The 2025 US Open mixed doubles event delivered a spectacle rarely seen in tennis, as two of the sport’s brightest young stars—Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz—joined forces in a bid to shake up a reimagined and hotly debated format. Their partnership, forged amid a swirl of fan anticipation and media attention, was short-lived but memorable, offering both on-court drama and a glimpse into the evolving world of Grand Slam tennis.
For many, the mere sight of Raducanu and Alcaraz walking onto the Arthur Ashe Stadium together on August 19, 2025, was enough to send social media into overdrive. It’s not every day that recent singles champions team up for mixed doubles, let alone in a tournament with a $1 million first prize and a format designed to maximize excitement—and controversy.
The journey to this moment was anything but straightforward. Just a day before their match, Alcaraz was competing in the Cincinnati Open, where he raced to a 5-0 lead over Jannik Sinner before the Italian retired due to illness. With little time to spare, the 22-year-old Spaniard hopped on a private jet with fellow star Iga Swiatek, making the 600-mile dash to New York. "It's good. The scheduling is not the best to be honest, playing tomorrow. But the concept of the mixed doubles, I love it," Alcaraz admitted before the trip. "It's going to be new for me, which I love. I'm going to have so much fun, playing with Emma. I will try to enjoy as much as I can. I will try to see how the court is going to be, the balls, everything. I will treat it as a really important and good preparation for me."
Raducanu, meanwhile, entered the event with a point to prove. Since her stunning 2021 US Open singles triumph, she had struggled to advance past the first round in New York. Teaming up with Alcaraz was, at the very least, a chance to reignite her spark—and perhaps, as some fans hoped, create a dream team for the ages.
Yet, from the opening point against top-seeded Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper, it was clear the British-Spanish duo faced a daunting task. The mixed doubles tournament, squeezed into the US Open’s prequel week, featured a radically shortened format: sets to four games, no-ad scoring, and a 10-point tiebreak in lieu of a third set. The changes, designed to attract star power and television audiences, drew both praise and criticism. Doubles specialists like Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori called the changes a “profound injustice,” fearing the event was drifting further from its roots.
But if the goal was to fill Arthur Ashe Stadium and generate buzz, it worked. The stands were near capacity as Raducanu and Alcaraz took the court for their much-hyped debut. The pair, dubbed “Raducaraz” by some corners of the internet, started with flashes of chemistry—smiles, fist bumps, and the occasional incredulous laugh after a highlight-reel shot. Alcaraz, ever the entertainer, even pulled off an around-the-net winner that left Raducanu beaming and the crowd roaring. "She's going to be the boss," Alcaraz joked before the tournament. "The US Open came to us and gave us the opportunity to play mixed doubles. I'm super excited about it, it's going to be great, it was an amazing idea from the tournament. I've known Emma since a long time ago – I have a really good relationship with her so it's going to be interesting. We are going to enjoy [it] for sure, I'll try to put my doubles skills on and we'll try to win."
Despite their enthusiasm, the experience of Pegula and Draper quickly told. The first set slipped away 4-2, with Draper’s net play and Pegula’s steady serving proving too much for the newcomers. The second set followed a similar script, as Raducanu was repeatedly tested by Draper’s aggressive targeting. Yet, even as the match slipped further from their grasp, Raducanu and Alcaraz kept the mood light, exchanging encouraging words and sharing laughs between points.
The match lasted just 50 minutes, ending 4-2, 4-2 in favor of Pegula and Draper. For Raducanu and Alcaraz, the result was a disappointment, but the performance had its moments. Raducanu’s wild backhand volley on the opening point and Alcaraz’s audacious shot around the net were reminders of their immense talent—and why fans had clamored to see them together. As Pegula noted after the match, “The stadium’s packed so thanks to everyone for showing up. I have played doubles a lot but not much recently. That was such a great atmosphere, even if it took a couple of highlight reel shots from Carlos to get the crowd going, that was still a lot of fun.” Draper added, “What an experience playing out here with Jessica against Carlos and Emma. It does not get any better than this.”
For the mixed doubles format itself, the event marked a turning point. The influx of singles stars like Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek, and Naomi Osaka brought unprecedented attention and ticket sales, with seats going for up to $135. Yet the changes weren’t universally embraced. Some doubles specialists felt sidelined, and only a handful of the world’s top-ranked doubles players made the draw. Still, organizers saw the experiment as a success—at least for now.
As the tournament rolled on, upsets became the norm. Djokovic and Olga Danilović fell to Daniil Medvedev and Mirra Andreeva, while Venus Williams and Reilly Opelka were ousted by Karolína Muchová and Andrey Rublev. Defending champions Errani and Vavassori survived a scare to reach the semifinals, while Pegula and Draper continued their march, setting up a blockbuster clash with Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud in the next round.
For Raducanu and Alcaraz, the focus now shifts back to their singles campaigns. Both have unfinished business at the US Open—Raducanu seeking to rediscover her 2021 magic, and Alcaraz aiming to reclaim the title he won in 2022. Their brief mixed doubles run may not have yielded silverware, but it did capture the imagination of tennis fans worldwide and injected new energy into a format long considered an afterthought.
As the lights dimmed on Arthur Ashe and the crowd filtered out, the message was clear: the mixed doubles revolution has arrived, and with stars like Raducanu and Alcaraz leading the way, its future suddenly looks a lot brighter—even if the dream team’s campaign ended sooner than many had hoped.
