that may entice the game’s greatest stars, lots of whom have lengthy handed on doubles to maintain themselves contemporary for singles.
“What I’d say is the rationale behind that is to attraction to extra followers and develop the fan base all over the world,” mentioned Lew Sherr, govt director and CEO of the U.S. Tennis Affiliation. “However the best way to do this is to have the most important names within the sport taking part in doubles, and to showcase them teaming up and enjoying in a special format, we expect is thrilling. Actually, we all know it is thrilling.”
The plan introduced Tuesday requires combined doubles to be contested on Aug. 19 and Aug. 20, throughout the week when the qualifying rounds for males’s and ladies’s singles are being held. Fundamental draw play in singles begins on Aug. 24.
The early-round matches will probably be best-of-three units performed to simply 4 video games, with a deciding level performed at deuce. Tiebreakers could be at 4-all — somewhat than 6-6 in a daily match — and a 10-point match tiebreaker could be performed if the groups cut up units, somewhat than a 3rd set.
Solely the ultimate will intently resemble a Grand Slam match, a best-of-three units performed to 6 video games with no-ad scoring, tiebreakers at 6-all and a 10-point match tiebreaker.
Sherr mentioned the USTA had mentioned a format change in earlier years however the concept really picked up steam after final yr, when a “Combined Insanity” occasion throughout the qualifying week drew singles superstars similar to Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka, Nick Kyrgios and Ben Shelton. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa gained the inaugural occasion.
“We have identified and we have had conversations through the years, like, why do not they take part and we perceive the scheduling challenges,” Sherr mentioned. “I believe final yr’s activity with that combined insanity occasion actually knowledgeable our considering, that if might unlock that week and unlock the highest singles gamers to take part, as a result of it did not compromise their health or their well being going into the singles, there was an enormous alternative to draw them and that is what we noticed.”
There was a $500,000 prize for that occasion, which had simply 4 groups. By doubling the winner’s prize cash and increasing the sector, Sherr believes it’s going to create a contest worthy of a Grand Slam title, somewhat than conserving it as an exhibition.
“The athletes performed exhausting,” Sherr mentioned. “It was not an exhibition, it was not a hit-and giggle, no children received introduced onto the courtroom. It was a contest and that to me was the take a look at. Would the athletes compete, and the reply to that was sure. Now we have now a possibility for a reputable world championship, a Grand Slam championship, and we expect the stakes solely go up by making it the precise occasion.”
Eight groups will earn direct entry by their mixed singles rankings, with eight different groups given wild playing cards into the sector. Sherr declined to call any gamers who had dedicated, however mentioned sufficient have expressed curiosity that some groups could also be introduced within the coming weeks, lengthy earlier than the sector is about in the summertime.
The event will happen in Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong, the 2 greatest stadiums. ESPN will televise the occasion in prime time, publicity that’s hardly ever given to doubles.
However the event will squeeze out doubles specialists who rely on Grand Slam paychecks and now lose entry to certainly one of them. To compensate for that, Sherr mentioned the prize cash that was allotted to the 32-team combined doubles event finally yr’s US Open could be redirected towards males’s and ladies’s doubles.
“Sure, there’s some that will probably be disillusioned that they will not have the chance to compete on this occasion,” Sherr mentioned. “On the opposite aspect, we all know that there is a enormous alternative to create extra curiosity globally in doubles and there could also be a cascading impact right here, that the combined creates an even bigger highlight on the boys’s and ladies’s doubles once we get into that portion of the event.
“We’ll should see how that performs out, however we do know that our combined competitors traditionally has been competing with the boys’s and ladies’s singles, and so the fields have suffered and the eye has suffered. This can be a likelihood to offer it a large highlight over two nights.”