‘My heart is bleeding’ – Wimbledon champion upset by huge tennis change

New Wimbledon mixed doubles champion Sem Verbeek says his ‘heart is bleeding’ over a radical change in the format of the US Open. The American Grand Slam announced earlier in the year that its mixed doubles tournament will be held as a standalone event before the hard-court major begins. The United States Tennis Association described the move as bold and revolutionary and said it hoped it would attract more high-profile singles players (Picture: Getty)

A number of famous partnerships have already been struck, with two-time Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz teaming up with British number one Emma Raducanu. While more high-profile players will now compete in the mixed doubles event, the vast majority of doubles specialists will miss out on playing on the competition in New York. The change means new Wimbledon champion Verbeek will be unable to play with partner Katerina Siniakova at next month’s US Open (Picture: Getty)

Verbeek and Siniakova won the Wimbledon mixed doubles event with a 7-6 7-6 win over Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani on Centre Court. ‘As two athletes that would love to play it, it’s a shame to obviously know that we can’t,’ said Verbeek after lifting his maiden Grand Slam trophy. ‘I’m not going to actively root against it for it not to be a success. The positive I can think of is that there’s going to be more people that can see the top single stars earlier in the tournament when they are maybe a bit more accessible to the public. But as a doubles athlete, my heart is bleeding' (Picture: Getty)

Verbeek’s partner Siniakova, the world number one in women’s doubles, added to BBC Sport: ‘It’s a shame they decided to do it. I think it’s a marketing step, but they are taking [away the] chance of doubles players.’ Tournament organisers have been buoyed by the strong entry list for the new US Open mixed doubles tournament. As well as Alcaraz and Raducanu, the likes of Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner and Naomi Osaka have all confirmed their desire to play (Picture: Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

Lew Sherr, the USTA’s chief executive, said: ‘Seeing the teams that have already put their names on the entry list makes us all incredibly excited. ‘It shows that the players are behind what we are trying to do, and we know that the fans will love it.’ But the new tournament has also faced a fair amount of criticism, with last year’s US Open mixed doubles champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori describing the move as ‘profound injustice’. The pair said in a statement: ‘Making decisions just following the logic of profit is profoundly wrong in some situations' (Picture: REUTERS)

‘In the last few weeks we received the news that the US Open mixed doubles tournament will be completely turned upside down, cancelled and replaced with a pseudo-exhibition focused only on entertainment and show. We see it as a profound injustice that disrespects an entire category of players. We don’t know at the moment if we’ll have the chance to defend our title but we hope this remains an isolated case. Terribly shocking’ was how French tennis star Kristina Mladenovic, winner of multiple Slam doubles titles, described the new format' (Picture: REUTERS)