Mike Bryan is one of the greatest doubles players of all time with 18 Grand Slam doubles titles to his name.
As a result, he took a vested interest in the inaugural Mixed Doubles event at the US Open, which featured several of the game’s top singles players in action.
The tournament took place a fortnight before the Flushing Meadows tournament was due to get underway, to try and spruce up doubles and create more interest in the concept.
Coco Gauff swerved the event but has confessed she may play if it happens again, whilst Ben Shelton, Carlos Alcaraz and Venus Williams were among the participants.
Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty ImagesMike Bryan delivers verdict on US Open mixed doubles event
As a former doubles participant, Bryan was an intrigued spectator watching how the drama would unfold in New York.
Bryan retired from playing in 2020 and it’s fair to say that like many other doubles specialists, he was happy to see Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori claim the win.
The pair are actually a doubles team and there was clearly no way that they were letting two singles players get their hands on a bounty of cash at their expense.
Bryan was pleased to see the doubles specialists emerge victorious but conceded that he was a fan of the event on the whole.
He said in a press conference ahead of the International Tennis Hall of Fame event: “We were watching the mixed. We were interested to see how it was going to look. It looked great. The fans were out. It’s on TV, which was cool. Obviously, there’s more attention, which I think the US Open wanted. I mean, we were interested, right? It was a trial. I would say it went pretty well.
“In our hearts, we were rooting for the doubles players. We wanted to see Vavassori and Errani do it because we feel like the best doubles players, when they’re out there and doing the right thing, they have an advantage over the singles players. There is star power in that draw, but we knew it.
“Yeah, there’s team doubles versus team singles now, because it’s pretty divided. But you know, I think it’s good in the grand scheme of things for doubles. It was on ESPN. P Mac and Johnny Mac are calling doubles. That’s pretty cool.”
Doubles event at the US Open should be here to stay
Not only should the US Open persist with this event in future years, but surely it will give the other Grand Slam events food for thought too.
It’s great to see matches played in a bit of an exhibition format and for people who want to see the top players but don’t want to sit watching tennis for hours on end, this could be the format for them.
Cricket has taken its game into the 21st century with shorter formats of the sport and this is perhaps the tennis equivalent of T20.
Naturally, it won’t go down well with the purists and indeed, it does now actually count as a Grand Slam, which is perhaps a little bit of a stretch, but it does feel like the event had a positive impact.
Bryan endorses it and that can only bode well for it returning for future instalments in the years to come.