It has been an eventful few months for the US Open, even before the start of the tournament. Known for making some bold moves, the tournament took another reformative step when it revamped the mixed doubles event, scrapping the age-old one. The new format allowed more singles players to participate, and it was scheduled smartly, a week before the main draw singles matches started. Thus, players like Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek signed up for the event, making it a star-studded one. However, things took a turn for the worse when a legendary player was snubbed, and the fans brutally slammed the US Open for this mess.

Earlier, Jannik Sinner was set to team up with doubles legend Katerina Siniakova. However, the Italian star pulled out of the event due to illness at the 11th hour, and the organizers rushed in to find a replacement. To the surprise of the fans, the organizers replaced the entire team instead of just Sinner, as they snubbed Siniakova, who has won 11 Grand Slam doubles titles and a couple of Olympic gold medals.

The duo will be replaced by an alternate team with the highest combined singles rankings. As a result, the team of Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison replaced them, which didn’t go down well with the fans, as they felt that it was disrespectful toward Siniakova.

Fans condemn US Open’s decision to snub Katerina Siniakova

As the news about Sinner’s withdrawal from the mixed doubles event went viral on social media, fans also came to know that Siniakova would also have to miss the tournament. Interestingly, she had made her way there by skipping the event in Cleveland, meaning that Siniakova would be without match practice now. One of the fans strongly criticized the US Open organizers, saying, “@usopen @usta screwed this one up…” The US Open had the choice to replace just Sinner and not Siniakova, but in the end, they decided to replace Siniakova as well, now that Sinner wasn’t playing.

Further, one of the fans felt bad that Siniakova ended up in such a situation. “Ridiculous. Feel really bad for her,” a fan wrote, as he was left dejected by the US Open’s shocking decision. Meanwhile, some of the X users even strongly condemned this decision by the US Open officials. In what was a huge disrespect shown toward Siniakova, a fan said, “Total disgrace by the @usopen,” as he slammed the major tournament in New York for snubbing a legend like Siniakova.

On the other hand, one of the fans suggested a possible way out after Sinner decided to pull out from the mixed doubles event. “Couldn’t they have just asked one of the men’s doubles players? One of the men’s singles players? Hell, I live in NYC and would’ve been happy to take the LIRR to Flushing Meadows to replace him. Totally unfair. Total bulls***. Shame on them for screwing her like that,” said one fan, who felt that this situation was avoidable had the US Open taken a sensible call. Lastly, the tournament officials were brutally trolled after Siniakova was forced to withdraw from the event. One fan wrote, “Clowns managing the event,” as he was left angry by this shocking decision.

While the mixed doubles event at the US Open has started off with a bang, such incidents will only put the tournament in a bad light. It could have been very much avoidable had the officials respected a legend like Siniakova, who has multiple honors in her name.