59. THE POOR RELATION

Doubles is often seen as the poor relation of singles which, in my opinion, is profoundly wrong! Doubles is a sport in itself. For sure some of the skills needed for singles are also needed for doubles but there is a whole new additional skill set that doubles players have to acquire if they are going to succeed in the game. It is not a given that if you are good at singles, you will be good at doubles and vice versa. Now obviously there are many exceptions to this – Ash Barty, a doubles specialist first, then singles World No 1 after; and Serena Williams – a legend in both disciplines – but it is not a foregone conclusion and there are many players who simply cannot play top level in both singles and doubles.

Singles is a game of tactics, physical and mental strength, speed and endurance. But doubles is all of these, as well as being a team game which requires non verbal and verbal communication, strategy, super fast reactions and an ability to work effectively alongside another player to strategise on how to outwit the opponents. This requires each player to be acutely aware of each others position and movement at all times and an ability to adapt constantly as the situation on court changes.

With these factors in mind, why then do the tennis governing bodies and the tournament organisers continue to make the specialist doubles players feel like they don’t belong? Why do they get told they can only practice for an hour, whilst the singles players get two hours? Why are some of the doubles draws only open to 8 pairs, as opposed to the more typical 16? Why is the prize money so much less for the doubles pairs (even before they have to split it 50:50)? Why do the doubles players almost always get scheduled to play last? Why is it the doubles matches that get cancelled first if the weather is bad? Why do the clay courts get swept and watered in between sets for singles matches but not always for doubles (when there are 4 people on the court as opposed to 2 so more ‘mess’)? Why do some tournaments not give trophies to doubles winners? Why does the third set of a doubles match have to be a Championship Tie Break when already the doubles matches are quicker to complete than the singles – why not let the doubles players enjoy and savour their time on court for a bit longer? And so the list goes on.

I get that some people are of the opinion that singles is the more attractive discipline and the one that the sponsors prefer but there are many people out there who would rather watch a fast moving doubles game than sit through a singles match that goes on for over 5 hours. For sure a long singles match can be enthralling and exciting, a great exhibition of the physical and mental endurance of two super athletes, but it can also be a slog and quite numbing on the backside! A doubles match however, can be exciting, fast paced, entertaining and thrilling – certainly at the upper levels where the skills on show can be quite spectacular.

There are many players on the tour who choose to only play doubles – British players, Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury, being classic examples. For whatever reason, both of these former World No 1 doubles players decided to give up their singles careers to focus on doubles. There are others who only play singles and there are players who play both. But there are also players who only choose to play doubles when the prize money is substantial (at a Grand Slam for example).

Whatever the event, the entry lists for the doubles tournaments is based upon the combined rankings of the two players in each team. Seems fair right? But not when you realise that a player can use her singles ranking for a doubles event (at Grand Slams and at on-site sign ins for any tour level tournament), which means that two highly ranked singles players can gain entry into a doubles event over and above a team of doubles specialists, who travel the world and play doubles week in week out. Now that simply doesn’t make sense – nor is it fair to the players who have chosen to focus entirely on doubles in an attempt to be the best in the world. Why take a persons singles ranking over their doubles ranking when creating the entry list for a doubles event? They are two separate disciplines within the sport of tennis. It’s like a long jumper in athletics using her ranking to enter the high jump! If this is how the doubles entry lists are compiled, why not let a doubles player not use her doubles ranking to enter a singles event? Now that would really shake things up!

One of the key, immensely annoying and unfair, issues with singles players entering doubles events is that if the players’ singles is going well in a particular week, and she has reached the ‘business end’ of the tournament, then more often than not she will withdraw from the doubles event to conserve her energy for the singles. Not only is this incredibly tough on her partner but it is also unbelievably tough on the specialist doubles pair that were number one on the alternate list, but were shunted down the list on entry because two singles players decided to enter. This situation needs to change and fast! Why not create some events that are for doubles players only ie no singles at all!? Food for thought!

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