The very publicized match of Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu was bounced in the first round of the new US Open Mixed Event on Tuesday.
Alcaraz, the male player number 2 in the world, and Raducanu, the female player in 35th place, are former Single Champions of the US Open. However, they lost 4-2, 4-2 against the best sown team by Jack Draper and Jessica Pegula in a match that lasted less than an hour.
The Double Mixed event has generated criticism this year for a new format that prioritizes individual stars on teams that specialize in the doubles game.
Instead of a 32 team field, there were only 16 teams in the tournament this year. Half of the field was determined by the classification of single players, while the remaining eight teams were selected by the United States Tennis Association.
The prize money is also significantly higher, and the winners take $ 1 million compared to only $ 200,000 last year. The game and the time of the tournament also changed, with sets playing only in four games, and the two -day event takes place before the singles as a kind of tuning.
“It would be as if, in the Olympic Games, they would not let the real height jumpers participate, and instead caused the basketball players to compete in the height jump because it is more” interesting, “said Sara Errani, who won the double event with Andrea Vavassori last year, to The Associated Press at the beginning of this week.” If you want to do that. ” Grant medals. You cannot have a Grand Slam Double (trophy) and not let the double players participate … you are excluding them from their sport. It’s dishonest. “
British player Joe Salisbury told the AP that the decision to include individual stars “gives a little more attention.”
“But I’m not sure it’s good for the doubles event, because it is not really an adequate event. It’s just a two -day exhibition.”
The Mixed Doubt Tournament will conclude on Wednesday.
The US Open Single raffle will begin on August 24.
