US Open Fan Week Sets the Stage

With Fan Week at the US Open wrapping up Saturday, there is still a fair amount happening at the tennis center before the main event begins Sunday. The three rounds of qualifying are complete, while many of the tournament participants will spend Saturday engaged in practice sessions prior to the start of the main draw.

In reviewing Fan Week and the qualies, the crowds generally got bigger with each passing day, but the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center were most electric on Tuesday. There were a few thousand extra spectators on site that day, with the reason for the attendance bump being obvious: star power.

Along with the qualifying matches being played, Tuesday saw the crowds come out to see the top names in the game competing in the mixed doubles competition. This is the second year the Open has utilized a new format for the mixed doubles; the matches are all played over two days the week prior to the start of the main singles draw. This change allows top players, who are primarily here to compete in singles, to enter the mixed doubles, as the matches are far enough removed from the main draw that names like Djokovic, Alcaraz, Sabalenka and many more are happy to play in the mixed doubles. There is no longer any concern that playing doubles will interfere with their preparation for and play in singles.

While the addition of top singles names and the increase in fan attendance are certainly welcome, many tennis aficionados feel the new format does not measure up to what winning a Grand Slam title should be. The prevailing thought seems to be that the tennis gods would deem the current Open's mixed doubles championship as something that taints the accomplishments of past champions: Winning a Slam, whether singles or doubles, has traditionally been a serious endeavor that involves a lot of hard work. To add to that, one cannot put a current US Open mixed doubles championship in the same category as winning the mixed doubles at any of the three other majors. You never know, though; if the Open continues in this direction and it continues to attract players and fans, other majors may follow suit. Let's face it, fans were not crashing the gates to see mixed doubles in recent years, so this might catch on. Naysayers probably have not attended the new mixed doubles, and in making comments, they have not considered a big selling point: It is fun.

Shown here is the mixed doubles team of Aryna Sabalenka and partner Novak Djokovic. While the two are among the biggest stars in singles, they lost in the first round of mixed doubles. For the record, the team that won this year consists of Czechs Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik, both accomplished singles players. After splitting the first two sets of the final on Wednesday, they won the decisive tiebreak 10-6. While we do understand the debate about labeling the two as Grand Slam champions, they are most certainly US Open champions who, along with the title, divide $1 million in prize money.

In watching the mixed doubles competition this year, it dawned on us that the formula the Open has adopted is similar to "Dancing With the Stars," where there are participants who live to dance (or play doubles) competing alongside others who, while comfortable on stage/court, are not primarily dancers/doubles players. We draw the comparison here because, like it or not, this might be the direction mixed doubles will continue to go: DWTS has been a popular program for nearly 20 years now.

Getting back to the basics of qualifying week and the qualies matches, we've learned that most spectators who come out to watch on multiple days approach the matches in similar fashion: They walk the grounds until they come upon a court with a player name or country of origin that might be familiar to them, and then stick around to watch. If that fan returns later in the week, they will almost certainly check out how the player who won that first match fares in the next round or two. We certainly adhere to this M.O., and so found ourselves following the progress of Grigor Dimitrov.

This photo of Grigor probably looks familiar to those of you who have viewed previous posts on the Florida Tennis site: He is playing on the same court and wearing the same outfit for his second-round match as he did in his first-round victory — even established tennis stars have similar superstitions to you and me, and don't want to mess with a winning recipe. Though Dimitrov made a good number of unforced errors and had a more difficult time in the second round, he came away with the win 7-6, 6-4. And while it probably was not due to his outfit, Dimitrov's good fortune continued into the next round, which he won via walkover to advance into the main draw. Lest you think this to be a minor accomplishment, even if he loses his next match, players who make the main draw of the 2026 Open earn a minimum of $140,000.

Having caught snippets of first-round qualie victories by two young American females, we made sure to check out how they fared in ensuing rounds.

Pictured here is 16-year-old Kristina Penickova losing a tough second-round meeting with 30-year-old Brit Harriet Dart, who came away with a 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 win. Dart also won her third-round match, earning entrance into the main draw. FYI, Kristina has an identical twin, Annika, with both sisters looking to make a career in pro tennis. Winning her first-round match of qualies here was certainly a good step in that direction, as she will earn $48,000 in prize money.

Up next is 17-year-old American Julieta Pareja, who, after winning her first two matches in straight sets, lost to Italian Lucrezia Stefanini 6-4, 6-3. Currently ranked No. 119, Stefanini is a 28-year-old pro who barely missed making the main draw and had to go through the qualies. As such, this event was a strong showing for Pareja, who demonstrated a ton of poise in her matches along with consistent play. While not overpowering, Pareja made far fewer unforced errors than most other players of her age and experience. She also earned $66,000 for her efforts here.

To expand on that, we truly hope the younger players who appear in Florida Tennis Magazine or on our website have long and amazing careers, and win a ton of titles. But just in case, we do try to photograph them with US Open signage in the background: If something should happen where they never even play another match, 50 years from now they will at least be able to show the pictures to their grandkids and tell them, "You see kids, Grandmama was a helluva player in her day."

Onward and forward to the 2026 US Open Tennis Championships.

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Written by Florida Tennis contributor Todd Pechter. Photo credit: pechterphotos.com.

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