Former Australian tennis player John Millman says the changes to the mixed doubles championship at this year's US Open will "hurt" specialist doubles players to benefit top singles players and could alter the fabric of grand slam tennis forever.
Announced Wednesday, the reimagined mixed doubles competition will debut at Flushing Meadows in August. It will feature a revamped schedule and format, and increased prize money.
While the changes are being marketed to grow the audience around doubles tennis, Millman says the shake-up has an "exhibition match feel".
Olivia Gadecki and John Peers kiss the trophy after winning the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open. Hu Jingchen/Xinhua via Getty Images
Millman believes that if the US Open's restructure is successful, it could open the door to a similar arrangement being implemented at the Australian Open and Roland-Garros — adding that Wimbledon's more traditional outlook would likely prevent the All England Club from following suit.
"There was a little bit of discussion amongst the player forums at the Australian Open where this [new form] was starting to get voiced behind the scenes and it seemed some big changes could be made," Millman told Wide World of Sports.
In the last two decades, mixed doubles has lost prestige, with the sport's big names overlooking the format to save themselves for main draw action and chase increased prize money in singles.
Former Australian professional tennis player John Millman. Mark Metcalfe via Getty Images
At this year's US Open, the mixed doubles championship will be played over two days during the week before the main draws begin, coinciding with the qualifying rounds for the men's and women's singles.
The event will include 16 teams — eight teams with direct entry through the players' combined singles rankings and eight wildcards — contesting shorter matches using Fast4 scoring.
The shortened format is best of three shortened sets, determined by first-to-four games. Games are also shortened, with a deciding point played at deuce.
Tiebreaks are also reduced in length, with the winning team the first to five points and a sudden death point applied at 4-all, rather than the usual two-point advantage being required after players are level at 6-6 in a tiebreaker.
A 10-point match tiebreaker is played for the final set if the proceeding sets are split 1-all, with a winner-takes-all point if required at 9-all.
Only the tournament's final will closely resemble a traditional grand slam doubles match with a best of three sets played to six games with no-ad scoring, tiebreakers at 6-all and a 10-point match tiebreaker.
Australia's Olivia Gadecki and John Peers celebrate after defeating compatriots Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith in the mixed doubles final at the Australian Open. AP
The announcement drew heavy criticism from doubles specialists, with Australia's Ellen Perez leading the outcry, claiming they illustrated that the US Open saw doubles players as "trash".
Millman added that the changes would impact the earning capacity of doubles specialists like Perez.
"I'm sure it's quite divided [amongst the players]," he said.
"The pure doubles players are probably the ones that are potentially going to be the most impacted by this decision.
"The mixed doubles is an event that has become obsolete to the singles players.
"However, I think that the pure mixed doubles players, with the reduced draw, are disappointed by the US Open's shake-up."
By shifting the mixed doubles to the same week as singles qualifying, Millman sees an opportunity to expand the marketing capability of grand slams across three weeks.
Last year, the Australian Open introduced a 15-day event with a Sunday start for the first time, adding an additional day to the broadcast and ticketing of the event to grow revenue.
This will also be the case at Roland-Garros, with the same schedule to be adopted by the US Open for this year's edition.
Australia's Alex de Minaur plays a backhand in his high-profile charity match against Carlos Alcaraz ahead of the A. Getty
"It is something that has been identified by tournament organisers. They want to get the big-name players playing more often," Millman said.
"By playing this mixed doubles tournament at the US Open in the qualifying week, it feels to me as a spectator looking in now that there is a big drive to make the qualifying week more of a bigger deal commercially or with more interest.
"We saw this at the Australian Open this year with a lot of ticketed exhibition matches being played.
"No longer is this being called qualifying week, it's been branded as Opening Week."
As part of the inaugural AO Opening Week, the festivities kicked off at Melbourne Park the week before the main draws with charity and exhibition matches and live entertainment alongside qualifying and open practice sessions.
"I do think that this is a growing trend amongst the grand slams that they want to generate more interest in that qualifying week — they want to bring in the crowds a little bit earlier for the event and its vendors," Millman says.
"What is happening at the US Open is an indication that this is not just in Australia, this is going to be something we see across all the grand slams.
"Perhaps it could be a Saturday start in the future, who knows."
view gallery
Australian Open 2025 in pictures: What Sinner said to Zverev in 'intimate' post-match moment
However, Millman suggested that Wimbledon could be less likely to emulate the changes.
"Wimbledon has stayed more traditional, even when you look at the move to the Sunday start," he says.
A quarter-finalist at the US Open, Millman trusts that if Opening Week becomes more recognised as the official start of a grand slam, then the mixed doubles title at slams could be returned to its former glory.
However, he is not a fan of the unconventional entry process for the US Open.
"Maybe they haven't got that model quite right," he said.
"I don't like the idea of so many wildcards.
"I'm a fan of tennis generally not having any wildcards.
"I know I've benefited as an Australian by having wildcards but I don't necessarily think that wildcards are the most fair thing.
"I've never been a fan of so many wildcards. I'm more of a fan of people qualifying on their own merit, and the merit you qualify on should be based on singles and doubles for the mixed doubles.
"I'd prefer it to be a combined ranking based on your best singles or doubles ranking."
At the US Open, the mixed doubles will be contested on August 19 and 20 before main draw play begins on August 24.