Alcaraz and Williams thrill in US Open mixed doubles

Williams’ Emotional Return to Arthur Ashe Stadium Steals the Show in Mixed Doubles

Constantvpn.com – Fourteen thousand spectators filled the stands of Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday evening, their collective roar echoing across the New York night as a 44-year-old legend stepped onto the court for the first time since 2022. Serena Williams, carrying 23 Grand Slam singles titles and six of them won on these very courts, had not set foot in the US Open since she stepped away from professional tennis after knee surgery. Now, paired with Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, she was back — and the atmosphere made clear that the moment mattered far beyond the scoreline.

The pair’s appearance was the centrepiece of a tournament format that has drawn sharp criticism since its redesign last year. The revamped mixed doubles event, staged the week before the singles draw commences, grants automatic main-draw entry to top-ranked singles players and wildcards while forcing established doubles specialists through two rounds of qualifying. On Tuesday, every pairing built around dedicated doubles professionals fell to a team anchored by a singles star. The spectacle, however, was undeniable: Williams and Alcaraz drew cheers from the moment they walked out, and the crowd roared them on through every point of their opening contest.

A First Match Built on Chemistry and Nerves

Alcaraz, a seven-time major champion, had not played a competitive match since April after a wrist injury sidelined him for nearly five months. Williams, meanwhile, had not competed in New York since she described her departure from the sport as having “evolved away” from tennis. Their first match together — a 5-3 4-1 victory over Britain’s Lloyd Glasspool and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe — began with visible tension. The Spaniard admitted he double-faulted on the very first point of the match.

“I think everyone could see I was really nervous, I double-faulted on the first point,” Alcaraz said after the win. “I was out for almost five months and I almost forgot how it feels stepping out on the court once again. It [took] just a couple of games [to settle] and she made it very easy for me to enjoy it and try to go for it.”

Once the initial jitters faded, the partnership clicked. They won eight of the final nine games to close out the set, trading smiles and roaring each other on after key points. During a change of ends, Alcaraz summed up his approach with characteristic humility:

“I’m playing next to the one and only Serena Williams, so what else can I do? Just enjoy and try to do the things she told me to do.”

Eliminated in the Quarter-Finals

The celebration was short-lived. Italy’s Flavio Cobolli, ranked world number six in singles, and his Swiss partner Belinda Bencic proved too strong in the quarter-finals, taking the match 5-4 (7-4) 4-1. Williams and Alcaraz, whose combined Grand Slam singles haul stands at 30 titles, were thus denied a place in Wednesday’s semi-finals.

For Williams, the evening carried emotional weight that transcended the result. She had claimed the US Open mixed doubles crown in its original format alongside Belarusian partner Max Mirnyi in 1998 — a triumph that predated Alcaraz’s birth by five years. Nearly three decades later, she still carried the competitive fire.

“It’s always amazing to be here. I never expected to be back on this court,” Williams said. “It was just a really cool moment. I never thought this would happen.”

Williams will not contest the singles event; she has not played that format since suffering a knee injury at Wimbledon. Tuesday’s matches nonetheless offered Alcaraz valuable court time as he rebuilds his match rhythm ahead of the singles draw.

The Format’s Broader Picture

The controversy surrounding the redesigned event was laid bare across Tuesday’s results. Britain’s Henry Patten and New Zealand’s Katerina Siniakova, both established doubles players, had to grind through two qualifying rounds on Monday before reaching the quarter-finals. They ultimately fell to husband-and-wife duo Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina. Monfils, reflecting on their dynamic ahead of their own semi-final against Cobolli and Bencic, offered a candid assessment:

“I’m a big fan of her game and mentality. Sometimes I think she’s ice and I’m the fire. We needed to the find the balance. We did today.”

The other semi-final pits Russia’s Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev against Czech pair Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik. Meanwhile, the day’s most surprising result belonged to men’s 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic and women’s world number one Aryna Sabalenka, who were dispatched in just 49 minutes by Patten and Siniakova — a reminder that the format’s gamble on singles stars does not guarantee success.

For Williams, the evening was less about trophies and more about proving that the competitive instinct never truly fades. For Alcaraz, it was a controlled re-entry into match play under the watchful eye of one of the sport’s greatest ever players. And for the 15,000 fans packed into Arthur Ashe, it was a reminder that tennis, at its best, still delivers moments no schedule or format debate can diminish.