Tennis fans can expect largely the same U.S. Open this year, except for the one glaring change in the lead-up to the singles tournament: the revamped mixed doubles championship.
This year, sixteen high-profile teams will compete in a knockout tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday, the first three rounds of which will be decided in up to four-game sets and the final up to six. As for the winners, well, they'll receive a cool $1 million to share, an $800,000 increase from 2024. And as for the event's star-studded teams, we'll see partners like Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu; Novak Djokovic and Olga Danilovic; and Wimbledon runner-up Amanda Anisimova and Danish star Holger Rune.
Speaking with Sports Illustrated to promote her forthcoming Vita Coco partnership ahead of the tournament, Anisimova laid out some expectations for her and Rune as a duo, while also sharing some excitement for the new event.
"Yeah, I'm super excited," Anisimova told Sports Illustrated on Sunday. "I actually practiced with him today, and it went really well. He has a really good game and I love watching him play. … I feel like we're going to make a good team together and hopefully our aggressive games will work well for us. Just looking forward to it and I'm sure it's gonna be a really special event."
Despite the additional high-profile talent in the mix this week, you'd be remiss to count Anisimova-Rune out early. For one, Anisimova is fresh off a Wimbledon finals appearance in July, where she upset Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-final, while Rune stunned Carlos Alcaraz to win Barcelona in April. So truly anything could happen.
Sound intriguing? It will be. Rune and Anisimova will kick things off against Americans Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Tuesday.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Amanda Anisimova Is Hyped to Take on the U.S. Open’s Newest Challenge.
