For better or for worse, definitely for richer, and for who knows how long, the reimagined, star-spangled U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament gets underway Tuesday, Aug. 19 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.Sixteen pairs, comprised of the biggest names in singles and some of the best in the world at doubles, will compete for a $1 million payday over two days of tennis, before the tournament’s singles draws have even begun. The U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) is hiring private jets at will; ESPN is doing interviews between sets and, until the final, the sets are first to four games, not six.Stars of doubles say it devalues a Grand Slam trophy and their chosen discipline; the USTA says that the previous setup was doing that already.So, what should a tennis fan expect from this two-day jamboree, affront to the sport, or maybe both?How does the new mixed doubles format work?When Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori lifted the U.S. Open’s mixed doubles trophy last September, they did so after coming through a 32-team draw, played alongside the tournament’s singles events.Whoever lifts it this year will have come through four matches in two days, three of them shorter than a regular tennis match. In the mixed doubles’ new format, the round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals will be best of three sets, but first to four games, not six. If a game goes to deuce, 40-40, then it’s straight to a deciding point. If it’s 1-1 in sets, a 10-point tiebreak will decide the winners.The final will follow the same format, but the sets there will stick with tradition and be first to six games.This is all to align with the tournament’s priorities of “trying to get the game’s biggest stars on the court playing together,” said Eric Butorac, a former Grand Slam doubles finalist and the USTA executive whose baby this mixed doubles event became.Butorac has spent much of the past year quizzing, cajoling and nudging those stars, ultimately devising a format geared to their needs.Competing in mixed doubles during the singles events was a non-starter, which is why this competition ends four days before the singles draws begin on Sunday, Aug. 24. And they would need a bit of help qualifying, given their doubles rankings — with a few exceptions — aren’t all that. So eight teams got in on their combined singles ranking, and the next eight were drawn as wild cards. One went to Errani and Vavassori, who called the format “a profound injustice” when it was announced.Here are those teams. Men’s singles world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and Kateřina Siniaková, probably the greatest active doubles player on earth, were slated to play, but Sinner retired from his Cincinnati Open final against Carlos Alcaraz due to illness, and later withdrew from the event. Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison took their place, as the alternate team with the best combined singles ranking.