Five days before the start of the singles tables, current and past tennis stars follow one another on Tuesday at the US Open, where Carlos Alcaraz and Serena Williams played in mixed doubles, before an exhibition match by Roger Federer.
Deprived of Roland-Garros and Wimbledon by an injury to his right wrist, Carlos Alcaraz chose for his first official match in more than four months to join forces with those of another returnee, the former world No. 1 Serena Williams.
Returning to competition in June after almost four years of break, the 44-year-old American replayed in New York for the first time since the 2022 edition of the tournament, where she announced her intention to “evolve” further from the WTA circuit.
And the association of the two stars initially worked. They won their first round, which is equivalent to a round of 16, against a pair of specialists made up of New Zealander Erin Routliffe and Briton Lloyd Glasspool (5-3, 4-1).
“I never thought I would return to this court, it was a great moment,” described Serena Williams during an interview after her first match on the court, which she will not find in singles, the organizers having preferred to issue the last invitation to Sofia Kenin.
The two tennis stars then lost in the quarter-finals against a pair of singles players, made up of Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli (5-4 (7-4), 4-1).
Serena Williams had already won the US Open mixed doubles tournament. It was in 1998, alongside Belarusian Max Mirnyi.
For the second year in a row and to revive interest in mixed doubles, the organizers mainly invited singles stars rather than specialists in the discipline and innovated by offering rounds of four games and not six, with a super tie-break in ten points in the event of a tie at one set all.
A format that appeals to the Franco-Ukrainian couple Gaël Monfils and Elina Svitolina, associated for this tournament and qualified in the semi-final, after their victories against the pair Eala-Auger-Aliassime then in the super tie-break against the Czech Katerina Siniakova and the British Henry Patten, both world No.1 in doubles, in the quarter-finals.
Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka were eliminated as soon as they entered the fray by Siniakova and Patten.
The mixed doubles quarter-finals end on Tuesday in New York, while the semi-finals and final will be played on Wednesday.
