THE 2025 US OPEN BEGAN YESTERDAY!

And I was almost caught unaware! That’s because this final Major tennis tourney of the year has always begun on a Monday, never on a Sunday. So there’s already a lot to report!

First of all, the notoriously least-watched discipline, Mixed Doubles, already happened! They held that competition last week, (which I’ll explain in a minute,) because they changed it up quite a bit this year. (That’s how I knew that the Singles began yesterday—I had advance notice to watch the Mixed Doubles, and the commentators kept apprising the viewers of this schedule change.)

So I’m discussing that situation first.

Instead of the contests being vied for by unfamiliar duos who always play the Mixed Doubles on tour, this year the US Open went with teams comprised mainly of the singles stars of the sport, such as Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz, (for whom I rooted.) [Note: It’s a shame that Grigor Dmitrov had to withdraw due to still dealing with the pec injury he suffered at Wimbledon last month. He was set to team up with the #1 girl, Aryna Sabalenka, and I would have loved to see those two ferocities play together.]

The organizers wanted those stars in the competition in the hopes of drumming up viewers and ticket buyers, and they accomplished just that. So, in order to encourage those players, the Mixed Doubles had to be contested a week earlier than even the start of the entire tournament because the players who hope to go far in the Singles would never agree to play Doubles while they were still vying for Singles titles!

The new format was definitely interesting, but it was a hard one for me because I feel so awful for the usual doubles teams, who are more often than not made-up of players of whom the casual fan is unaware, who count on playing it. They’d love a title, and they need the money, too, as little as it is. So those people were totally screwed by this new format, even though the audience loved it.

But, to the usual doubles teams’ credit, one of them, Italians Sara Errani and *Andrea Vavassori, who were the defending Champions, won it again! And against very formidable star opponents, six-time Major Champion, Iga Swiatek and three-time Major Finalist, Casper Ruud. I like Iga and Casper, and were happy for them to do well, but I was appalled that they were talking to each other right behind the winners while Sara and Andrea were giving their Champions speeches! (In Iga and Casper’s defense, they don’t usually play any kind of doubles, so they’re not used to having a teammate with whom to go over the proceedings. So I have a feeling they didn’t even realize how rude they were being. But they should have known better, just as people!) *[Note: “Andrea” is a guy’s name in Italy.]

Now, as far as the Singles competitions go, the big disappointment for me is that Italian Stallion, Matteo Berrettini, also had to withdraw due to injury. I get to see his stunning visage only twice a year, during Wimbledon and the US Open; Wimbledon totally screwed me this year by not showing him even once, and now this. C’mon, tennis gods—give a girl a break here! (But I had forgotten how good-looking Matteo’s countryman, Lorenzo Musetti, is! So at least I have him to look at. We’ll see for how long, though.)

And this year I have someone whom I’m actually rooting against perhaps even more than Novak Djokovic! Yes, you read that correctly—even more than Novak. And it is—drumroll, please—Naomi Osaka. I’ve never really been a fan, (but I was thrilled when she beat Serena Williams here way back in 2018,) but now I downright dislike her for something she pulled earlier this month at the Canadian Open.

She was beaten in the Final there by young up-and-coming Canadian Victoria Mboko, and…didn’t even give her a mention in her runner-up speech! That’s unheard of in sports, especially tennis! At the very least, they always say, “I want to congratulate [so-and-so] and their team.” That was rude of Naomi, who I feel is often a poor sport these days. Her excuse for not mentioning Victoria? She forgot! With the girl standing right next to her! OMG.

So I’m very happy to see that Victoria is seeded #22 here at the US Open, while Naomi is right behind her at #23. Ha!

And now I have to tell you of a devastatingly sad story; it does have a heartwarming aftermath, which I’m thankful to also share, although, of course, I wish it had not happened. In May, young Los Angeles tennis player, Braun Levi, was killed by an “alleged” drunk driver. (For some reason, it seems that everyone talking or writing about the tragic situation is required to say “alleged” drunk driver, so I am, too. But not only does it appear that the woman was over the alcohol limit, but she also had no license anymore! What a disgusting person!)

So in his memory, Braun’s family, (who had already lost their Pacific Palisades home in the fires in January—how is any of this fair?,) started the Live Like Braun Foundation. (You can learn more and/or donate here: livelikebraunfoundation.org.)

The heartwarming part of this story is that another young American player, Emilio Nava, who had never even met Braun or his family, decided on his own to help raise awareness for the foundation! How many twenty-three-year-olds would even think of doing that, especially when they’re getting ready to play in the first round of a Major tournament?! I have never rooted for anyone more! (Outside of Roger Federer.) About all that, commentator Jason Goodall told us, “Nava wanted to get the story about drunk driving to the forefront of everyone’s mind. Emilio said, ‘I’m trying to end drunk driving.’” Braun’s mother, Jenn Levi, commented that Nava asked, “What can I do to help spread the movement?” The guy even invited her and her family to be his guests at his first-round match! What a kid! Jenn also said that the US Tennis Association has lifted them up and supported them. I had to take a long break after learning about all of that. (If you’d like to understand more about their connection, here’s a good article I just found: www.atptour.com/en/news/nava-us-open-2025-feature.)

To not end this article on that heartbreaking story, let me say that I do hope that Aryna Sabalenka, (who I believe is making a concerted effort to not “grunt” as loudly as usual,) wins the women’s championship, but that’s about all of the emotional involvement I can muster this year; as I was watching yesterday’s first day of play, I realized that my mind kept wandering, and I wasn’t really caring about most of the outcomes.

If anything particularly interesting happens, or if I just have to rag on someone’s extreme stupidity, (which usually occurs via moronic ESPN studio host *Chris McKendy,) I’ll, of course, post my live thoughts on all the proceedings on X, the former Twitter. My moniker on that platform is @MajorCelebrity. I hope you’ll join me there in seeing how it all unfolds.

*Here’s a quick taste of what I’ll have to say over there about Chris McKendry’s idiocy, which has already begun: Yesterday, at the end of an interview she was doing with Top Ten player Ben Shelton, rather than thanking him and then telling the viewers, “We’ll be right back with Taylor Fritz,” she very rudely told Ben, “We’re going to ask you to step aside. You are the #2 American, #1 is waiting right over there” referring to Fritz. How unbelievably rude of her! How is she still employed???

Let’s all hope it gets better from here.