Kristina Mladenovic blasted the US Open over their reported plans for this year’s event edition as the former world No. 1 thinks starting the doubles tournaments during the qualifying week is “terribly shocking.”
At the start of this week, a user on X posted about the US Open’s plans to have the doubles tournaments start earlier this year.
If the tournament proceeds with their plans, the mixed doubles event will start during the qualifying week – specifically on Friday – three days before the main action even starts.
When it comes to the men’s and women’s doubles event, the plan is to have them kicked off on Friday instead of a usual Wednesday start.
“What in the world are this Mixed Doubles news? (laughing emoji),” tennis journalist Jose Morgado wrote when reacting to the news.
Mladenovic rips the US Open: Terribly shocking news
“Terribly shocking news! )thumbs down emoji). Doing that just to sell more money during first week of the event,” the former doubles world No. 1 wrote.
“Making it look like an exhibition for whoever wants to play! What about players playing singles Q that want/could with their doubles ranking play mixed?”
Terribly shocking news! 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻
Doing that just to sell more money during first week of the event.
Making it look like an exhibition for whoever wants to play!
What about players playing singles Q that want/could with their doubles ranking play mixed?— Kristina Mladenovic (@KikiMladenovic) February 4, 2025
As you probably know, Mladenovic has been one of the most successful doubles players over the last decade.
In women’s doubles, the 31-year-old is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won four French Open titles and two Australian Open titles, while she also finished three times as a runner-up at the US Open and lost one Wimbledon final.
She has also had big success in mixed doubles as she is a two-time Australian Open champion and has one Wimbledon title.
Last year, Mladenovic didn’t win any Slam doubles titles but she was close as Zhang Shuai lost the women’s final at Flushing Meadows to Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko.
Kristina Mladenovic and Zhang Shuai© Kristina Mladenovic/Instagram – Fair Use
Considering that doubles are very important for the Frenchwoman, it is not surprising that she doesn’t want the US Open to experiment with the women’s and mixed doubles tournaments.
Tennis World USA