Reigning Wimbledon men’s doubles champions blast new US Open mixed doubles format: ‘A shame’
The newly-crowned Wimbledon men’s doubles champions have slammed the US Open organisers for the rejigged mixed doubles format, branding it ‘a shame.’
Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool made history at the 2025 edition of the grass-court Grand Slam by becoming the first all-British pair in 89 years to lift the men’s doubles trophy.
The victory has rocketed the pair up the rankings, with Cash now sitting as the world No 4 and Glasspool at the third spot.
Neither had previously reached the last four at any of the Grand Slams.
“We won’t pretend we weren’t thinking about the prize money,” joked Cash, in an interview with Punto de Sport.
“I have no idea how much it is, but yes, obviously it’s incredible to win this sum of money in a year. For me, it’s a great thing in this aspect; it’s better than any season I’ve had before in my life. But it doesn’t change anything for us. We have more goals this year, so this title will give us a lot of confidence in the coming months; surely the other pairs will start to fear us from now on until the end of the season.
“When so many people from our country are doing well, it sometimes causes us not to pay much attention to what is being achieved. Here, for example, we have had a British champion for three seasons, but it’s something we take for granted.
“I definitely think there should be much more publicity, more follow-up on the players. There are many personalities on the circuit that people would love to know, that would help them be interested, to know who is playing. In our final, on Centre Court, the court was full, everyone was having a good time.
“I wish there were more, but all we can do is keep our heads down and keep doing what we do best, trying to make the product as appealing as possible for people.”
The pair beat Australian Rinky Hijikata and David Pel of the Netherlands, 6-2 7-6(3), in the showpiece match at Wimbledon.
“The next thing we play will be Washington, although now we’ll take a little break; we’ve played too many matches in recent weeks,” added Glasspool.
“I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but we are both quite tough on ourselves regarding the schedule; we don’t like to neglect it, we love playing many matches.
“Now we have to be smart about this, especially after qualifying for Turin. But it’s not all about Turin; there’s still another Grand Slam to fight for; we still haven’t won a Masters 1000, although we’ve played a couple of finals. I guess now everything will focus on the Masters and Slams; hopefully, we can take a break from the rest of the tournaments.”
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However, the pair seem to be unhappy about the US Open’s reshaped mixed doubles format for 2025.
The category will be played the week prior to the singles tournament and take place over two days, August 19-20, with the majority of participants being singles players rather than those who specialise in doubles.
The event will consist of best-of-three-set matches, with each set being up to four games, rather than six. There will be no-ad in games when the score is deuce, and, instead, a ‘sudden death’ point will be played.
Pairings include Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz, Emma Navarro and Jannik Sinner, Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic, and Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud.
“I’m a bit divided on the issue of the mixed doubles at the US Open; I understand both sides,” argued Cash.
“For us, doubles players, it’s a real shame, no doubt. I understand perfectly why they’ve done it; it’s clear when you see the names in the draw, it will surely be an incredible event, living up to all they’ve said.
“I understand they put on the table all the money that added up from the men’s doubles and the women’s doubles, so economically it’s a good slice, it can give you a boost for the whole year. The sport has to evolve; we’ll see if this is the right decision or not, for now, the event seems to be going well, so I wish them the best.”