With a star-studded lineup, record prize money ($1 million), and a bit of controversy, the US Open mixed doubles event gets underway in New York. 8 teams have been handed a direct entry in this event, while an additional 8 were given wild cards. Though there have been some popular mixed doubles partnerships in the past (Serena Williams and Andy Murray at the 2019 Wimbledon), this is undoubtedly the most star-studded field in history. Talking about the decision for this revamp, USTA released a statement saying the goal is to drive greater awareness for this storied competition, giving fans both in attendance and across the globe the opportunity to see tennis’s biggest stars playing together.

On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, Elena Rybakina, and a few others will be seen in action. While on the men’s side, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, and probably Jannik Sinner will also be seen in action. Why, probably, though? Sinner was forced to retire from his Cincinnati Open final match against Alcaraz within 23 minutes of this epic duel. He looked out of sorts in the sweltering heat and had to call for the doctor after going down in the first set by 0-5.

With this defeat, Jannik Sinner’s 26-match winning streak also comes to an end on the hard courts. However, other than the disappointing outcome of this match, Sinner’s withdrawal has now brought dark clouds on his chances of participating in the US Open mixed doubles event. Amid all these, Eric Butorac, the US Open’s Senior Director of Player Relations, shared a very interesting insight about Sinner’s wish for this star-studded event. In the recent episode of Nothing Major Show, Sam Querrey asked Butorac if Serena Williams, Roger Federer, or Rafael Nadal had sent any text to inquire about this event. In reply, he said, “Yeah, Sinner did ask if Serena would be an option.“

Last year, during the Miami Open final, we saw Williams attending Jannik Sinner’s match against Daniil Medvedev. During that time, she also expressed her admiration for the Italian by saying, “I wish I had my forehand like that.” But sadly for the tennis fans, they won’t get the chance to see her play alongside Sinner at the US Open mixed doubles event.

As per anti-doping rules, players intending to come out of retirement need to comply with WADA’s reinstatement protocols before returning to competition. It stated that players must be available for testing for at least six months in advance of participating in International or National events covered by the World Anti-Doping Code. As per Eric Butora, “I believe Serena’s not back in the doping protocol. So, when you come back and being a top player, like guys like me, we could probably jump right back in…I don’t know if Roger or Rafa are actually in probably in the same situation, but I didn’t hear from Roger or Rafa about playing either.”

Serena’s sister, Venus Williams, will be seen in action in this event, pairing with her doubles partner, Reilly Opelka. They will be taking on Andrey Rublev and Karolina Muchova in their first match. On the other side, Jannik Sinner and his doubles partner, Katerina Siniakova, already have a match scheduled against Alexander Zverev and Belinda Bencic. Did he share any update on his US Open campaign after this match, though?

With the US Open mixed doubles event knocking at the door, Jannik Sinner reveals he’ll be needing a couple of days for recovery

Jannik Sinner apologized to Carlos Alcaraz for bringing an abrupt ending to this epic duel. He revealed, “From yesterday, I didn’t feel great. I thought that I would improve during the night, but it came up worse. I tried to come out, tried to make it at least a small match, but I couldn’t handle more, so I’m very sorry.” Even Alcaraz also claimed that this wasn’t the way he wanted this match to end and also wished him a quick recovery.

After snapping a five-match tour-level losing streak against the Spaniard in the Wimbledon final, Jannik Sinner was aiming to secure back-to-back wins against his arch-rival for the first time since 2023. But unfortunately for the Italian, he failed.

Now, the biggest challenge for him is to keep himself fit for the US Open. After this match, while talking about his upcoming campaign in New York, Jannik Sinner said, “I love Grand Slams a lot. This is the main tournament for my season and you know for my career. So the US Open is going to be a tough tournament, but at the same time, I’m looking forward to it. If I’m ready, physically and mentally, I will be ready to push. So as I said, now a couple of days of  recovery and then we get again back to work and hopefully we’ll be ready.” 

His main goal, perhaps, is now to defend his singles title at the US Open, but what about the mixed doubles? Well, we’ve already seen him going in search of a partner after Emma Navarro’s withdrawal from the event. Now, probably, Siniakova could well have to do the same. Fingers crossed for all Sinner fans!