Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic team up at US Open with controversial new format set to return

Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic have entered as a mixed doubles pairing at the US Open.

They headline a list of 16 entries that were revealed on Monday ahead of the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of 2026.

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Among the other duos are Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz, whilst Mirra Andreeva will be alongside Andrey Rublev.

Jack Draper is due to play with Jessica Pegula, but has faced an injury-hit year and just withdrew from the DC Open with an arm issue.

Sabalenka has made just one mixed doubles appearance at a Grand Slam, which came at Wimbledon in 2019 with Rohan Bopanna.

The women’s world no. 1 was due to play at last year’s US Open but she and Grigor Dimitrov withdrew, although she won the singles title.

Her new partner Djokovic, who will eye an all-time record 25th Grand Slam singles title, made his mixed doubles debut in 2025.

Djokovic lost in the first round at Flushing Meadows with his Serbian compatriot Olga Danilovic.

Leading men’s players Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will not participate in this year’s event.

New mixed doubles format returns

The 2025 US Open witnessed a change of schedule that meant the mixed doubles event was brought forward.

Rather than being played during the main draw, it took place in its preceding week and is known as the Mixed Doubles Championship.

It underwent its revamp in order to include superstar pairings with teams of doubles specialists missing out.

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Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori were champions at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre.

They beat Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud in a tie-break to bank $1million (£750,000) in prize money.

This scheduling will carry into the 2026 edition along with a different style of scoring.

Matches are played as the best of three sets to four games, which is down from the usual six.

There are also no advantage points and instead of a normal third set, they play a ten-point tiebreak.

However, sets are played to six games in the final, with the ten-point tiebreak also replacing a third set.

This year, the US Open Mixed Doubles Championship will be played from Monday, August 24 to Wednesday, August 26 in ‘Fan Week’.

Men’s and women’s singles matches begin on Sunday, August 30 and run until Sunday, September 13.