US Open Mixed Doubles 2026 Chat! All You Need To Know! W/ Will Boucek

      US Open Mixed Doubles 2026 Chat! All You Need To Know! W/ Will Boucek

 

DISCLAIMER: Please note we use a transcription service, so there may be some errors in the following transcript for the episode. If you can, refer to the audio for the exact quotations.

Dan Kiernan (00:00)

Hi guys, a big welcome to Control the Controllables live from New York City. We've had a couple of technical issues, which, hey, it's the start of a new Grand Slam. Why wouldn't we, I guess? So hopefully you're now picking it up. Anybody that is listening, please do get your questions in. This is going to be the first of our series we're going to have. We're going to have plenty coming your way over the next couple of weeks, as ever brought to you by Novellus.

 

And yeah, we're going to, we're going to be talking a lot, a lot of tennis, a lot of what is going on. we do have already today we have started. the grand slam, qualifying event, but specifically the mixed doubles is what we're going to be looking at. And I'm going to be, I'm going to be bringing in Will Boucek in a minute from Tennis Tribe who big supporter of doubles does amazing things for the world of doubles.

 

We've had the qualifying event to talk about. I want to give you a little bit of a download on what the mixed doubles is about, what it's standing for. And then from there, we're going to then go into, we've got main draw starting tomorrow. We'll get into some predictions as well. And Will, a big, big welcome. How you doing?

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (01:15)

I am good, Dan. Thanks for having me back on.

 

Dan Kiernan (01:19)

And thank you as ever, one for coming on and thank you as ever for everything that you are doing for tennis, but also specifically for doubles, you it's a sport that we're all very, very passionate about. And I know we've got a lot of our different things going on currently in the world of doubles, but I'm excited to see your picks, your selections. And now that we're through to the main draw, I noticed you didn't have too much luck today with some of your picks.

 

I'm not going to blame you for giving my team the kiss of death, but

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (01:53)

Ha ha.

 

Dan Kiernan  (01:54)

You don't want Will's selection if there's any players—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (01:56)

Ha ha.

 

Dan Kiernan  (01:57)

—out there listening. But yeah, I guess the starting point, and we will jump in to the matches today. We'll jump into the matches tomorrow. Obviously some very exciting matchups, I think nobody can deny coming our way tomorrow. And also we'll jump into how many grand slams have been won by the players that are in the draw and also the players that aren't in the draw as well.

 

To start us off, Will, imagine someone's listening to this and they have no idea. It's the US Open Mixed Doubles Championships. guess before that, used to be a sign in. You would sign in, you would pick your partner. It would be a draw of sometimes 32 teams previously, maybe even 64.

 

And kind of off you went andI know I had the pleasure of watching Harri Heliövaara and Anna Danilina winning the mixed doubles, which happened actually before that happened on the Saturday. That final was the Saturday at the end of the event. But now it's been moved into fan week. It's been moved into qualifying week. Give us a little bit of the down low on on what they're doing with the mixed doubles now here at US Open.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (03:09)

Yeah.

 

Yeah, last year was the first year for them to do this. it's very I don't know, I called it I kinda called it like experimental. last year when it first came out, it was pretty controversial because the basically the idea behind it is to draw more single stars into the mixed doubles draw. So historically, like you said, the mixed doubles draw is during week two, 

of or week three, I guess you'd call it now, of the US Open or any Grand Slam event.

 

And the top singles players are still playing singles, right? They're not entering mixed doubles. So to get them to enter mixed doubles, you have to make it during week one or fan week or qualifying week, whatever you want to call it. Then you have to increase the prize money. So last year the mixed doubles prize money I think increased like fivefold over the previous year or something. 

 

It was just a significant increase. And then you have to shorten the format 'cause they're preparing for their singles tournament, right? So you have to make it very easy for them to play. So you switch to no ad, fast four sets, ten point tiebreaker for a third. You make the draw size only sixteen. 

 

Then you get to enter on your singles ranking, which, you know, we've talked about in the past doesn't make sense if sport is a meritocracy, which I know you've talked about here on the show as well with Calvin, but that's what it became last year with only one double specialist team in the draw, which was the defending champs. they won it last year and then this year they've decided to add on a qualifying draw which you attended today that was primarily comprised of double specialists, who most people who understand doubles and understand tennis consider the favorites now going forward into this round of sixteen main draw.

 

Dan Kiernan  (05:15)

Yeah, and actually today there was, I just did my maths on it and if I'm accurate, Will, there was 43 Grand Slam doubles titles between all of the players on Grand Slam today. You know, and pretty much, you know, that goes between nine of the players. So Siniakova has won 11, Mladenovic 10, Pavic 7, Dabrowski 4, Heliövaara 4, Patten 3, Routliffe two, Glasspool one, Christian Harrison one. you then had a couple of these Mia mortals like Khrunich who's only made two finals. you know, it was, it was kind of, it was, or

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (05:53)

The most stacked qualifying draw in the history of tennis.

 

Dan Kiernan  (05:57)

—in the qualifying now, I guess, I guess the question is I did speak to Eric Butorac today. I do like Eric. I like that Eric has, has the right conversations. He's not afraid to take on those conversations.

 

He was feeling good because he also had Roger Federer just about to walk on to Ashe for a night with Roger, which I think we all loved seeing Federer there today. So he kind of had the big smile on his face rightly so. And one thing he said, he said, look, I was a doubles guy, but at the end of my career, when people ask me about the matches, one of the things I remember is playing against Rafael Nadal.

 

You know, and that was kind of his, his talk, which I respectfully told Eric, you know, I, you know, I respect this event for me as an event. I think it's an amazing event actually. And like tomorrow we've got, we've got Patten Siniakova against Djokovic, Sabalenka. I mean, how cool is that? You know, we got Alcaraz, Williams against Glasspool, Routliffe, you know, like we've got like these prop, like amazingly exciting matches, but you, you, you mentioned the word meritocracy.

 

Our sport is built on that. And the fact, and I said it again, Tarek today, that it's the fact that you're calling it the US Open mix doubles. That's my issue. You know, this, this is an exhibition event that is selling the sport, but to you, who's a doubles fan and you're obviously a doubles advocate and your, your, your world is doubles as well, you know, in terms of how you're, how you're living your life, like myself, you know, from coaching it from, you know, from all of the data that you do. Do you.

 

How do you find the event from an entertainment standpoint? And do you think it's adding value to the tennis world and also adding value to the doubles world?

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (07:50)

Yeah, I I certainly find it entertaining. I remember last year I didn't know what to expect going into it and during that day and the day after I was I was so excited and like amped up for Errani and Vavassori, you know? Like I was rooting for them. Usually when I'm watching at a tournament the Cincinnati last week, right? Like I'm enjoying the product. I'm enjoying the doubles. I'm enjoying the shot making, the tactics the partnership, the communication, all this stuff.

 

But in this case, I'm actually rooting for teams. So that's it's a little bit different for me. And it's fun to cheer for a team in sports, right? So I I get a little more kind of excited, a little more elevated in terms of my emotions with this mixed doubles format. So it is entertaining for sure. But you're right. I mean Siniakova said herself, if if you didn't listen to her post-match after the first match, you should definitely listen to it. But she said herself, let me find the exact quote here. it seems…

 

Dan Kiernan  (08:57)

was awesome.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (08:59)

It she said, It seems I need to do more and more because I'm still playing quallies. So, like they were talking about her being number one in the world, right? So she talked about how her and Patten being number one in the world are going through qualifying and Yeah, it I mean it just doesn't make sense, like in terms of the meritocracy, in terms of like what sport should be. 

 

But in terms of an event, and I know a lot of people call this an exhibition event. The US Open doesn't, but if if it were called an exhibition event, it's it's a great product. It's very entertaining. The contrasting styles is super fun to watch. So my favorite matches from last year was was watching Vavassori just apply pressure on like Taylor Fritz trying to return Errani’s serve, right?

 

Like that's so fun to watch because Errani has a very soft serve that somebody like Taylor Fritz should be able to rip. But then Vavassori's sitting there up at the net, kind of faking and moving around and picking off the returns and forcing return errors. So the contrasting styles is a lot of fun to watch as well. So I think overall, yeah, I mean it's certainly an entertaining product.

 

Now what I'm concerned about, I guess, and and maybe concerned is the wrong word, but what I'm curious about if this happens, we've got a scenario now where we could end up with four double specialist teams in the semifinals, right? I think it's unlikely because of the format and this format is so short, it is more of a kind of coin toss. Yeah, it's it's kind of a

 

Dan Kiernan  (10:38)

It's a crapshoot, it's a crapshoot to degree. Here it is.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (10:42)

yeah, a little bit

 

Up to chance a bit more than if it were a longer format. I actually listened to your conversation with Hanlon from Cincinnati earlier today. and that's going to go live tomorrow. And you talked about how Gaby's done better in the majors because you have with that, you have a full third, right? So this is an even more condensed version of that. But in this scenario, if all four double specialist teams make the semifinal.

 

Then what's gonna happen? Right? Because the idea to sell this to ESPN was to get the single stars playing. But if the last two rounds are all double specialists, then it doesn't quite work. It kind of backfires a little bit. So I'm I'm not sure.

 

Dan Kiernan  (11:32)

It's a disaster. It's a disaster for the tournament. mean, I, I won't—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (11:36)

Yeah, I I think so.

 

Dan Kiernan  (11:37)

—say who said it, won't say who said it cause I don't want to throw someone under the bus, but I was told last year if Heliövaara  and Danilina are playing against Mellicar and I don't remember what it was. Let's say Melicar and Arevalo in the final. It is a complete and utter disaster for the deal that they've done with ESPN.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (12:03)

Yeah. So like that's likely to happen now. Right? Like we've got four teams all in different quarters. Like I don't think all four of them will make the semis just because of the format, like we said. I think one of 'em's gonna get unlucky, lose like three or four out of four.

 

Dan Kiernan  (12:21)

Come on let's jump into it Sabalenka, Djokovic against Siniakova and Patten. 

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (12:30)

Well, this one's the easiest pick for me. I mean, Siniakova Patten, the way they look today, and then listening to Katarina talk after that first match, she plays her best tennis when she's like a little aggravated and she is aggravated right now that she had to go through quallies. So I think Yeah. Well, I know Henry—

 

Dan Kiernan  (12:49)

And so's Henry. I've never seen energy like Henry showed. mean, Henry...

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (12:54)

wants to win this thing. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I I think they w they win this match

 

Dan Kiernan  (12:56)

And you know what else? He went...

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (12:58)

in straights.

 

Dan Kiernan  (13:00)

Yeah. You think straight.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (13:03)

I think so.

 

Dan Kiernan  (13:03)

It's so easy to lose a set though.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (13:06)

It is, but like if they play this match ten times they win it in straights I think five, they win it in a third three and they lose it in a third twice. So like so you know.

 

Dan Kiernan  (13:20)

Okay, so we got Siniakova, Patten moving on to play the winner of Svitolina, Monfils, Eala, Felix .

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (13:30)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (13:31)

See that kind of balls me that match. Sorry guys, it kind of does.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (13:34)

Yeah, I don't even know how to pick that.I picked Eala and and Felix. I I don't have a a particularly good reason other than I I think they're both well, Felix is better than Monfils and I think Eala can hang with Svitolina, so that's all I got.

 

Dan Kiernan  (13:51)

And then the way that they're doing it is kind of back to back. So then that would be the quarterfinals tomorrow. So I guess with Siniakova , Siniakova,  Patten are making their way through that.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (14:01)

Yeah, I mean they got a good path through with no doubles players in their quarter, right? So they they—

 

Dan Kiernan  (14:10)

Okay.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (14:10)

—have the easiest path through probably.

 

Dan Kiernan  (14:13)

Bencic and Cobolli, against Townsend, Zverev. 

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (14:19)

I mean Townsend is the best doubles player on the court, right? So I I think she and Zverev should win that, should go through.

 

Dan Kiernan  (14:26)

Bencic and Cobolli won the mixed doubles in Indian Wells.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (14:31)

Did they? Okay. So so this was something I wanted to talk about is the Indian—

 

Dan Kiernan  (14:32)

they beat Glasspool and Dabrowski in the final.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (14:35)

—Wells. Okay. Yeah, I did not see that 'cause I don't think it's televised and I left before it was over.

 

Dan Kiernan  (14:43)

What it took, and this is the thing that I would always say well is doubles normally wins, but sometimes tennis will win.

 

So, so what I mean, what I mean by that is like, if we take the Indian Wells final.

 

Cobolli probably played a nine or 10 out of 10. Bencic played a six. Dabrowski and Glasspool played a six out of 10. And they won 10, seven and the third. But it took, it took like five ridiculous four-hound winners from Cobolli.. Like at like a hundred mile an hour, just over the net. First serves at one three eight. Like it took a special performance by Cobolli to win.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (15:31)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan  (15:31)

You know, so, so, so you'll sometimes, so what we might find tomorrow, you might get a Sabalenka or a Djokovic put in a special performance, right? You know, and, when I say special performance, we're talking like, if I take, I take Gaby and Harri today, they were serving at eight, seven in the tie break and it was Harri serving. And then he lost two, then they lost two points on the serve. Like—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (15:53)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan  (15:53)

—the margins that small, you know, or even, even Henry and Siniakova.

 

Against Tatjana Maria and Vacherot they had a sudden deft juice point at 3-2 in that set where Henry and then in the semi-finals serving at 3-2 they were love 40 down on Henry's serve and he won four points—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (16:16)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan  (16:16)

—in a row. So like that's kind of the best doubles players in the world kind of normalised doing that sort of thing. Like Henry—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (16:25)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan  (16:25)

—is unbelievable at doing that. Like he's done it time and time again.

 

But somebody serves big, someone comes up with a couple of big shots, know, like a Kabali's got a chance to do that. I I would, I would put Cobolli a better player than on the doubles, Colton's Varev.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (16:41)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (16:43)

Yeah, I think, I think that's, I think that's an interesting one, but probably you think Townsend would get them over the line, but Bencic, Bencic is a, is a sneaky good doubles player as well, actually. So that one, that one, that one's interesting.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (16:52)

Yeah, I wouldn't be shocked either way in that one, but

 

yeah, I'm just gonna stick with my my doubles people for now.

 

Dan Kiernan  (16:59)

Serena and Carlos against Erin and Lloyd.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (17:02)

Yeah, this one

 

I think Erin and Lloyd are are gonna win. I I don't think Serena's like at Serena level. right, she's like older and just coming back and yeah, I think Aaron and Lloyd should win, but I this one and same for I think less so but still similar for Siniakova and and Patten, like the crowd's gonna be against them in a big way. And like that might matter.

 

So it the question isn't like who's the better team, like I know who the better team is, but like is Arthur Ash Stadium gonna freak them out a little bit in a in a big point, you know? and if that happens, like yeah, anything can happen. But I'm gonna stick with with Aaron and Lloyd.

 

Dan Kiernan  (17:52)

It's the first service game. It's kind of you walk. mean, there's

 

a lot

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (17:56)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (17:57)

Of excitement for Carlos Alcaraz right now. And obviously Serena is not as the Serena's first. It's it's her first appearance here for many years. So there's going to

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (18:07)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan  (18:07)

Be there's going to be that one in particular. I think more so than Sabalenka Djokovic. I think the crowd are going to be going crazy in that match. You know—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (18:17)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (18:18)

—now, Erin. Erin has played against Serena twice this year, so this is Serena's fourth match. Three of them are against Routeluf, you know, so I think that does help. I think that helps her. Lloyd's—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (18:23)

Y yeah. That helps. Yeah. Yeah, it definitely does.

 

Dan Kiernan  (18:32)

—obviously played big matches. He's played Wimbledon final. He's got those sort of things. So, then we, so what about then Erin and Lloyd against Townsend Zverev?

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (18:45)

I'm gonna stick with Erin and Lloyd. Yeah, I th I thought they played—

 

Dan Kiernan (18:47)

So that.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (18:48)

—great today. Lloyd's serving good. Yeah, I I'm gonna stick with them. You know where I'm going. You you know my picks.

 

Dan Kiernan (18:55)

Erin and Lloyd. know where you're going. So there

 

we go. Then we've got Suleyman Mladenovic and Aravello have got in as lucky losers. Which doesn't...

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (19:05)

Yeah, I was excited to see that. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (19:07)

Yeah, that didn't hurt me as a coach at all when I saw that. It was obviously pleased for them, but you think we'd win that, get through that first round. Muchova, Mensik they play in the first round.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (19:22)

Yeah, I I think Mladenovic and Arevalo should get through that. I think that's a tough one though. Muchova good at the net, right? She's got good hands, a great volleyer.

 

Dan Kiernan  (19:34)

Muchova can play doubles.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (19:35)

And and Minsk can play some doubles too. so I that's

 

Dan Kiernan  (19:38)

He can't, he can't. Big header, big server. That's not easy.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (19:42)

That's one of the best probably singles doubles teams in in the draw.

 

Dan Kiernan  (19:47)

It is. That's a proper, I would call them a proper doubles team. Like they play doubles. They

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (19:51)

Sure, yeah. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (19:52)

play doubles. The next ones, I'm not sure any of them do. The all American matchup of Emma Navarro , Tommy Paul and Anisimova and Learner Tien. Again, to me that's a boring match.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (20:11)

Yeah, to me too. I I think I picked Anisimova and Tien in my initial pick. I'll stick with it. They're the third seed, right? They should win.

 

Dan Kiernan  (20:23)

And then they're gonna go down to

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (20:24)

Ha ha.

 

Dan Kiernan  (20:24)

Milan Lovic are a fellow we then got rude. about Rublev returning a Ronnie serve?

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (20:32)

That'll be fun to watch. He so he's a good doubles player, though. Like he's had some good doubles results in his career, right? And one of the things I think

 

Dan Kiernan  (20:42)

Ours is Andreeva.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (20:44)

Yeah, and Andreeva as well. she she's improved a lot on the doubles court, I I think over the years as as she's gotten older. But Rublev, he takes the ball so early that you know it makes it difficult as a net player, right? So he's he's a very

 

You know, his singles game, he's like the opposite of Medvedev, where you like stay way back behind the baseline and the net player has tons of time to read the ball. Rublev is stepping in and taking it early all the time, which makes it more difficult. So I think he's actually even though he's a singles player, like his singles player kind of favors the double scored a little bit more so than some of the other singles players. So I think that's a tough first round matchup. I think Errani and Vavassori win it, but but I think it's a tough one.

 

Dan Kiernan (21:30)

I may want one thing here. I do also think Will is Vavassori isn't full of confidence right now. I think timing, timing is a lot. I personally think he's been a little bit distracted. You know, he was kind of leading the charge during Wimbledon period with, this announcement that the ATP made. He's on the board. He's on the player council. So he's, he's having a lot of back and forth on that. know internally.

 

You know, these are the sort of things we don't always see with players, you know, Errani also, okay, I she did, she did well in Toronto with Malekar, but she doesn't have Paolini by her side. There's just a bit of a shift up. feels that maybe like, I'm going to go and say this now. I don't think they're going to win the title. I don't think this is a, I don't think this is a Vavasori and Arani of 12 months ago.

 

Or even probably a Vavassori and Errani of three months ago. Obviously, I have nothing but respect for them two. They're two of my favorite people in the world. They're awesome. They're amazing. But that's a one that if there's going to be like a little doubles upset that I don't want it to happen. It's I think I think that could be a little bit of a challenging match for them if they get through and then they start to get the fire like they had last year. They were kind of.

 

They took the doubles world on their shoulders. So that's also—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (22:55)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (22:55)

—interesting now that there's a few more doubles pairs. It's not quite just them. you know, and, and, that's going to be interesting then obviously the winner of that match again, it's interesting if Pegula is going to turn up and play. mean, fair play to her. Pegula

 

obviously just,

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (23:11)

No kidding.

 

Dan Kiernan  (23:12)

just, just finished in Cincinnati yesterday, but she seems like the salt that just, she sticks to a word and she'll be there and she's obviously a

 

She, we could, we could take her on the team doubles anyway, Jasper Gula with her experience.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (23:25)

Yeah.

 

Yeah, she's had some great doubles results. yeah, I I would imagine she's kind of gassed. So I picked Schneider and Root in this one. and I wouldn't blame her. Like I I don't know how interested she is in playing mixed doubles for two days in a row after Cincinnati and then I know she wants to win the singles, obviously. So yeah, I went with Shnaider and Ruud on that one.

 

Dan Kiernan (23:52)

And what, what are some of the things will that, that you'll be looking for tactically, you know, when these, saw that you had a couple of tweets that went out there today on this as well. When you're watching the subtleties of doubles, you're watching, you're watching Pat and Sini Akhava. You're, you're watching Glasspool and Routliffe. If you're watching Vavassori and Errani, you know, what are they doing—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (24:15)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan (24:16)

—maybe on the court that anybody that's watching the mixed doubles out there tomorrow.

 

maybe doesn't jump in their eye, but actually if you give them the subtleties, what sort of things should they be looking out for?

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (24:28)

One thing I would tell people to do is when you're watching the point, don't follow the ball every point, follow the players for some of the points. Right. So pick the server's partner, if it's a double specialist, especially. and then watch the singles players be the server's partner too. And then look for the differences. You'll notice that they have different positioning, they have different movement during the rally, and then shot selection's another thing. So

 

I noticed that Vashiro was redirecting down the line more often than Patten was, right? Like Patten just stayed in the rally. He stayed in the rally because he knew that Maria wasn't gonna poach, right? And Vashiro

 

Dan Kiernan (25:13)

Yep.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (25:13)

eventually got impatient, he goes down the line, Siniakova splits the gap with her volley, right? So little shot selection decisions like that, and then also positioning and movement, especially from that net player.

 

because they're able to force so many errors and get into the right position for those volleys. and it's just a stark difference when you see these double specialist teams versus the the pairs that are two singles players who don't really focus on doubles as much.

 

Dan Kiernan(25:46)

I think it was very interesting to me. Last year we were watching it in Monterey and everyone was kind of everyone to be honest was cheering on Errani and Vavassori. But when you see Vavassori's movement at the net after we'd been watching Jack Draper's or after we've been watching Caspar Ruus’s it—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (26:05)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (26:05)

—really is, I think our eyes get a bit spotty. If you watch a lot of doubles you kind of get used to, especially the guys, the movement that they have and the presence they have at the net.

 

You know, and how, how they are squeezing space old all the time. And, I think, I think that's something that the contrast of that is massive. The other one that I saw a little bit today, actually in a couple of big moments and Neil Skupski had had a, there was a couple of times he had the forehand, which we know in men's doubles kind of bit scared of the forehand because we can freeze anticipation with the forehand. can add speed, we can manipulate the ball. And he went back to Lloyd, it was maybe six, five in the tie break. He had two forehands where he went back to Lloyd rather than maybe taking that aggressive ball at Erin.

 

And it's a subtle, it's a subtle thing. And then eventually it went to his backhand and he tried to go to Erin, but then Erin’s obviously Erin’s very good at the net and she was able to, to, to play, to play a good, a good strong volley in that position and actually find Luisa.

 

And then they were able to then finish the point and it's just those kind of small, small little details where there's Henry Patten on the the point against Vacherot and Maria that was sudden death deuce he had a good return cross but then the ball came to his forehand it was sudden death deuce, you don't actually see Henry Patten doing this in the other grand slams he's one of the men that rarely pulls the trigger at the woman at the net, which is why I think his results haven't been so good in mixed doubles. 

 

But he just added a little extra spice on that one. A little bit at Maria's body. Maria missed the forehand volley, you know, so it's like just those little subtleties of, you know, quite often in Grand Slams, we see, the man holding back a little bit. I don't think we're going to see a lot of that over the next couple of days in terms of the, you have the, when you have the chance to finish the point.

 

You know, you've got to pick your you've got to pick your right target. And that brings me into, Will, what you what your thoughts are. Is there a future in this format? You know, is this and I'm not just talking about a Grand Slam level. I'm talking about, you know, they have trialed it a little bit. They at Indian Wells, believe

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (28:29)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan  (28:30)

it or not. And I don't know if it ever got played, but they had a random mixed doubles event in Cincinnati last week. I don't know if you heard about this.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (28:39)

Mm mm.

 

Dan Kiernan  (28:40)

But

 

it was advertised if you were a first round loser or you lost your first match in singles, then you were able to sign up to play mixed doubles at Cincinnati. And it was an eight draw. It was 50 grand for the winners. Decent money.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (29:08)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan (29:08)

10

 

grand just for being in the event split and only five teams signed up. It wasn't filled. I know the number 50 and actually they didn't sign up as teams. They just were randomly signing up and they were putting them with partners. And then what—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (29:25)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan (29:25)

—happened was the fifth team they just selected who was in. It was Tamara Korpatsch and Daniel Altmaier just got put together.

 

And they were told, you, can be an alternate and we'll give you five grand each, but you have to be on site between Monday and Wednesday, five till seven in case someone pulls out. And if I'm honest, I'd still, if anybody knows, let me know. I'm actually not sure if the event even happened and I was there, but—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (29:55)

I don't know. I didn't hear about that. That's crazy.

 

Dan Kiernan (29:58)

—that, but that would have been, they would have put about a hundred grand into that event.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (30:04)

Yeah. I so I think

 

I'm trying to like play this like the possible outcomes in my head, right? Like that's how I think through these things. And I I'm looking at what's happening here. Tiafoe pulls out today. I I think it was him. It was his team. I forgot who he was playing with. So then

 

Dan Kiernan  (30:23)

Yes, that was.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (30:25)

Alucky loser team gets in and it's a double specialist team. So then like if we play this over enough, the what happens is the singles players realize it's gonna be a lot of work for them to start beating these double specialist teams. Right? 

 

Like that's like the double specialist teams are typically going to win. So then all of the marketing and TV contracts like aren't gonna hold up because you end up with a final with two teams of double specialists who aren't stars because we don't market doubles players to become stars. So then the only like way this works is if there's just no double specialist in it. Like in terms of like what the tournaments are after, which is money and T V contracts and all that, right? So like I I'm not sure how this does work, blending the two. I think…

 

Dan Kiernan  (31:27)

What about this then?

 

What about this, Will?

 

People like contrast. I'm not. In certain instances, like I don't like that currently on the ATP singles players have been played off doubles players and vice versa. I don't like that from a political standpoint. You know, that's like a distraction technique that's been used to get away from bigger issues. 

 

However,there's a reason people loved Borg and McEnroe, right? They're the good guy, the bad guy, good cop, bad cop. know, we, we, we, we like to have those different things. There's a reason why control the controllables has two and a half thousand followers. We put Patten versus Opelka, you know, we put something up there and we ended up having a couple hundred thousand views, right? We had like, there was all sorts of views and you know, the engagement was massive because there was a there's a reason you said last year you wanted Vavasori and Arani to win because there was, you had someone to cheer for. 

There was an emotion attached. What if we had some kind of almost Ryder Cup, Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup format, you know, and, and it was, you, you, you've got eight doubles players and you've got the top eight singles players, the top eight doubles players. However we want to do it on, on, on both sides.

 

And you actually run it like a team event. you, so you, so you then you guarantee that you have the stars on the court who are the ticket sellers. Okay.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (33:04)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan  (33:05)

But, but you also have the emotion. You have the, you have the emotion that's built that builds up, to be able to, to who's got the bragging rights. I think that could be cool. I think that I think you can have a cool format like that.

 

You know, because I'm with you if they allow too many of the double specialists in, you're going to, that's a problem. And it's going to be interesting tomorrow. If we're sitting here tomorrow night talking about the four double specialist teams in the semifinals, I'm sure we'll be having a little, yeah.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (33:36)

god, I hope so.

 

Dan Kiernan  (33:38)

Well, yeah, I think, I think it's highly unlikely because of, it takes a—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (33:42)

Format, yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (33:43)

—lot. The format makes that very difficult, but if we

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (33:46)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (33:46)

Are.

 

Like you say, ESPN, there's going to be heads, heads are going to be rolling, right? You know, the, the, the, the, the U S open and their deal is going to be, it's going to be hold on a minute guys. This is not, this is not what we, who made the final last year, by the way, Errani Vavassori, they played. Okay. So it probably,

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (34:04)

Iga and Ruud. Iga and Casper. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (34:08)

Yeah, probably, it probably satisfies, you know, so I, I, I do wonder if there is a wave.

 

playing on the emotions of that and getting

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (34:18)

Mm-hmm.

 

Dan Kiernan (34:19)

a little bit of, in a healthy way. I guess you could then argue, Siniakova  is currently 39 in the world. She's been as high as 32, 33 in the world. We shouldn't forget that either. Is she

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (34:32)

Yeah. Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (34:33)

a singles player? Is she a doubles player? Pegula has been number one or two in the world in doubles. she a single? You could argue that. 

 

But I think if you do it on the rankings, and there was some kind of formatting done on that, but that is a true, it's a true exhibition. We get away from that being called, we get away from it being called the US Open Mixed Doubles. But I think, I think there is, there is a mark there if they're smart on something like this. And I think actually—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (35:02)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (35:02)

—the one thing I give Eric a lot of credit for is I think this is a really nice time for an event. It's not the US Open championships. That's the, repeatedly say that. However, this is a nice time for, for an event. You know, there's a lot of fans that are, that are on there. think the US Open do a great job of providing that. went out there and watched Federer hitting with Musetti in like a pretty much full, just in a practice session, pretty much full of our stadium. You know, you're walking around by wow. And everyone's pretty much is everyone's coming in for free. I believe on these days tomorrow tickets are going for to give an idea what is ashe hold ashe holds 22 25,000. 

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (35:45)

Twenty four.

 

Dan Kiernan  (35:47)

24 front

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (35:49)

Maybe twenty two, something like that.

 

Dan Kiernan  (35:51)

front like close close seats are going for a thousand dollars tomorrow up up

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (35:57)

Yeah. I believe it.

 

Dan Kiernan  (35:59)

at the tops up at the top are going for a hundred dollars you know whatever that quick maths is it's there's a there's a fair there's a fair amount of money that's gonna come in from it. You can't argue the fact that they've got Alcaraz playing, they've got Djokovic playing, they've got Savalenko playing. Brilliant, amazing. I'm all for it, I think it's highly entertaining. I think the summary of what you're seeing is exactly right. We as people that are, we love our doubles, we love and respect what they put into it. We want that to obviously show the format's gonna make that a little bit more challenging for that to come through.

 

But I absolutely find it hard to believe we're not going to see Sinayaka and Patton as the champions at the end of this. I don't know what you think.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (36:49)

Yeah, I think you're right. I mean I think I think we end up with certainly two of these double specialist teams in the semis. I I think three probably. and a as you were saying that, and as I was like looking at the draw earlier and thinking about like why do I get so emotional about this tournament but not the Cincinnati tournament or Wimbledon or and it's it's for that reason. It's because of that like contrast and like, I want to like, I'm not even playing in this, right? But I like I want to prove a point to the Riley Opelkas and to the singles players, right? 

 

but it reminded me of like a writer cup kind of in golf, right? You've got the the US versus Europe. and that idea you have of having top eight singles versus top eight doubles and it's a team format and we could do, you know, have them play a single set, have them play a double set.

 

Have him play a mixed double set, right? and I I think it would work in terms of like the contrasting styles and creating a little bit of a rivalry. the problem with it right now, with Ryder Cup, there's tons of fans of Rory McElroy. Like he's a massive star. Scotty Scheffler is a massive star. We don't have any double specialists who are massive stars right now because doubles isn't marketed, right? So I think if

 

you propose this idea to one of the the tournament directors or or the tour, they're gonna say like why we can just run this event with our top like we can run Labor Cup or we can run this event with our top sixteen singles players, you know?

 

Dan Kiernan  (38:32)

But, but, but well, but that's the, it's

 

the, it's the emotion. It's the,

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (38:37)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (38:38)

it's the, it's the play on this. Right. I think there's a, I think when we, when we find a fire, when we find that kind of, know, you're waiting for it. mean, imagine, could you imagine if Patten played Opelka  n the double, let's say Opelka, I don't know what he's up to. think

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (38:54)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (38:54)

he's maybe injured, but let's say Opelka did play us open and he's drawn against Patten first round. That's. people want to see—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (39:02)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (39:02)

—it. You know, it's like, it's, it's, it's, we, that's how boxing works, right? It's all a bit fake and it's all a bit, but it's like, if you've got, if you've got genuine, some genuine beef or you've got like this genuine edge,

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (39:17)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (39:18)

that's, that's what creates the competitive spirit that we, that we love to see. Like on court today when Patten and Sinakova won, people were shouting out, number one, number one. You know, there was a,

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (39:29)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan (39:30)

Because it's a storyline, right? so

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (39:32)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (39:33)

like that, it's the contrast, that contrasting storyline, which again is why for me, there is a big part of me that likes this event. There's a big part of me that likes this event. I think there's a space for an event like this. I just don't think we can disrespect our sport by calling it a Grand Slam. know,

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (39:50)

Right.

 

Dan Kiernan  (39:51)

is my, know, everything that we do in our sport has to continue to be a meritocracy.

 

know that is the beauty of our sport you earn your right for the space in in certain events and and exhibition events absolutely there's a space to grow our sport absolutely brilliant amazing you know like Roger a night with Roger Federer tonight sold out within an hour love it amazing absolutely like you're playing a set with Andy Roddick playing a double set with Mac and Rog against Agassi and Roddick something like that. 

 

Absolutely brilliant. Amazing for our sport, amazing for the fans. So good. let's not, let's not call that doubles match tonight. the men's doubles grand slam, whoever wins that, right? You know, it's a, it's, it's, it's a meritocracy on how you get in and that, that we have to protect with our lives and that it's not for tonight. Who else? We we've talked about it before and I'm sure we'll talk about it again, but that's the same with the ATP stuff, right? It's like,

 

What I love about our sport is that you earn your right into draws. That is what inspires kids. That is what gives hope. That is what makes our whole ecosystem work. You know, that's why we have academies. That's why we have clubs. That's why we have highly motivated coaches. That's why we have all of this, you know, which we have to keep remembering is we're all, we're just the custodians of our sport at this stage.in this period. 

 

There was many, many, many before us and there's gonna be many, many, after us. So we have to protect that, absolutely, that with our honor. But let's also keep creating these really fun, like the one point tournament in Australia. Awesome, amazing. Eyeballs on the sport, brilliant. Get it out there. So that's where we're at. I don't know if this conversation's to continue. Let's see how it is tomorrow.

 

Let's see if we are talking about four double specialist teams. Let's see if we're talking about four singles, single specialist teams that are going to, my DMs from Reilly Opelka are going to be flying. But if that does happen,

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (41:54)

There's no way. that would ruin me. That would ruin me.

 

Dan Kiernan  (42:02)

if that does happen, then okay, let's keep the, you know,—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (42:05)

Yeah, credit to him.

 

Dan Kiernan  (42:07)

—absolutely. let's keep like, you know, there's a little bit of.

 

little bit of needle, okay, and that's why I think there's space for that in our sport as well. You know, this talk like the Alcaraz-Sinner rivalry misses a little bit of that. You know, they're

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (42:23)

Yeah.

 

Dan Kiernan  (42:23)

like best friends and they're so nice to each other and they're amazing, but it's like, you know, we want a bit of needle in our sport as well. And I think that we can play on that.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (42:31)

Th this is the problem though.

 

This is one of the problems though, Dan, and I know I know you probably have to run, but like we're we're kinda like a a security guard in front of like a restaurant or a shop, right? Like every time we do our job, like nobody notices, but then the one time we like somebody gets past us, like everybody blames us, right?

 

 So like the one time when the singles players are gonna beat the doubles players, everybody's gonna be like see. And then every time the doubles teams beat the singles teams, the singles players are like, well, I mean, they weren't trying that hard. And they they were just in the finals in Cincinnati and all this other. Like, there's all these excuses, right? So like that's that's one of the other reasons I'm so like emotional and excited for this tournament. Cause I'm like, we can't lose because then they're gonna be like, Cha.

 

Dan Kiernan  (43:28)

It's all right. There's no, there's no such thing as bad publicity. People—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (43:32)

Yeah.

 

Dan  Kiernan (43:32)

—talking, you know, people talking about it is, is, is, is a good thing, right? It's,

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (43:38)

It is.

 

Dan Kiernan  (43:39)

it's, that's, that would be my take on it. It'd be a good thing. Will, it's always a pleasure. Thank you for everything that you're doing. I hope you have a smile on your face tomorrow night. let's do a—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (43:48)

I hope so too.

 

Dan Kiernan  (43:49)

—deal. If we do, if we do have four double specials, maybe we jump back on tomorrow night and have a, have a five minute

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (43:54)

Amen.

 

Dan Kiernan  (43:55)

gloating, gloating session.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (43:58)

I'm in. We'll invite Reilly.

 

Dan Kiernan  (44:00)

Exactly. Well, he's invited open invite, you know, anyone that knows Riley Opelka many, many times.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (44:03)

I know, I've invited him too.

 

Dan Kiernan  (44:07)

I've also offered to coach him. You know, my review, my private chats with him. I've said, I will coach you. You don't need to pay me. I will take 50 % of your doubles prize money, but we will vlog it all. And the—

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (44:23)

It'd be amazing.

 

Dan Kiernan  (44:24)

—journey of Reilly Opelka to world number one.

 

I said, mate, you're not playing any singles matches. You're playing like five, six singles matches the whole year. Doubles is easier on your body. You're seven foot. You listen to me…

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (44:35)

Make it happen.

 

Dan Kiernan  (44:36)

out. I will get you to be a top doubles player. Are you in? And he just kind of laughed it off and said, I'm being serious. You're to, you, you, you complain about, can make more money that way. Imagine that. Imagine the marketing we could do behind that. The journey of Riley or Pelker to world number one, to world number one. Netflix would buy that stuff. You know, this is so it's.

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (44:54)

And be an amazing transformation.

 

Dan Kiernan  (44:56)

it's there it's it's the offer it's an open offer Riley it's an open offer thanks Will take care we'll speak to you soon thank you

 

Will | Tennis Tribe (44:58)

I love it. I love it. Awesome, Dan. Thanks, this was a ton of fun. Bye.

 

Dan Kiernan  (45:05)

Thank you bye bye so big big thank you to Will for coming on, a big thank you to you for listening. I hope you are well wherever you are in the world get your questions in let us know what do you think about the Mixed Doubles event.  We will have our U.S. open preview coming up in the next few days. Who's going to be winning the singles, the men's doubles, the women's doubles, you know, who, who, who do you see taking over the world? Can Carlos Alcaraz come back and do it? You know, who, who is going to be the stories to look out for you get in touch with us. We will be in touch, but until next time, I'm Dan Kiernan and we are Control the Controllables.