\u201cI hope everyone stays healthy this time,\u201d she said with a smile, referring to last year\u2019s withdrawal by Dimitrov.<\/p>\n
Why Do Krunic and Pavic Have to Play Qualifying?<\/p>\n
Djokovic is not the only Serbian player in the event. Aleksandra Krunic has entered alongside Croatia\u2019s Mate Pavic, currently seventh on the ATP doubles ranking and a former world number one in the discipline. Unlike Djokovic and Sabalenka, the two of them do not have a direct spot in the main draw and must go through qualifying on August 24.<\/p>\n
The reason is the new competition format, which reserves automatic entry into the draw for pairs built around highly ranked singles players. Krunic and Pavic do not have that advantage, so they are fighting for a spot against seven other pairs. Krunic carries serious doubles experience of her own, she has been ranked among the world\u2019s top 40, and this year she reached the women\u2019s doubles final at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n
The competition for the trophy is stacked well beyond the Serbian pair. The draw includes Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz, Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud, as well as the married duo of Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils, so no match in New York will be a formality.<\/p>\n
Djokovic currently has little to celebrate in Cincinnati, having already been eliminated in the second round, but mixed doubles gives him a chance to play several intense matches before singles begins, alongside a partner who is currently the world\u2019s number one. If the Djokovic-Sabalenka pairing goes the way they have announced, Arthur Ashe Stadium will be watching their final on the evening of August 26. The first test comes on August 25, when the main draw gets underway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI hope everyone stays healthy this time,\u201d she said with a smile, referring to last year\u2019s withdrawal by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1086,2482,139,2265,28,463],"class_list":["post-53446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-novak-djokovic","tag-djokovic","tag-mixed-doubles","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-sabalenka","tag-tennis","tag-us-open"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}