Happy Friday, everyone! This week was full of surprises, star-studded announcements, and Andy Roddick reactions.

1️⃣ US Open Mixed Doubles Format Drops—with Superstar Pairings

How It Works: The US Open Mixed Doubles Championship is moving to Fan Week, scheduled for August 19th and 20th, with a juicy $1 million payout on the line. Early rounds through the semifinals will use a faster format: best-of-three sets to four games, with a tiebreak at 4–4. Matches will feature no-ad scoring, and if split, end in a 10-point super tiebreak.

The final switches to traditional 6-game sets (still no-ad), with tiebreaks at 6–6 and a 10-point match tiebreaker if it goes three sets. The goal? More drama, less downtime.

Star Power: Nine of the world’s Top 10 men and nine of the world’s Top 10 women are currently on the 16-team entry list. The entry window closes in late July, which is when the top eight teams with the best combined singles ranking officially make the draw. The remaining eight spots will be determined via wild cards.

Andy’s Take: Roddick let it rip. Click below to watch his full thoughts on the event:

2️⃣ Pam Shriver Steps Away from Donna Vekic’s Coaching Team

Focusing On Family: Hall of Famer Pam Shriver has stepped away from Donna Vekic’s coaching team after three years. She called it “one of the greatest experiences” of her 50+ year tennis career. Shriver cited a “challenging year” off the court in California, marked by wildfire evacuations and the theft of several of her Grand Slam trophies, as reasons to move on and focus on her community and family.

The Highs: During her time with Shriver, Vekic hit career highs: reaching her first Wimbledon semifinal in 2024 and capturing an Olympic silver medal in Paris. She climbed to a career-best ranking of No. 17 in January 2025. Sascha Bajin will now step into a lead coaching role.

The Struggles: Since January, the World No. 22 has struggled to maintain that peak form, posting an 8‑15 record so far in 2025. With Shriver’s departure and Bajin at the helm, Vekic will aim to regain her momentum.

3️⃣ Online Abuse In Women’s Tennis Reaches Alarming Scale

Calling Out The Abuse: In an interview with BBC Sport, Great Britain’s Katie Boulter shared disturbing messages, including death threats, sent to her by ‘so-called’ fans. Boulter said this social media abuse has become the “norm” for players and she wanted to raise awareness about the daily harassment and the mental toll it takes.

WTA Takes Action: The tour and the ITF released their first ever ‘Online Abuse And Threat Report’ using the Threat Matrix to track thousands of posts and direct messages sent to players. The data shows that a majority of these hateful messages came from “angry gamblers”. In 2024, five women’s players accounted for receiving over 25% of all abuse tracked. Law enforcement was called to investigate 15 such cases.

More To Be Done: Jess Pegula, a member of the WTA Player Council, called on gambling and social media companies to “tackle the problem at its source” and to protect the players.

Roddick Reacts To Your Comments on His Best Athletes Take

Local Favorites Chosen: Seven of the eight wild cards for the women’s draw feature players from Great Britain. Three teenagers, Mingge Xu, Hannah Klugman, and Mika Stojsavljevic, join Harriet Dart, Heather Watson, Francesca Jones, and Jodie Burrage as wild card entries.

The only non-British woman to receive a wild card was Petra Kvitova who won the Wimbledon singles title in 2011 and 2014. She’s back for the first time as a mom, she gave birth to her son during last year’s championships. Kvitova also announced she plans to retire following this year’s US Open in September.

Surprise Snub: Lois Boisson, who surged nearly 300 spots in the rankings after her memorable French Open run, was not awarded a wild card. France’s new No. 1 will have to play her way into the main draw through qualifying.

Men’s Wild Cards: Former British No. 1 Dan Evans headlines the wild card list on the men’s side. Six other Brits have been granted entry: Jay Clarke, Oliver Crawford, George Loffhagen, Johannus Monday, Jack Pinnington Jones, and Henry Searle. One final spot has yet to be announced.

5️⃣ Sinner Stunned in Halle—Then Drops a Song

Tough Week Continues: It’s been quite a week for world No. 1 Jannik Sinner. After his dramatic French Open final loss to Carlos Alcaraz and a tough three-set upset loss at Halle against Alexander Bublik, Sinner is making headlines off the court in a surprising way.

Surprise Duet: He’s teamed up with legendary Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli on a new song titled Dust and Glory. The track, described as elegant and dramatic, features Sinner in more of a speaking role to supplement Bocelli’s lyrics. The music video shows photos and videos from their respective childhoods with an appearance of a tennis racket on the piano Bocelli plays.

Grand Slam Grooves: While Sinner isn’t the first grand slam champion to dabble in music, this duet definitely marks a unique moment in his career—and one that’s turning heads well beyond the tennis world.

Also, credit to Bublik not just for upsetting the world No. 1, but also for delivering this hilarious moment on social media:

What To Watch For

Berlin Open (WTA 500): Upsets! Five of the top seven ranked WTA players (Gauff, Pegula, Paolini, Andreeva, and Keys) failed to win a match. Plus, World No. 10 Paula Badosa retired from her quarterfinal match on Friday.

HSBC Championships (ATP 500): Carlos Alcaraz and Jack Draper headline the weekend draw as they look for the grass title on Andy Murray Arena. Andy’s brother Jamie is the tournament director.

Terra Wortmann Open at Halle (ATP 500): As mentioned, Alexander Bublik upset Jannik Sinner in the second round, opening the door for a chaotic weekend in Germany.

Full international WTA & ATP broadcast list.

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