NEW YORK — Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka have entered the 2026 US Open Mixed Doubles Championship as a team, heading an initial list of 16 pairings released by tournament organisers on Monday.
The entry puts the 24-time Grand Slam singles champion alongside the world No. 1, who has won the last two US Open women’s singles titles. The two have played together once before, in a charity exhibition on Rod Laver Arena ahead of the 2024 Australian Open.
The dates. The championship runs from Monday 24 August to Wednesday 26 August, in the week before the singles main draw begins. Qualifying is played on 24 August. The main draw opens on 25 August with the first round and quarterfinals, and the semifinals and final are held on 26 August. Every main-draw match is scheduled for Arthur Ashe Stadium or Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The format. Matches up to the final are best-of-three with sets shortened to four games, no-advantage scoring and a tiebreak at four-all. A 10-point match tiebreak replaces the third set. The final is played to six games a set with tiebreaks at six-all, and also substitutes a 10-point match tiebreak for a deciding set. The winning pair takes $1 million.
How teams get in. The entry window closes at noon Eastern on 17 August. At that point the six teams with the best combined singles ranking are accepted directly into the 16-team main draw. The USTA allocates eight wild cards, to be announced later. The remaining two places go to the winners of an eight-team qualifying draw — itself made up of six direct entries and two wild cards — played on 24 August.
Qualifying is new for 2026. It was added after doubles specialists objected to a revamp that shortened the field and moved the event out of the main draw, which they argued reduced a Grand Slam title to a showcase for singles players. Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, who won the 2025 edition for their second straight US Open mixed doubles title, were the only established doubles team in that field and needed a wild card to enter as defending champions. They have entered again, as have Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten.
Both players arrive with different histories in the event. Djokovic played the 2025 championship with Olga Danilovic on a wild card and lost in the first round to Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev. Sabalenka did not enter that edition at all, though she raised the possibility of this pairing in January, telling reporters in Melbourne she was waiting on Djokovic. She joked that she was still waiting for “that long message from him.”
Djokovic, 39 and ranked No. 5, remains in pursuit of a 25th major singles title, which would move him clear of Margaret Court’s record. That pursuit runs through the singles draw, which begins the following week, rather than through this event. Six of the top 10 in both the ATP and WTA rankings have entered.
The full 2026 singles fields were confirmed earlier this month in the US Open entry list.
