The 2026 US Open Mixed Doubles Challenge has released its entry list, and the names of Carlos Alcaraz and Serena Williams are not on it.

The event was introduced in 2025, when leading singles players were paired up during the first week of the US Open, with $1 million in prize money available. Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori won that first edition, and the pair will return to defend their title at Flushing Meadows.

Last year’s field included combinations such as Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu, Novak Djokovic and Olga Danilović, and Amanda Anisimova and Holger Rune. None of those partnerships are listed for the 2026 event.

Djokovic is back, though this time he will team with Aryna Sabalenka. That pairing is one of four headline duos announced by the American Grand Slam, alongside Casper Ruud and Iga Swiatek, Jack Draper and Jessica Pegula, and Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka.

The field also features Leylah Fernandez and Frances Tiafoe, Peyton Stearns and Preston Stearns, and Amanda Anisimova with Learner Tien. Alexandra Eala will make her debut and partner Felix Auger-Aliassime, while Taylor Townsend and Alexander Zverev, Diana Shnaider and Daniil Medvedev, and Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev are also entered.

Kei Nishikori, in his final year in tennis, will make his first appearance in the event and play alongside Naomi Osaka.

In a statement, new USTA chief executive Craig Tiley said: “Anytime you can bring women and men together on the same team, you showcase tennis at its best.”

Eight additional wildcard pairs will still be added, leaving open the possibility of more notable names joining the draw. Alcaraz has also been linked with Williams, who returned during the grass-court swing in June and played Queen’s, the Berlin Open, and Wimbledon. At Wimbledon, she entered singles and lost in the first round to Maya Joint. She had been due to play doubles with Venus Williams, but a knee injury ended that campaign.

Kei Nishikori has spent much of his career carrying the banner for Asian tennis, and the rise of a new generation has only reinforced that legacy.

The Japanese player, who climbed as high as World No. 4 and won 12 career titles between 2008 and 2019, is in the final year of his career. Even so, he can look around the top level of the sport and see several Asian names making their mark.

Naomi Osaka, Alexandra Eala, Janice Tjen, and Xinyu Wang are all currently inside the WTA top 50. Nishikori has been especially struck by Eala over the last two seasons, following her breakthrough in 2025 and 2026.

At the Washington Open, he said Eala has the tools to keep moving up after she reached a career-high No. 26.

“I hope she can jump up again,” said Nishikori. “She has been playing well the last two years. She has a lot of weapons. She can be top 10 if she can stay healthy.”

Both players are due to feature at the Washington Open, the opening event on the North American hardcourt swing. Nishikori enters on a wildcard and will face another Asian player, Jerry Shang, in the first round. Shang is currently outside the top 200, though he has been as high as World No. 47.

Eala will begin against Qinwen Zheng, who also has a wildcard into the WTA 500 event. Zheng is already established in the women’s game, having reached the Australian Open final in 2024 and won Olympic gold at the Paris Games that same year.

There is plenty at stake for both. Eala has a real chance to push toward the top 20 during this swing, with only 70 points to defend before the US Open. For Nishikori, this is his Washington Open farewell, with retirement expected later this year, potentially during the Asian swing in September and October.

Jannik Sinner’s 2026 campaign has only strengthened his grip on the ATP Tour.

After the first seven months of the season, the Italian has already won six titles, among them a second Wimbledon crown. His record has been just as imposing: 47 matches played, only three defeats, with losses coming against Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open, Jakub Mensik at the Qatar Open, and Juan Manuel Cerundolo at Roland Garros.

While Sinner’s calm, low-key presence can make the scale of his effort easy to overlook, his coach Simone Vagnozzi has offered a revealing assessment of what drives the world No 1. Speaking to Corriere della Sera, he said: “He’s a fearful worker. I’ve had to motivate him two or three times in five years. His greatest quality is wanting people by his side who tell him what he doesn’t want to hear.

“It all starts with attitude and the desire to improve: you have to find the courage to make mistakes, even to fail. Jannik has a significant base of mental strength, we’ve just multiplied it. He has innate gifts. You don’t become a colt if you’re a nag.

“Now you can see that he can hit aces in the important moments, but for that to happen you have to feel confident in your shot because you’ve worked on it for hours and hours in training.”

If that description is accurate, it only underlines why Sinner has been so difficult to unsettle. His technical level is already exceptional, but Vagnozzi’s comments point to something even more important: a mentality that allows those tools to hold up when the pressure rises.

That combination helps explain why he remains miles clear at No 1, sitting 5290 ranking points ahead of second place. At this rate, dislodging him looks like a daunting task for the rest of the Tour, with his position at the summit appearing secure well beyond the current season.