Only last week, Emma Raducanu was bemoaning the incessant speculation about her private life.
“I guess it comes with the territory, people being so curious,” Raducanu told The Guardian, adding that it was “terrible” watching Cam Norrie get asked at Wimbledon if he was involved with her romantically.
Quite apart from anything else, Norrie has a long-term girlfriend who watches most of his matches from the players’ box. Carlos Alcaraz has no such regular partner, making gossip about his involvement with Raducanu harder to slap down.
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She says they are just “good friends” who became famous around the same time, an assertion confident enough for most people to accept.
But the salacious chatter will reignite this week – because Raducanu and Alcaraz will walk out onto court together.
They will play as celebrity headliners in the rebadged, renamed, reimagined US Open Mixed Doubles Championship that has put so many noses out of joint – and hints at a grim future for tennis.
The event itself is a circus, no one can really deny that. Played over just two days before the US Open has even started, pairs play “fast four” format, where sets go to just four games rather than six, and within those games it’s “no-ad” scoring.
Instead, deuce is just a sudden-death point. The third set is gone too, replaced by a 10-point tie-break if the first two sets are split.
The entry system was a bit mad too. Only 16 teams were allowed to enter, with half of those being granted a place by wildcard (i.e. fame).
Of the eight in “on merit”, it was the highest-ranked pairs who got in – but based on their singles ranking rather than doubles pedigree.
Not one of the top 10 male doubles players in the world is taking part. Andrea Vavassori and Sara Errani, mixed doubles champions from last year, were awarded a wildcard, but that was the only real nod to the existence of an entire ecosystem of doubles players.
Pairs had clearly been dreamed up by organisers and management agents long before the players themselves knew anything about it.
British No 1 Jack Draper was initially paired with Zheng Qinwen, with whom he never seems to have spoken before. She has since had elbow surgery and he re-paired with Jessica Pegula. They are top seeds.
Raducanu will face another friend, Jack Draper, in the first round of the mixed doubles (Photo: Getty)Amanda Anisimova and Holger Rune have the same agent. Before his latest injury, Nick Kyrgios entered with Naomi Osaka, whose company hosts his podcast.
Raducanu-Alcaraz was announced at the very height of a meme-fuelled fake news story about their relationship.
And to make sure these singles players do turn up for their glorified practice session, the US Open organisers have put down $2.36m (£1.74m) of prize money.
Mixed doubles has always had an exhibition feel, and it is one strength tennis has over almost any other sport, that the two genders can compete on the same court.
Who can forget Andy Murray and Serena Williams playing together at Wimbledon?
Angry players slam a ‘pseudo-exhibition’
While there were always a handful of wildcards for high-profile entries (all tournaments do, singles or doubles), it remained a meritocracy. In the words of Vavassori and Errani, this latest reinvention is a “pseudo-exhibition focused only on entertainment and show”.
They added: “We see it as a profound injustice that disrespects an entire category of players… and we hope this remains an isolated case.”
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) say that this “will elevate mixed doubles with a bigger spotlight”, the unsaid subtext being that doubles sold no tickets, moved no TV ratings needles and therefore had to go.
At least Raducanu and Alcaraz will drive some views on TikTok. And doubtless they will.
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But these smaller events have their place. In the second week of grand slams, there is not a lot of, if any, high-level tennis taking place on the outside courts, where tickets are generally affordable compared to the astronomical prices of Centre Court or Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Mixed doubles fills the entertainment for those who can only pay £20 or £30 for a ticket, and most are happy to watch that, even if they had probably never heard of Sem Verbeek or Katerina Siniakova before they lifted the Wimbledon mixed doubles trophy last month.
Whoever wins the mixed doubles this week will win $1m (£739,000) of prize money – the exact same amount as the women’s and men’s doubles winners will bag when the tournament starts for real next week.
That sends a clear message from the US Open to the rest of tennis about what they value: celebrity over tennis.
And this, you suspect, is just the start.
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