{"id":1575,"date":"2026-01-08T21:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T21:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1575"},"modified":"2026-01-08T21:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T21:30:19","slug":"grand-slam-winner-surprised-by-australian-open-decision-over-mixed-doubles-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1575","title":{"rendered":"Grand Slam winner \u2018surprised\u2019 by Australian Open decision over mixed doubles event"},"content":{"rendered":"

The tennis community was stunned when the USTA announced the mixed doubles competition at last year\u2019s US Open<\/a> would become an invitation only event that would feature some of the biggest names in the game.<\/p>\n

The doubles specialists who rely on the prize money at the Grand Slams to sustain their season were especially vocal in their criticism of the move, as high earning singles players were placed into an event that retained it\u2019s status as a major title.<\/p>\n

Most observers viewed the event taut took place in the week before the US Open as little more than an exhibition event, but it generated huge interest and was played out before packed crowds in New York.<\/p>\n

The combinations of players like Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> and Emma Raducanu<\/a> inevitably drew plenty of attention and the final verdict was that the revamped US Open event was a major success.<\/p>\n

Now seven-time Grand Slam winning doubles great Mark Woodforde has given his verdict and while he still has reservations about the event that was won by doubles specialists Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori when they beat Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud in the final, he believes the experiment was a success.<\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/h2>\n

Tim Henman criticises \u2018disrespectful\u2019 US Open mixed doubles revamp: \u2018It\u2019s not a Grand Slam event\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

What is the Million Dollar 1 Point Slam? Who will join Carlos Alcaraz in the draw?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI was one of the guys that were saying that I think it would be unfair for the US Open, the USTA, to call their mixed doubles event at Grand Slam with the way they did it,\u201d Woodforde told Tennis365 in his role as an ambassador at the Bank of China Hong Kong Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it was a success in the end, I still say it wasn\u2019t a leg of the Grand Slam. You know, you don\u2019t hand pick teams to play a Grand Slam. That\u2019s not our competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, it was an exhibition, but it was an exhibition that actually worked extraordinarily well. I was overjoyed to see Errani and Vavasori lift the trophy at the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were defending champions and to that that title against all these great players was even more impressive and I liked the principle of doubles teams competing against these hand picked teams of singles players, who were already there preparing for the US Open anyway. In the end, I thought it was extremely well done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woodforde went to suggest his home Grand Slam could have followed the lead of the US Open with their mixed doubles event, as he hinted what we saw in New York last year may be a sign of things to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Australian Open is often innovative with different formats, so I\u2019m a bit surprised that we haven\u2019t heard from the AO or Roland Garros to say they are doing something like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure Wimbledon will be the last event that will stand up for what they will say is traditional tennis, but I\u2019m surprised the other two Grand Slams have not looked to follow what we saw at the US Open last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Australian Open have unveiled a new innovation for 2026, with top players taking on members of the public next Wednesday in the \u20181 Point Slam\u2019 that will feature tennis pros, celebrities and amateurs from across the country \u2013 with $1 million prize money on the line for the winner.<\/p>\n

Grand Slam champions Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek, Jannik Sinner, Coco Gauff, Danill Medvedev and Naomi Osaka are among those taking part.<\/p>\n

\"Pat\n

Pat Cash and Mark Woodforde spoke to Tennis365 at the Bank of China Hong Kong Open<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

READ NEXT: Emma Raducanu\u2019s targets laid out by Grand Slam winner after troubled start to 2026<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Grand Slam winner \u2018surprised\u2019 by Australian Open decision over mixed doubles event<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The tennis community was stunned when the USTA announced the mixed doubles competition at last year\u2019s US Open would become an invitation only event that would feature some of the biggest names in the game. The doubles specialists who rely on the prize money at the Grand Slams to sustain their season were especially vocal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}