Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus and Serbiaís Novak Djokovic play mixed-doubles together during a charity event on Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on January 11, 2024 ahead of the Australian Open tennis championship starting on January 14. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)
NEW YORK — Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic headline the initial list of 16 teams entered into the US Open mixed doubles championship.
The tournament was overhauled last 12 months, with a $1 million prize going to the winners, in an effort to get top singles players to compete. A lot of those kinds of stars were listed among the many teams announced Monday by the U.S. Tennis Association.
Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud, the runners-up in 2025, are entered again, together with Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz, the Japanese duo of Naomi Osaka and Kei Nishikori, and Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper.
READ: Alex Eala officially makes US Open entry list
Two multi-Grand Slam champions. One Mixed Doubles team.
Djokolenka. pic.twitter.com/Nn3BjYfnnd
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) July 27, 2026
The major draw will likely be played over two days on Aug. 25-26, with all of the matches set to be held in Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium, the 2 biggest venues on the U.S. Open, and televised on ESPN’s properties.
Teams can enter up until Aug. 17, when the six duos with the perfect combined singles rankings on the time will likely be routinely entered into the major draw. Meaning Sabalenka, the two-time defending U.S. Open women’s champion, and Djokovic, still ranked No. 5 on the boys’s tour at age 39, will likely be safely into the sphere.
Eight teams will likely be given wild cards by the USTA, and two other teams will play their way into the sphere through a qualifying tournament to be held Aug. 24.
The rest of the teams that were entered as of Monday:
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Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev, Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli, Diana Shnaider and Daniil Medvedev, Amanda Anisimova and Learner Tien, Alex Eala and Felix Auger-Aliassime, Leylah Fernandez and Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Townsend and Alexander Zverev, Elena-Gabriela Ruse and Nuno Borges, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten, and siblings Peyton Stearns and Preston Stearns.
Errani and Vavassori are the two-time defending US Open champions. The Italians needed a wild card to get into last 12 months’s event because their singles rating was too low, and that will likely be the case again this 12 months.
The US Open was initially criticized last 12 months since the format of the event shut out doubles specialists resembling Errani and Vavassori, however the tournament definitely seemed successful, helping draw 78,000 fans to the grounds and selling out Ashe each days.
READ: Big changes in US Open mixed doubles draw ire
“Any time you’ll be able to bring men and women together on the identical team, you showcase tennis at its best. This is precisely what the mixed doubles championship does,” USTA CEO Craig Tiley said in an announcement.
“The mixed doubles championship is an innovation that can engage recent audiences and provides our fans one other opportunity to see the most important stars compete together.”
Errani and Vavassori were the one traditional doubles team in last 12 months’s tournament. There’s a likelihood for more this 12 months — Siniakova and Patten are doubles specialists — with the addition of the eight-team qualifying tournament, which can include six direct entries and two wild cards.
The format will likely be best-of-three-set matches with sets to 4 games, tiebreakers at 4-all and a 10-point match tiebreak as an alternative of a 3rd set, through the semifinals. The ultimate will likely be standard scoring with sets to 6 games and a tiebreaker at 6-all, and a 10-point match tiebreaker if vital.