Karolina Muchova labels US Open mixed doubles an 'exhibition' after victory over Venus Williams & Rielly Opelka with partner Andrey Rublev

The 2025 US Open mixed doubles event is not off to a good start, with Karolina Muchova giving an odd moment of shade towards the competition on opening day. Muchova partnered with Andrey Rublev, defeated all-American duo Venus Williams and Reilly Opelka in the first round, winning 4-2, 5-4.

At the on-court interview after the match, Muchova referred to the tournament as an 'exhibition' event-- which is not the case. This tournament is considered an official Grand Slam tournament, with the winners getting counted as Slam winners despite the new format this year.

"We played an exhibition, and we heard that months later there was this exhibition, so we thought why not try it again? We had fun in Macau and we had fun today," Muchova said.

Instead of the regular mixed doubles tournament that takes place during the second week, the US Open is determined to change things this year. Making it a 2-day event consisting largely of singles players, the organisers also changed the scoring, making it first to four matches instead of usual six. Obviously, the lack of doubles specialists in the competition has opened way for serious criticism from fans.

But, it should be highlighted that this year's mixed doubles event at the US Open has a huge prize money on offer, with the winning pair set to take home $1 million.

Muchova and Rublev had previously played mixed doubles with each other at the Macau Tennis Masters, an exhibition event in China at the end of 2024.

Other notable pairs at the event

To say the least, the 2025 US Open is not short of superstars. Among the biggest pair-ups is the Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu team, followed by the all-American line-up of Ben Shelton and former doubles World No. 1 Taylor Townsend,

Other notable pairs consist: Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper, Daniil Medvedev and Mirra Andreeva, Iga Swiatek and Caspur Ruud, and Belinda Bncic and Alexander Zverev. Among those who exited in the first round were Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe, Elene Rybakina and Tylor Fritz, and Noami Osaka and Gael Monfils.