Osaka lands in unlikely doubles duo with Kyrgios

Naomi Osaka will try her luck in the oddball US Open mixed doubles event, with the former No. 1 teaming with Nick Kyrgios.

The Aussie wild man who has barely played over the past three seasons, is due to suddenly appear in the mixed, which will be played as an experiment during qualifying week for the Grand Slam.

The 57th-ranked Osaka has been struggling on the WTA after becoming a mother in 2023

Organisers made a bet that men and women stars would come out and play if the competition was staged before the actual serious start to the last major of the season in New York.

The preliminary entry list seems to bear that theory out.

Besides Osaka and Kyrgios, others set to compete include:

Emma Navarro and Jannik Sinner
Qinwen Zheng and Jack Draper
Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul
Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev
Aryna Sabalenka and Grigor Dimitrov
Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud
Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas
Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz
Belinda Bencic and Alexander Zverev
Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic

The USD 1 million 16-team mini-tournament to be played over five days will be run under different rules designed not to put too much stress on players and presumably to appeal to a local fanbase with a limited attention span. 

Rules include: 

– Best-of-three-set matches with short sets to four games, no-ad scoring, tiebreakers at four-all and a 10-point match tiebreak in lieu of a third set.

-The final will be a best-of-three set match to six games, featuring no-ad scoring, with tiebreakers at six-all and a 10-point match tiebreaker in lieu of a third set.

-All matches played in Arthur Ashe Stadium or Louis Armstrong Stadium.