Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu will face each other in the first round of the renewed US Open Mixed Doubles. The event has been moved to before the main tournament, on 19 and 20 August, with $ 1 million (£ 750,000) in prize money at stake for the winners of the 16-Pair event.
Draper plays with the American Jessica Pegula after their original partners, Paula Badosa and Tommy Paul withdrew. With both in the top five in the rankings of the singles, the couple got the top seedocrus and will kick off their campaign against the Wildcard -pair Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz.
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The winners are confronted with the 24-way Grand SLAM champion Novak Djokovic and Olga Danilovic when they overcome Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev. Venus Williams, at the age of 45, and countryman Reilly Opelka are confronted with Karolina Muchova and Andrey Rublev.
In the meantime, the six-fold Wimbledon double champion Gordon Reid says that wheelchair tennis should continue to prove its value to tournaments to help the gap in prize money. Reid and his partner, Alfie Hewett, are preparing for the US Open, which announced a large increase in profit last week.
While the mixed double champions now get $ 1 million, the total pot for all wheelchair players is $ 1.69 million. Reid and Hewett, who won six titles at Flushing Meadows, with Hewett who also won four singles titles, have been a big driving force in improving wheelchair tennis.
“It is 20 years since we started, so in terms of the age of the slams themselves, we are very fresh, very new,” said Reid. “As much as we want to see an increase and the gap in the prize money, we also have to prove that we add something, add value to the tournament. Hopefully they get hand in hand, the opportunities we get and the prize money.
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