It can’t get worse for the players. Over the years, tennis stars have complained about the hectic scheduling of the tournaments. Additionally, the tennis bodies’ decision to make some tournaments mandatory has further increased the stress among the players. Top stars like Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz have openly slammed this rigorous calendar, with the Spaniard even terming that it will “kill” the players. Amid this controversy, the US Open announced a massive $1 million initiative for the US Open mixed doubles tournament. Although it faced massive criticism, Naomi Osaka’s ex-coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, defended the new format.

With the falling viewership of the mixed doubles event at Grand Slams, the US Open made a massive move to change the format of the tournament. It will now be a 16-team competition, with 8 teams being selected based on their singles rankings and the other 8 teams being selected via wildcards. This will allow more singles stars to participate in the event, which will take place a week before the start of the singles main draw matches. Although this new format makes scheduling further hectic for players like Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz, Mouratoglou was all praise of this move by the US Open.

Taking to social media, he said, “I think this is a good initiative for the sport and the fans. Non-tennis fans often come to watch just to see the stars. Traditionally, the stars were not competing for mixed doubles because it happened during the tournament and they wanted to focus on singles. But the fact that this new competition is scheduled the week before the US Open means it’s like practice matches for them and it’s not a problem for them to play.”

Further, he went on to add, “For fans, it’s an incredible opportunity to see dream pairings and iconic players on court together. Pairs like these create unique and exciting matchups that fans have never seen before.”

Interestingly, Naomi Osaka, who was once coached by Mouratoglou, will also be in the fray in this event. She will partner with Gael Monfils, and the two have received a wildcard entry there. Mouratoglou began coaching Osaka last year, but the two abruptly ended their partnership less than a year after their linkup. Subsequently, Mouratoglou revealed a major thing missing in their partnership.

Patrick Mouratoglou breaks silence on split with Naomi Osaka

Time and tide wait for no one, it is often said. Well, this saying was absolutely true in the case of Osaka and Mouratoglou. The two got together when things weren’t looking good for the Japanese star. Although the two worked hard to improve on the results, Osaka failed to replicate her best form, and the pair eventually split a few weeks back.

During an interview, Mouratoglou explained what went wrong in their partnership, saying, “The thing that was missing was the competitiveness. I think she’s a great competitor, but at that time she was not as good as a competitor as I think can be and she has been in the past. And this is the thing that we didn’t solve. I wish we could have more time to solve it. But we didn’t, that’s life, and I have no regrets on that because that’s the rule when you work in high level. I mean, time is important, and you have to solve the problems fast. So I think that was the key that was missing.”

Nonetheless, Osaka should be inspired by the recent results. Although she missed the Cincinnati Open, Osaka reached the final of the Canadian Open, which should hold her in good place ahead of the US Open.