THE 2026 US OPEN BEGINS TODAY, (SORT-OF)
The 2026 US Open tennis tournament is coming way too soon for me this year. I’m still trying to get into summer, for gosh sake!
And then it ends the day before the Emmys! What is happening?!
The very colorful cover of the 2026 US Open program.
All this means that, for the first time in forever, I will not be able to sit on my couch and watch every second of this home tennis competition because I have beaucoup Emmys events to cover, which I’m already trying to fit into a crazy schedule that includes a few great theatre openings and special events. (No worries for you readers, though—I will still get to writing about all of them all in a timely fashion. And I’ll also tweet about the tennis as much as I can. @MajorCelebrity.)
So for those of you, (tennis fans, sports fans, and just plain aware people,) who know that most tennis tourneys usually begin on a Monday, or occasionally the Sunday right before it, you may be wondering why I’m saying the U.S. Open begins today, Tuesday. (Sort-of.) Let me explain: This Major does a special version of the Mixed Doubles today and tomorrow. And then the main competitions, (Men’s and Women’s Singles,) start this coming Sunday.
They started doing this (nonsense, ridiculousness, craziness, fun—you choose the right description,) last year, and it worked-out so well that they’re doing it again. Instead of the usual Mixed Doubles competition, that goes on at the end of the two weeks, (and few people watch because it never features “stars” of the sport,) this one features sixteen star-studded teams, such as Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic. (I think this will be my first time rooting against Aryna!)
The official US Open featuring some of this year’s Mixed Doubles teams. The defending Champs, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, aren’t even on there because the duo is not “stars!” Horrible.
Returning runners-up from last year, Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud, will also compete again. (They lost to the only non-famous team in that competition, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, who will be back to defend their title, but are not even mentioned as Defending Champs on the US Open site! Disgusting.) I’m rooting for Sara and Andrea along with darling married couple Elina Svitolina and Gaels Monfils, and the Czech duo of wonderful Karolina Muchova and young Jakub Mensik.
And then there’s my worst nightmare—a guy I love and root for playing with my most hated female player ever! It’s Carlos Alcaraz paired with…Serena Williams! Grrr.
But the entire premise is disgraceful; it leaves-out the doubles specialists who make their money that way. Only a few of those teams will get a slight opportunity here, but they will have to play in qualifying matches, which just does not seem fair. (Is anything in life, actually?)
As to the rest of the competitions that will begin on Sunday, this will mark the return of defending champ Carlos Alcaraz after missing the previous two slams due to injury. (He played his last pro match on April 14th.) But the bad news for tennis fans is that World #1 Jannik Sinner had to withdraw recently. Viewers seem to always look forward to these two meeting in the Final, so it’s sad that they will be deprived of that match-up for the third Major in a row. (Actually, the fourth—although they both played the Aussie Open at the beginning of the year, they did not face each other, with Carlos beating Novak in the Final.)
Serena and Venus Williams looking miserable when they lost in the first round of the recent Cincinnati Open.
My only note of interest on the Women’s side is the return of the very creepy Williams sisters. Venus received a wild card to play Singles, Serena got one to play Mixed Doubles, and the pair of them may play regular Doubles later on, (unless Serena fakes another injury, as she did at last month’s Wimbledon.) They recently teamed-up at the Cincinnati Open, but were beaten in the very first round. So they may not want to suffer that embarrassment again here, (although many of us would love to see it!) But they don’t have to decide for another week.
Meanwhile, it’s disgraceful that the organizers were holding a wild card for Serena to play in the Singles, rather than just giving it straight-out to fellow American Sofia Kenin, who did wind-up getting it when Serena declined. Sofia is a current player, and a Grand Slam winner herself, (the 2020 Aussie Open Champion,) so it should have gone to her to begin with! As far as forty-six-years-old Venus goes, she has very little chance of advancing, so that’s just a wasted wild card.
To learn more about this entire tournament, (sans my unique takes, of course,) go to www.usopen.org. And if you don’t already follow me on X, this might be a good time to do so. @MajorCelebrity.
