We try not to get into the matchmaking business," says Eric Butorac, the man who oversaw mixed doubles at the US Open
This Tuesday, August 19, marks the highly anticipated mixed doubles event at the US Open. With its share of stars, the organization made a major move by changing the event's format. Over 2 days (Fan Week), 16 teams will compete for the million dollars promised to the winners.
Eric Butorac, a former doubles professional who supervised this brand-new format, spoke just hours before the first match:
"We try not to get into the matchmaking business. In February and March, we went to see a number of agents and players and told them what we intended to do. We contacted Carlos (Alcaraz)'s team and explained the format to them. Albert Molina, his agent, told me: 'Yes, I think we really want to participate in this.' And I think it was only more than three days later that they called back and said: 'His partner will be Emma.'
So we had nothing to do with that. For Jannik, what was funny is that I gave them a list of names. I don’t want to say all the names, but they said: 'What if we go with Emma Navarro?' So that tells you we didn’t really play a role in putting the teams together.
In the majority of cases, the players wanted to play with someone familiar. There were a few people who reached out, and Sinner was one of them. I told him: 'Well, here are four or five women I’ve heard about and who, I know, would be interested in playing with you. Feel free to contact any of them.'
So we certainly help the players, just as we always have a list for doubles on-site every year. We did a bit of that, but I wouldn’t call it matchmaking, really.
