U.S. Open’s new tournament director is Eric Butorac, an architect of $1M mixed doubles event

Eric Butorac, one of the main brains behind the U.S. Open’s successful and controversial star-studded mixed doubles competition earlier this year, will become its tournament director, the USTA announced Monday,

Butorac replaces Stacey Allaster, a longtime tennis executive who served as both tournament director and chief of professional tennis. Allaster is leaving the organization next year to pursue philanthropy endeavors in tennis and other realms. Butorac’s role will involve only the tournament, as it continues to grow from a two-week competition to a destination event lasting nearly three weeks.

Working with Allaster, Butorac helped reimagine the mixed doubles competition, shrinking it to a standalone two-day event with more than $1 million in prize money. Using financial incentives and the lure of a convenient warm-up to singles, he worked to recruit the biggest names in the sport to participate, including Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Świątek, Novak Djokovic and Amanda Anisimova.

It received criticism for shunning and excluding tour doubles players, especially after doubles specialists Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori defended their title by defeating Świątek and Casper Ruud in front of 24,000 fans on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Still, the event significantly raised the profile of a competition that had become an afterthought. It also received rave reviews from the singles players who participated.

In an interview Monday, Butorac said he expects the 2026 U.S. Open schedule to play out similarly to this year’s.

“We’ll, see a similar format,” he said. “We’re looking to figure out how we can maybe expand to offer opportunities to a few more teams, either through a bigger draw or through qualifying potentially.”

The men’s final, he said, is likely to remain at a 2 p.m. start, or at least that was the plan this year, until additional security for President Donald Trump forced organizers to delay the start as fans made their way into the stadium.

Butorac said his experience as a player would help inform how he runs the year’s final Grand Slam, looking out for the needs of both the elite players and also doubles specialists like he was during his career.

“It’s hard coming to New York at the end of the Grand Slam season when players are tired and they’re a little beaten up, and New York is a really stressful city,” he said.

“It’s an exciting and great city, but, we have a real responsibility to take care of those players because it is on the back end of the season and we don’t always get them at their best. We need to go above and beyond, because of that.”

The announcement of Butorac continues a busy season for the USTA. It is expected to announce a new chief executive by the end of the year to replace Lew Sherr, who left the organization to head up business operations for the New York Mets.

Also, the USTA has sued the developers of a proposed casino near the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, arguing that it violates the organization’s lease with New York City. Steve Cohen, the owner of the Mets, is a principal in the company that wants to build the casino. On Monday, a judge temporarily blocked the city from pursuing the casino development pending a hearing on the USTA’s suit next month.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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