I am a Jessica Pegula fan, but her recent comments to Tennis Channel about the upcoming US Open mixed doubles have me really confused.
Pegula is slated to play in the reimagined US Open mixed doubles with Tommy Paul. It is a two-day event on August 19-20 during US Open fan week. The US Open mixed doubles champions will be crowned four days before the singles main draw begins play.
14 teams are IN!
Eight teams have received direct entry and six teams have received wild cards to the US Open Mixed Doubles Championship. The final two wild cards will be announced at a later date. pic.twitter.com/mkAteJDQVT
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) July 29, 2025
What Jessica Pegula Said
Pegula is a member of the WTA Player Council so it would be logical to assume that she had the best information about the US Open mixed doubles event. It does not sound like that is the case because she explained that the US Open “went rogue and changed the format” without telling anybody.
She also said that she was honored to be asked to play. This puzzled me. I thought players organically formed their own teams and applied to be considered. The basis of the consideration was the players’ rankings. Did the US Open handpick players to form teams?
Pegula also talked about the timing of the event which begins a day after the Cincinnati Open finals. The Cincinnati Open finals are at 3 PM ET on Monday, August 18, and the US Open mixed doubles begins Tuesday, August 19 at 11 AM ET. It is pretty likely that the Cincinnati Open champions will be pulling out of the US Open mixed doubles.
Besides the lack of communication and logistics, Pegula mentioned that the doubles specialists are upset because this is a missed earnings opportunity for them. Last year’s first prize was $200,000 divided between the two winning players. This year, the prize money is $500,000 for the winning team. If the singles players have conflict over this, couldn’t they opt out?
It is not clear if the reimagined US Open mixed doubles will become a tradition that is refined going forward or is a once-and-done experiment. Fan participation could be a determining factor.
