Former doubles World No. 1 Rennae Stubbs has questioned Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios’ pairing for the mixed doubles event at the 2025 US Open. This newly revamped and reimagined format of the hard-court Major will take place on Aug. 19 and 20, 2025, during US Open Fan Week at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) recently announced several popular pairings for this year’s mixed doubles event, including defending champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, Aryna Sabalenka and Grigor Dimitrov, Novak Djokovic and Olga Danilovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu, as well as Osaka and Kyrgios. The winning duo will be awarded a prize purse of $1 million.
Rennae Stubbs Makes Her Feelings Known on Nick Kyrgios-Naomi Osaka Pairing for US Open Mixed Doubles
During a recent episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Stubbs expressed her concerns regarding Kyrgios’s participation in the 2025 US Open mixed doubles event, given his limited competitive play in recent months. This year, the former World No. 13 has only participated in three tournaments: the Brisbane International, the Australian Open, and the Indian Wells Masters.
“I mean controversial take, that’s the one team that I’m questioning because Nick hasn’t played at all, and is he playing or not? There’s probably a team that probably could have taken that spot. Now, having said that, will they get bumps in seats? Abso-bloody-lutely. That’s the issue, and that’s what Nick says, ‘I sell out, and people come and watch me play,'” Stubbs said.
A STAR-STUDDED 🤩 lineup of teams have officially entered the reimagined US Open Mixed Doubles Championship!
More info: https://t.co/bIMJGbf3qI pic.twitter.com/Hw1yA87pgj
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) June 17, 2025
The former doubles World No. 1 also pointed out that it might be challenging for Kyrgios to compete against top players who are consistently playing well on the tour.
“All of that is true, but at the same time, you have to also say, ‘Yeah, but are you a player? Are you playing on Tour? Every single person in this draw, when it comes to the men, are all great singles players playing on Tour every single day. So yeah, that’s probably the one team that, if I saw the alternate, I’d like to know the alternates, the team that is going to get it, who requested to play, and who didn’t get in,” she continued.
Stubbs also expressed that she wants the USTA to disclose the names of alternate teams for the mixed doubles event, who would compete if one of the confirmed mixed doubles pairs pulls out of the tournament.
“I would like to know that, and they should post that. I think they should post the 10 alternate teams because I guarantee you there’ll be one of these teams that don’t play. I mean, it’s outside, they’re a little bit injured, or something’s going on, and they don’t wanna threaten their play the following week in singles,” Stubbs added.
Osaka has enjoyed success at the US Open, having claimed the title twice in 2018 and 2020, by defeating Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka in the finals, respectively.
Meanwhile, Kyrgios’s best result at the New York Major came in 2022 when he reached the quarterfinals before being defeated by Jannik Sinner. The Aussie has previously competed in the mixed doubles event at the US Open, with his best result coming in 2015 when he partnered with Eugenie Bouchard and made it to the second round before withdrawing.
Are you singling kyrgios out for another reason? Because he signed the union letter? Oh maybe…