We try not to get into the matchmaking business," says Eric Butorac, the man who oversaw mixed doubles at the US Open

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Arthur Millot

le 19/08/2025 à 12h06

2 min to read

Alcaraz Butorac Navarro Raducanu

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.