{"id":74486,"date":"2025-08-18T02:15:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T02:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/74486\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T02:15:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T02:15:07","slug":"emma-raducanu-jets-in-to-play-controversial-event-and-admits-to-being-scared-tennis-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/74486\/","title":{"rendered":"Emma Raducanu jets in to play controversial event and admits to being ‘scared’ | Tennis | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emma Raducanu will arrive in New York today to star in a new mixed doubles event at the US Open which has attracted big names – and huge controversy. The 2021 New York champion will partner Wimbledon<\/a> finalist Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> in a glamorous pairing while Novak Djokovic<\/a> will team up with Olga Danilovic.<\/p>\n

And Venus Williams, now 45, will chase the $1m first prize with fellow American Reilly Opelka as the line between sport and entertainment is further blurred.<\/p>\n

Wimbledon<\/a> champions Jannik Sinner<\/a> and Iga Swiatek<\/a> have joined the two-day tournament with only one specialist doubles pairing – Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori – so far given a wildcard. Two more are to be awarded.<\/p>\n

It is part of Fan Week next Tuesday and Wednesday – the US Open singles starts next Sunday (24) – as the last Grand Slam of the season becomes a three-week event.<\/p>\n

Martina Navratilova has claimed the new format \u201cmakes a mockery of the event\u201d and dismissed it as \u201can exhibition, not a proper event.\u201d<\/p>\n

But previous high-profile mixed doubles partnerships, such as Andy Murray<\/a> playing with Serena Williams at Wimbledon<\/a> in 2019, have proved big hits with the public and TV. Now the battle of the sexes in New York is set to become an annual event.<\/p>\n

And for a Raducanu, it is a return to centre stage in Flushing Meadows after failing to win a singles match in New York since 2021.<\/p>\n

World No.2 Alcaraz revealed he made a \u201cspecial request\u201d to play with the British No.1 and joked she would be \u201cthe boss\u201d.<\/p>\n

And Raducanu was also in a light-hearted mood when talking about facing Ben Shelton\u2019s 150mph serve. \u201cI think I’m most scared to play certain shots,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cBen Shelton’s serve, that scares me. That’s probably one in particular. And then obviously all the guys. It’s very difficult to return their serves. Reilly Opelka? He’s serving from a stepladder. It’s incredible. But of course I’m very excited. It’s such a unique opportunity, and I thin a lot of the females will probably be feeling the same way. Returning the guys’ serve is quite difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

But not all the big stars will be out next week. World No.2 Coco Gauff<\/a> decided against entering her home Grand Slam as the build-up week is \u201calready packed\u201d. She added: \u201cI\u2019m very competitive, if I were to lose, I would not be happy. So, I didn\u2019t want to waste mental energy on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

And world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka <\/a>claimed she was staying \u201cloyal\u201d to Grigor Dimitrov and will not seek another partner after the Bulgarian pulled out with pectoral injury suffered at Wimbledon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And Jack Draper<\/a> has picked Jessica Pegula as his new partner after Qinwen Zheng and Paula Badosa both withdrew.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emma Raducanu will arrive in New York today to star in a new mixed doubles event at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[870,26394,6962,9398,38138,101,118,56,54,55,10302,7259],"class_list":{"0":"post-74486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-carlos-alcaraz","9":"tag-carlos-alcaraz-partnership","10":"tag-emma-raducanu","11":"tag-martina-navratilova","12":"tag-martina-navratilova-controversy","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tennis","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom","18":"tag-us-open-mixed-doubles","19":"tag-us-open-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}