Eala and Auger-Aliassime, Svitolina-Monfils, Errani-Vavassori get US Open mixed doubles wild cards

NEW YORK (AP) — Rising women's star Alex Eala and Felix Auger-Aliassime, spouses Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils, and two-time defending champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori have been given wild cards into the U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament.

The U.S. Tennis Association on Monday set 11 of the 16 teams that will be in the championship, with six teams qualifying directly because of their combined rankings and five being given wild cards.

Topping the field is the team of No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka and 24-time men's Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic, who have the lowest combined singles ranking of any team that entered.

Also qualifying directly, in order of their rankings: Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz, Diana Shnaider and Daniil Medvedev, Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud — the runner-up team last year — Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli, and Amanda Anisimova and Learner Tien.

The remaining wild cards given Monday went to the teams of Leylah Fernandez and Frances Tiafoe, and Taylor Townsend and Alexander Zverev.

The first round and quarterfinals will be played Aug. 25, with the semifinals and final set for Aug. 26. All of the matches will be played either in Arthur Ashe Stadium or Louis Armstrong Stadium, the two biggest venues.

Three remaining wild-card spots are still to be announced, and the final two teams in the two-day main draw will earn their way in through an eight-team qualifying tournament to be played Aug. 24.

The teams given spots in the qualifying tournament Monday: Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten, Gabriela Dabrowski and Harri Heliovaara, Luisa Stefani and Neal Skupski, Aleksandra Krunic and Mate Pavic, Jelena Ostapenko and Marcelo Arevalo, and Erin Routliffe and Lloyd Glasspool.

Two more teams will be given wild cards into the qualifying tournament.

Eala, 21, earned her first career title two weeks ago at the DC Open, becoming the first player from the Philippines to win a WTA Tour event, and has been drawing large crowds to her matches.

Monfils is at the opposite end of his career, with the popular Frenchman planning to retire after this season.

Errani and Vavassori won the title in New York in 2024, but the Italians weren't sure they would even get to defend it after the USTA revamped the event last year in an effort to draw top singles players who had long been shunning mixed doubles.

They were eventually given a wild card, becoming the only traditional doubles team in the event, and beat Swiatek and Ruud in the final.

See AP’s full tennis coverage here

Gael Monfils, of France, waves to fans after playing his final match at the National Bank Open tennis tournament in Montreal, on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Ukraine's Elina Svitolina gestures after winning the second set against Poland's Iga Swiatek during National Bank Open tennis action in Toronto on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Alexandra Eala, of the Philippines, waves to the crowd after losing to Belinda Bencic, of Switzerland, in a round of 16 match at the National Bank Open tennis tournament in Toronto, on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2026. (Keito Newman/The Canadian Press via AP)

RENO, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 18, 2026--

The Institute for Management Studies (IMS) will present its 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Linda A. Hill, the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and Faculty Chair of the school's Leadership Initiative. The award honors thought leaders whose work has made an enduring contribution to management and leadership, recognizing Dr. Hill's decades of scholarship spanning Becoming a Manager, Being the Boss, Collective Genius, and her new bestseller Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation (Crown, March 2026).

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260818401056/en/

Dr. Hill's research overturned the myth of the lone visionary, showing that breakthrough innovation depends on leaders who build the trust and creative conditions that let teams do their best thinking together.

“Dr. Hill has fundamentally changed how organizations understand innovation,” said Charles Good, President of IMS. “For the HR and talent development leaders in our member community, her work is a practical blueprint, not just a theory. We are honored to recognize her extraordinary contribution.”

“I am deeply honored to receive the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award from The Institute for Management Studies,” said Dr. Hill. “Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of learning alongside leaders and organizations committed to creating environments where people can contribute their talents, collaborate across differences, and achieve something greater together. I am grateful to IMS for this recognition and for its enduring commitment to advancing the practice of leadership.”

Dr. Hill will be honored on September 8, 2026, during a special IMS program featuring a fireside conversation on leadership and innovation. Attendees, including chief human resources officers, learning and development executives, and senior leaders from IMS member organizations, will hear Dr. Hill discuss the research behind Genius at Scale and what it takes to drive innovation across organizations and ecosystems.

For more information about the September 8 program, contact the Institute for Management Studies at 775-322-8222 or charles@ims-online.com.

About Dr. Linda A. Hill

Dr. Hill has been named one of the world's top ten management thinkers by Thinkers50 (2013, 2021, and 2025), and her TED talk on managing for collective creativity has been viewed more than 2.6 million times.

About the Institute for Management Studies

Founded in 1974, the Institute for Management Studies gives HR, talent, and business leaders at member organizations across North America and Europe direct access to the researchers, authors, and practitioners that are shaping the future of work.

Linda A. Hill - Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and Faculty Chair of the Leadership Initiative.