Tennis Mailbag: Will Serena Williams Play Mixed Doubles at the U.S. Open?

Submissions have been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

As it is written, Wednesday is mailbag day.

• Here’s the latest Served podcast:

• Congrats to Frances Tiafoe, one of the (many) good people in this sport, on the Frances Tiafoe Fund surpassing $1 million.

Onward …

U.S. Open Mixed Doubles

• A lot of questions came in late about the U.S. Open mixed doubles announcement.

It’s a great event, and I’m glad there is a sponsor again. It’s great that conventional doubles players have ample opportunity to enter the event. There are many big names and a few notable absences (all subject to change). Because our allegiance and loyalty are to the audience/fans, and not to agents, here’s the unspoken: Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz are/were supposed to play together. This would have been the headlining act in normal times. Alas, in either an abundance of caution or a bad omen, Alcaraz’s wrist remains a question mark (especially after he withdrew from Cincinnati). If he commits, great. If not, one must believe that Serena—who had already committed to being in New York City that week—will not go unmatched.

Q&A

Questions for the Bag: What are the odds that we get eight different Slam winners this year? [Jannik] Sinner and [Alexander] Zverev will be heavy favorites on the men’s side, but maybe [Taylor] Fritz or [Ben] Shelton? On the women’s side, a different winner feels more likely (Sabalenka, [Coco] Gauff, [Jessica] Pegula). Along those lines, what are the odds that the women field eight different finalists at the Slams this year? That seems particularly attainable.

Jason R.

• Good one. Sinner, the clear No. 1, is the reigning champion of only one major, the Wimbledon title he won in July. Let’s do the women first. Yes, we are still weeks out from the U.S. Open, but it’s hard to pick against Sabalenka, who has won 20 of her past 21 matches in New York. (And that loss was a three-set final, to Gauff, in which she let a lead slip.) Sabalenka’s past five U.S. Open results: semifinal, semifinal, final, winner, winner. If she three-peats, we’ll have our fourth women’s winner of 2026.

The men’s side? This is where, to borrow from The Roots, things fall apart. Sinner, likely, will enter as the favorite to take a title he won in 2024. Zverev would be next. Alcaraz, the defending champion, would be third, wrist permitting. All three, of course, have already won in ’26.

Could an American finally break through and depose Andy Roddick? Could Novak Djokovic fire one up for the memory banks and use that Amazon jet stream to win a 25th major? Could a Félix Auger-Aliassime type catch a few draw breaks and play the major of his life à la Marin Čilić a dozen years ago? I guess. But realistically, it would be shocking if a top-three seed did not win, which would preclude eight 2026 major winners in eight attempts.

Hi Jon,

I was watching the Athens Open and was wondering where Barbora Krejčíková lands in the all-time tennis rankings. She for sure makes the HOF. She has two singles slams but no singles dominance and seven doubles slams and No. 1.

Anna

• She’ll make the Hall of Fame for sure. She has multiple singles majors, a saddlebag full of doubles majors and Olympic success. She is 30 years old. Even after winning Athens, she “only” has nine titles. Still more than, say, Naomi Osaka (seven), but a fraction of, say, Victoria Azarenka (21), another two-time major winner. Beyond the numbers, I suspect Krejčíková will benefit greatly from what she represents. Here is a player who was slaying in doubles and basically said, Not good enough. I think I can make it as a soloist. She became Paul Simon. Many others can—and should—draw inspiration from this.

All three of the doubles draws at Wimbledon were a real Who’s Who of Who’s That? Sorry, but I’m a die hard tennis fan and I can’t muster the mustard to care about Dabrowski/Stefani or Arévalo/Pavić or Kretz/Lu. I completely made up that third team but you would’ve believed me that they were a mixed team, right?!

• Point taken. But again, there has to be a creative solution here. It’s inadequate for the ATP to cut jobs (and sessions) so cavalierly. It’s inadequate for the doubles players to say simply, You don’t promote us. The ATP keeps doubles intact but shifts the promotional burden to the doubles players. You think you have a viable product? Great, sell it. Doubles players get some broadcast rights in exchange for a prize money reduction. They get an exemption from having to play multiple events in one week. They get a YouTube channel. They have a mandatory pro-am. Something. We have robots training soccer players and writing hip-hop songs and movie scripts. We should be able to figure this out.

Shots

• Michael Antonius made history late last month, winning his second professional singles title at the USTA Pro Circuit M15 event in Rochester, N.Y. At 16 years and 199 days old, Antonius became the youngest American player to win multiple World Tennis Tour men’s singles titles, and the first to do so before turning 17.

HAVE A GOOD WEEK, EVERYONE!

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