Doubles specialists Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori defeated a team of singles standouts, Iga Świątek and Casper Ruud, 6-3 5-7 (10-6) to win the 2025 U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament and a total of $1 million in prize money. Errani and Vavassori successfully defended their 2024 title, albeit under a drastically different format, while Świątek and Ruud earned a combined $400,000 for their second-place finish.
The USTA overhauled its mixed doubles tournament this year by upping the prize money five-fold from last year’s record of $200,000, moving the event to the Tuesday and Wednesday before the main draw and recruiting elite singles players to participate to increase interest. Previously, mixed doubles was more of an afterthought—matches were never scheduled during prime time and rarely played on the big stadium courts.
The new rules for the 16-team tournament also included “no ad” scoring to finish games faster, and four-game sets, except for the final.
Errani and Vavassori vehemently opposed these changes in a joint social media statement in February. “The U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament will be completely turned upside down, canceled and replaced with a pseudo-exhibition tournament focused only on entertainment and show,” they wrote on Instagram. “We see it as a profound injustice, that disrespect an entire category of players.”
The defending champions were initially doubtful they would even get a wild card into the bracket, but on July 29 they were announced as one of the first 14 teams. “Actually, I think if we didn’t do the statement, we wouldn’t have played this tournament, honestly,” Vavassori said.
As the only team of doubles specialists in the entire field, they entered this week with chips on their shoulders. “It’s important to show that doubles players are also great players,” Vavassori said Tuesday night after the tournament quarterfinals. “I think our main goal in the future will be to change the narrative.”
The duo was also vocal that more doubles specialists should have been given an opportunity to compete for the record prize. “This one is for all the doubles players who couldn’t play this tournament,” Errani said during the trophy presentation.
In addition to winning six Grand Slams in women’s doubles and now three in mixed doubles, Errani had a long, successful singles career during which she reached world No. 5 and made a French Open final. She has earned $16.6 million in prize money from WTA events and slams.
Vavassori, on the other hand, has made just $3 million from men’s doubles and singles tournaments—his $500,000 share of the U.S. Open mixed doubles prize check now represents a substantial chunk of his career earnings. He hopes the competition’s increase in prize money, along with his and Errani’s success, inspires more young players to pursue doubles.
“Doubles for me was amazing, because I was coming from a family that didn’t have so much money, and I was growing faster in doubles. I had the opportunity to arrive faster at challenger tournaments, ATP tournaments,” Vavassori said. “It’s tough maybe for someone to play alone, play with the pressure, travel alone. Maybe you don’t have so much money to invest [in the sport].”
Fans demonstrated the untapped potential for Grand Slams to market and showcase doubles by packing into the upper sections of Arthur Ashe Stadium on a rainy weekday night. The atmosphere was “arguably more crazy almost than a singles match,” said Jessica Pegula, who lost in the mixed doubles semifinals with her partner Jack Draper to the runners-up.
The U.S. Open promised stars for its revamped mixed doubles tournament and, despite some late injuries and dropouts, delivered. Six of the top 10 women’s singles players competed, along with seven of the top 10 men’s singles players. Świątek, who won the Cincinnati Open final on Monday evening, flew to New York City later that night to be ready to play doubles the next morning.
“I really enjoyed the whole experience. It was amazing having an opportunity to play mixed doubles,” Świątek said, echoing the sentiments of other singles players.
Even Errani and Vavassori had to walk back their previous criticisms. “The initiative is very good. To see a stadium fully packed for mixed doubles is something that we didn’t expect, honestly.” Vavassori said. “We have to give credit to the tournament to create something that was really worth it.”