World Tour and Doubles
View(s):For those not conversant in Tennis, the standard Tennis court one sees is the Doubles court. Singles uses only the inside of the court and not the space within the ‘tram lines’. Those are the two side lines on the side of the court. It is suppose to resemble the tracks of electric city-Trams used worldwide. Once it was a common sight in Colombo. The addition of the area makes the Doubles court 9 feet wider. Doubles is the delight of the recreational players but, in the international World Tour, it does not get privileged treatment anymore.
At certain parts of the world, the Doubles format is not played full at Singles
The 4 Grand Slam events are the richest, most attended, followed and considered the most prestigious to win. Even here, Doubles events are not played in the full format of Singles. The reason being the lack of ‘big names’ in the Doubles draw. Big names in Tennis are Singles players. This missing link irks organisers, as the tickets to see Doubles are in least demand for well over two decades. All the same, Grand Slam and a very few others have Doubles and Mixed Doubles in the draw-sheet.
Rich History
In the annuls of Tennis history, Doubles and Mixed Doubles are very prominent. The simple reason being the appearance of the best Singles players in the Doubles too. If I am to mention the big names of Tennis Singles from the 40’s, all of them were excellent Doubles players- Australians Frank Sedgman, Lew Hoad, Rod laver, Roy Emerson, John NewCombe and the Americans John McEnroe, Jack Kramer, Arthur Ashe, Chuck Mckinley, Dennis Ralstan, Stan Smith and Bob Lutz, while most of the Europeans had a strong standing in Singles. It has not been the case in Tennis, for the last three decades. In the last two decades, the Bryan brothers of USA and the Woodies of Australia, dominated the Doubles but, were not known in Singles. The best players cannot accommodate Doubles anymore. The issue here is fear of burn-out!
Doubles now
The significant role of Doubles now seem to be in the team events such as Davis Cup, Federation Cup, Hopman Cup, Olympics and such events. In these, the outcome has a weight in the final results. The first time India entered the finals of the Davis Cup was by beating Brazil in Calcutta. Here, the decisive Doubles was won by Ramanathan Krishnan and Jaideep Mukergy. That gave them the edge to win the tie. That generation of Indians still rave over this feat even today.
The domination of Singles has created a vacuum in the Doubles draw-sheet, which is being filled by players outside the top 100 and retired Singles players in their late 30′s. Swiss Women’s player and former World No.1 Martina Hingis is one.
Last year, a few Asians ended up in the top 10 of the world rankings. One is Kei Nishikori of Japan in the Men’s ranking and the other is India’s Sanya Mirza. She became World No.1 in the Women’s Doubles. In previous years, she partnered Hingis to hold the same status and last year she managed it with others.
The Men who set this trend of going for Doubles ranking, rather than Singles, are Indians Mahesh Bhoopathi and Leander Paes. They are second generation sportsmen. Bhoopathi’s father is well known in Sri Lanka as a regular to our nationals, and Paes’ parents are both Olympians. Apart from sports, they also knew how to fit into modern sport and be good at it. Sanya Mirza, for a good while, very successfully played Mixed Doubles with Paes. Then she went on to play with Hingis most successfully.
Art of Doubles
The most sought after form of Tennis by recreational players is Doubles. It came to being with few courts available in the cool of the afternoon, that is after 4.30, and it is not that strenuous as the Singles. Apart from that, reluctantly, I must say that we have a partner to blame in case of defeat. This is the down side of playing Tennis Singles at recreational level. Defeat is humiliating and often, at club level, it is rubbed on very hard! Many avoid Singles for this reason. Unfortunately, it is Singles Tennis that gives the best exercise in the afternoon. S.A. Gunam of SLTA fame, now living in Jaffna, will vouch for this.
The first Wimbledon Champion in 1877 was Spencer Gore. He beat W. Marshall using Serve and Volley. In Tennis, this difficult art of playing was the dominating tactic, until artificial surfaces boosted the speed of the game and induced high bounce. Both of these make the net game very difficult. But in Doubles, although one sees one player behind, the best is to use the net game. Sanya Mirza in Singles was a Baseliner. In the recent past, she too, has adapted to play at the net, in cannily selected points for advantage.
Will the professional World Tour abandon Doubles? “No”, is the answer. I feel WTA and ATP are at it to revive it. Individualism is very strongly emphasised in sports. Even in team games such as Football, big names like Cristiano Ronaldo dominate. So, in Tennis, big-name Doubles combination could be an avenue to revive it. Meanwhile, 2016 was another Sanya Mirza’s year in Tennis.
–George Paldano, Former intl. player; Accredited Coach of Germany; National, Davis-Cup, Federation Cup captain/coach– georgepaldano@yahoo.com