After his title triumph at Roland Garros, Carlos Alcaraz kicked off his grass-court campaign with a dominating performance against Australian Lucky Loser, Adam Walton. Following this victory, he said, “I am really happy with the performance I had today. First match, I feel great.” But having said that, he also admitted that there are obviously a lot of things to improve before he gets things going during his title defense mission at Wimbledon. The 2025 Wimbledon Championships will commence on June 30 and will go on till July 13. Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the final last year. Can he showcase his dominance yet again at SW19? Well, CoCo Vandeweghe recently highlighted how his partnership with Emma Raducanu at the US Open could do wonders for him at Wimbledon.

Partnership with Raducanu? Yes, you heard that right! Recently, USTA announced that this year’s mixed doubles tournament at the US Open will be held on August 19-20, and sixteen teams will compete in that event over these two days in shorter matches, and guess what? In this event, the five-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz will team up with the 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu. Not only them but several other superstars like Jannik Sinner, Emma Navarro, Taylor Fritz, Elena Rybakina, Novak Djokovic, Madison Keys, and plenty of other superstars will be seen in action at this mixed doubles event.

Nine of the Top 10 players from both ATP and WTA will feature in this tournament, but Carlos Alcaraz’s partnership with Emma Raducanu has been the talk of the town at the moment in the tennis world. After his win against Walton, the Spaniard was asked who was the first one to take the initiative to launch this fan-favorite partnership officially in a tennis event. In reply, Alcaraz said, “I was thinking that I couldn’t play better if it wasn’t with Emma. I just asked Emma if she wants to play doubles with me—I made that special request.” However, Raducanu didn’t give him a nod initially, as Carlitos claimed, “She took a while. Not much, but she had to think a bit. But it wasn’t in a minute (laughs).“

Highlighting this moment, in a recent interview with Tennis Channel, the former American tennis player CoCo Vandeweghe was asked how nervous she thinks Carlos Alcaraz was for the answer from Emma Raducanu. Replying to that, the American said, “I think pretty nervous. But if he didn’t have the crowd for him at Wimbledon, He certainly does now by having Emma in his corner for sure for the mixed doubles. He has won the crowd over like 10 times already.”

Carlos Alcaraz has a 28–4 record on grass, and he has already secured a victory on this surface in 2025. Next up for him at the HSBC Championships is Jaume Munar. He has a 2-1 record against his compatriot. Can Alcaraz keep that winning run intact in the preparatory tournament and start off his title defense campaign at Wimbledon on a brighter note? Surely he’ll need the crowd to clinch his second title at Wimbledon, but talking about winning streaks, Carlos Alcaraz now has an opportunity to win 15 matches in a row for the first time in his career when he takes on Munar in the next round.

Coming back from a trip to Ibiza in order to relax and reset his mind for the upcoming challenges, Alcaraz looked in a good mood during the post-match press conference. What else did he say about his doubles partnership with Emma Raducanu, though?

“She’s going to be the boss”—Carlos Alcaraz’s reaction to his partnership with Emma Raducanu at the US Open

Both Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu are the same age and they have known each other for quite some time now. Previously in 2022, when an 18-year-old Alcaraz broke into the world’s top 10, Raducanu had heaped praise on him, saying, “I think what he is doing is incredible. But it is even more impressive how genuine and kind he is off the court. It is incredible how he is able to practically take the racquet out of his opponent’s hand; it is definitely very exciting.“

Last year, after watching him play at Wimbledon, the Brit revealed how she draws inspiration from watching Alcaraz play. She even admitted that seeing him play makes her keen to “emulate certain shots.” Now, she will watch him in action from a much closer distance! Even Alcaraz has time and again shown his support towards Raducanu in the past. For instance, in August 2023, when Raducanu was on her journey to make a comeback to the Tour after suffering surgeries on both her wrists and one of her ankles, Alcaraz was spotted liking one of her IG posts, which highlighted her recovery sessions.

Seeing their camaraderie over the years, fans are quite excited to see this duo at the US Open. But what are Carlos Alcaraz’s exact thoughts about this partnership? “She’s going to be the boss! I’m super excited about it. It’s going to be great… I’ve known Emma a really long time and I have a really good relationship with her. It’s going to be interesting.”

Another British star, Jack Draper, also dropped a comment recently on this ‘AlcarCanu’ partnership. He said, “Yeah, I mean, a wise person once told me you should find the best partner, and that’s what she did in Alcaraz. I don’t blame her at all for that. I think she will have a lot of fun playing with Carlos.” Other than a few controversies surrounding the mixed doubles event, the participation of the superstars has created a lot of buzz in the tennis world. How excited are you, though, to see Alcaraz and Raducanu play together at the 2025 US Open mixed doubles event?