The USTA will select the other eight teams and give them wild-card invitations.
The mixed doubles was moved to the week before the start of competition in the singles brackets. Singles matches begin on Aug. 24.
In addition to Williams — a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion who is 45 and entered the tournament in Washington this week for her first competition in more than a year — with Opelka, and Anisimova with Rune, other new teammates announced Monday include Katie Boulter and Alex De Minaur, who are engaged to be married; Donna Vekic and Hubert Hurkacz; Karolina Muchova and Andrey Rublev; Iva Jovic and
Jenson Brooksby
; Gaby Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime; Demi Schuurs and Tallon Griekspoor; Katerina Siniakova and Marcelo Arevalo; Desirae Krawczyk and Evan King; and Su-Wei Hsieh and Jan Zielinski.
The original group of potential participants was released last month and included Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz; Emma Navarro and Jannik Sinner; Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud; Jasmine Paolini and Lorenzo Musetti; Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz; Belinda Bencic and Alexander Zverev; Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev; Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe; Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul; Aryna Sabalenka and Grigor Dimitrov; Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic; Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios; Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton; and last year’s U.S. Open mixed doubles champions,
Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori
.
It’s a star-studded cast that is quite different from the mix of doubles specialists usually found in a Grand Slam mixed doubles bracket. Some criticized the changes when they were announced in February, with Errani and Vavassori calling the new format a “pseudo-exhibition focused only on entertainment and show” that would shut out true doubles players.
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AP tennis:
https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
