Raducanu<\/a> reached the second round at Queen\u2019s with Katie Boulter, the British No2.<\/p>\nThis is arguably the most star-studded grand-slam mixed doubles draw for 30 years, since the days when singles players would often compete in doubles as well. Other pairs in the provisional entry list include Djokovic and his fellow Serb Olga Danilovic, Jack Draper and the Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, Nick Kyrgios and Naomi Osaka, Jannik Sinner and Emma Navarro, Aryna Sabalenka and Grigor Dimitrov, the Italian pair Jasmine Paolini and Lorenzo Musetti, the Russians Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev, Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud, and Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa, who are also a couple off the court.<\/p>\n
![\"Novak](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/\/a14072a2-429a-4fb9-b3b1-865e4ee9c30f.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Djokovic will also compete in the mixed doubles in New York, where the winners will claim $1million<\/p>\n
MUSTAFA YALCIN\/ANADOLU VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n
The popularity of this year\u2019s event is down to a significant change in the scheduling format by US Open organisers. Rather than holding the mixed doubles during the second week, it has moved to the week before the main tournament \u2014 Tuesday August 19 and Wednesday August 20 \u2014 when singles qualifying is taking place. This gives main-draw players the chance to play some competitive matches as part of their preparations.<\/p>\n
The method of entry is now based on singles ranking only, which proved controversial with traditional doubles specialists who are unable to play in the mixed event. Organisers have made no secret of their wish to target star names and have increased prize money to $1million for the winning team, up from $200,000 last year.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz made a successful start to his grass-court schedule on Tuesday with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) victory against Australia\u2019s Adam Walton. About an hour before his first match since the French Open final nine days previously, Alcaraz was thrown a curveball when he was informed that his original opponent and compatriot, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, had withdrawn because of injury. This required the ripping up of his original game plan and he was initially unsure how Walton, ranked No86, plays.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to delete everything my coach told me at the beginning,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201c I didn\u2019t know his game, which shot is his best. I didn\u2019t know how to approach the match in that way. What I try is not to think about him. It\u2019s just thinking about myself, about my game, try to play as good as I can. I think I did it pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Jack](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/\/b64b0a55-c73f-4d63-8245-900893295e0d.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Draper will play Alexei Popyrin in the next round at Queen\u2019s<\/p>\n
SHUTTERSTOCK EDITORIAL<\/p>\n
Jack Draper started his campaign more comfortably, defeating America\u2019s Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 6-1. It was a relief for the British No 1 as he had suffered a physical setback during the build-up to his first grass tournament of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast week in training I had a little niggle,\u201d Draper said. \u201cI had to have a break for a couple of days to see it through. I was training on the courts here and took a really heavy fall. I was limping around for a day or so. But it wasn\u2019t anything that was going to keep me from playing. I got out there today and I felt really good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlos Alcaraz has revealed that he invited Emma Raducanu to form a high-profile partnership as a part of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-193815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114703203430093322","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Carlos](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/\/d4cd66b3-d668-4f3f-b8fd-1500e9baada0.jpg\")
<\/p>\n