Karolina Muchova calls US Open mixed doubles an 'exhibition' in strange moment after beating Venus Williams & Reilly Opelka with partner Andrey Rublev

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

At the on-court interview afterwards, Muchova referred to the tournament as an 'exhibition' event -- which is decidedly not the case. For all intents and purposes, 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 tourament that takes place during the second week, the US Open decided to change things up this year. In addition making it a 2-day event comprised largely of singles players, the organizers also changed the scoring, making it first to four games instead of the usual six. Understandably, the lack of doubles specialists in the event has invited serious criticism from fans.

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

Muchova and Rublev, as mentioned by the Czech in the interview, had previously played mixed doubles together at the Macau Tennis Masters, an exhibition event in China at the end of 2024. Despite their experience, they were no match for the veteran pair of Andrea Vavassori and Sara Errani, whom they faced next in the quarterfinals of the US Open. The Italians took the opening set 4-1 and looked on course to cruise into the semifinals at the time of publishing.

US Open mixed doubles: Other notable pairs at the event

2025 US Open - Mixed Doubles - Source: Getty

The controversial mixed doubles event at the 2025 US Open is not short of superstars, to say the least. 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 include: Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper, Daniil Medvedev and Mirra Andreeva, Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud, and Belinda Bencic and Alexander Zverev. Among those who exited in the first round were Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe, Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz, and Naomi Osaka and Gael Monfils.