Doubles has always been a vexing topic within the tennis world. But in recent weeks, it has come to the minds of tennis watchers more than ever.
Reilly Opelka, who has been a long-time critic of the doubles game, recently came under fire after suggesting that the tours should "100% get rid of doubles", sparking widespread debate amongst players, podcasters and journalists about the game's future.
"They don't sell a single ticket; they take up practice courts/physios/resources," Opelka said. "They don't turn a profit, and they complain that they don't make enough money. That's pretty greedy if you ask me."
While the doubles game does not capture the same level of widespread attention as the singles field, the tours rely on doubles towards the latter end of tournaments to fill the outside courts when there are very few singles matches still being played. The doubles courts at Grand Slams are frequently packed to the brim and draw huge levels of engagement from casual tennis watchers and tragics alike, who are entranced by the fast-paced play and craftiness displayed by the top doubles players.
Doubles also has the ability to capture the imagination of the public in its own right, with Brazilians Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo recently winning the title in Rio De Janeiro in front of arguably the most boisterous crowd of the week. The Bryan Brothers were frequently drawcards to events, and even now, many US tournaments still lead their publicity with doubles teams (the Houston tournament recently highlighted that Olympic silver medallists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram would be joining their field).
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Yet, it is an undeniable fact that the doubles game is in a broadcast stasis at the moment. Television networks infrequently cover the doubles game (despite holding the rights), unless big-name singles stars are playing which limits exposure and makes it difficult for the doubles specialists to establish themselves as household names. With little desire to address this issue from the networks, and with the looming threat of a trimmed tour in future years, there is no question that the future of doubles specialists is in a degree of jeopardy. Indeed, the US Open recently announced a change to its mixed doubles format, focused on enabling the top singles players to enter and pushing out the doubles specialists in what is perhaps a sign for the future.
Calvin Betton, coach of Australian Open winning pair Harri Heliövaara and Henry Patten, said that the issue was not with the product of doubles but with the marketing of the players involved.
"The product is excellent, [the tours] just don’t want to market it, and I think it comes from greed, from the singles players wanting more of the pot of money when they’re already making an absolute fortune," an honest Betton said.
"There’s also certain people that have vested interests and don’t want to help doubles because they want to prove them wrong. People love watching [doubles] and it’s a case of just helping [the players] out with the marketing and [they] will do the rest [themselves]. All the doubles guys I know will give interviews and they’ll do the media but at every juncture, they get knocked back."
Indeed, in virtually every interview conducted by The First Serve with doubles players across the United Cup, Adelaide and the Australian Open, the players were more than happy to discuss all aspects of the doubles game, often offering to answer more questions after the allotted interview time.
Many players were also quite forthright in their criticism of the tours, who they believe should be doing more to promote the product of doubles.
"I don’t think [the tours] even consider doubles worth promoting," said Yuki Bhambri. "There has been zero promotion, and when you ask [the tours], it appears they just don’t see it as a viable product, which is a shame."
Krajicek said: "I think people love doubles, especially in the US, but it’s pretty tough to get to know the guys if you don’t have the ability to watch them on TV. No matter how much money you pay, you can’t watch them. It’s an issue that could definitely get better."
Heliövaara and Patten are two of the more known doubles players on the tour, both by virtue of their success and their dedication to promoting the doubles game in a variety of ways. Patten, as the top British doubles player by ranking, is followed by a large British press pack at the major tournament, regularly being requested for interviews. At the same time, Heliövaara, who applied to be a pilot before returning to tennis after an early retirement, has developed a blog in Finnish where he recaps his matches on the tour.
"We want to be stars on tour," said Heliövaara. "But if we don’t give something special, something extra to the audience, maybe they don’t remember us, so I want to do my part."
The pair also made a major effort to sign almost every autograph after each of their matches, which meant that their losing opponents often stuck around to sign caps and tennis balls, making the day of scores of young tennis fans.
"The reason I play tennis is for moments like that [interacting with fans after the match]," said Patten. "The best matches are all about the atmosphere that the crowd creates. We would have kept going signing things, but we were told we have to leave, but we love to sign everything because having those little moments with fans, it’s really special."
Patten also said that many doubles players had very interesting stories and the onus was on the media and the tours to harness this to take the game to the next level.
"It would be great if the fans were able to get to know the players a little more. Lots of the doubles players have really interesting stories and are pretty keen to get in front of the cameras and get to know the fans, but I think there hasn’t been that much of an opportunity, so we’re all kind of ready to give to the fans and give interviews and try to show our personalities."
This theme was echoed by several players, who believe the stories behind the doubles players would make for compelling viewing if the tours were to promote them more, perhaps through a television series such as the now-defunct Netflix special, Break Point.
"Exposing [doubles] to more fans is the starting point," said Australia's Ellen Perez. "But it’s also marketing and putting it out there by creating characters and content because us doubles players have good stories too, so it would be cool to get that out there."
Marcelo Arévalo, the current world No.1 men’s doubles player, who hails from El Salvador, also said that the responsibility is on the tour to promote doubles on social media more often.
"We sometimes play crazy points and I think the fans would like to see more of those points," he shared.
Ivan Dodig, who partnered Skander Mansouri through the Australian swing, said that while singles take up the majority of the focus, doubles players often have skills that singles players do not, making the game exciting to watch.
"I played singles for many years. It’s more difficult, more tough physically, but doubles guys do things that singles guys cannot do, and if you go to the big tournaments, there are singles guys who are playing [doubles], but the doubles guys are winning the tournaments," said Dodig.
The Croatian also mentioned that scheduling often meant fans could not watch the doubles, with matches at the latter end of the tournament often scheduled at the same time as blockbuster singles contests.
"I remember one year [in 2019], I played the mixed doubles final at the same time as the Djokovic v Federer final. It’s Wimbledon, it’s tradition, so we played on Court 1 with a full stadium, but at other tournaments, they will not come if you play at the same time, which is understandable. I would also not come and watch myself [in this circumstance]."
Several players also referred to the rise in popularity of padel, which is only played professionally in a doubles format, and pickleball, which is regularly played as doubles, as evidence that the problem is not with the product of doubles itself, but rather with marketing and that tennis needs to be aware of the increasing threat of these sports.
"If you find the right product, it’s all about how to promote it and manage it," said Indian doubles veteran Rohan Bopanna. "If you look at padel, it’s massive all over Europe, and they play doubles, so when it becomes a main event, people want to watch it, so that needs to be the big change."
"At the end of the day, tennis as a sport needs to keep growing and if we don’t grow and keep trying to get the eyeballs, we’re always competing with other sports," said Olympic gold medalist John Peers. "I think that’s where doubles can be utilised to keep growing the game of tennis. The singles is still flying, but if we could give the doubles a little nudge, it would be fantastic for the game."
While the doubles players were understandably keen to promote their sport, others outside the doubles world have been more critical. Rallies in doubles, especially men’s doubles, have become increasingly shorter, with greater emphasis on the serve and return as doubles strategy evolves. This has led to calls to only allow one serve in doubles, create a volley no-go zone and mandate that the serving team remains behind the baseline until the ball is in play, all of which are currently rules that are used in pickleball doubles.
However, nine-time Grand Slam doubles champion and Tennis Australia commentator John Fitzgerald believes these rule changes would be the best way to continue to see doubles prosper into the future.
"I love doubles, and I want it to survive and prosper, but I think that the skill of the game has been lost to a large degree because the players now serve big with modern racquets, and they’ve incorporated this tactic which is getting super close to the net and running across and picking cherries at the net. It’s made the game like a crapshoot where they hit [the ball] away with a not very skillful volley, or they just get passed down the sideline," he said.
"I like the game of doubles now less than I used to because I think the skill has been lost. I don’t blame anyone for having thoughts on [the future of doubles]. I think the game needs to evolve, but in doubles, the game has evolved in a way that is detrimental to the visual beauty of it.
"I think rule changes are the biggest thing that can help doubles right now. As a doubles lover, I want to see it prosper and move forward as an integral part of our sport, but I’m tired of seeing players run across with no-talented swat forehands on top of the net."
While concrete plans to significantly alter the sport of doubles (except for the US Open mixed doubles format change) have not yet been forthcoming, there is a sense that change is on the precipice. The divide between the players and the tour is evident; the players feel that marketing and promotion of doubles are lacking, which has hampered their ability to showcase their talents, while television networks (and, by extension, the tours) have placed little resources into doubles, likely due to a perception that the format has little to offer.
Whilst no one can predict exactly where change will lead, one thing is certain: doubles have brought a lot to the table in the tennis ecosystem since the birth of the sport, and it would be a real shame to lose generations of history and momentum, without being willing to try a few new things.
At this point, there is truly nothing to lose, but as Andrea Vavassori alluded to in his poignant Instagram post, perhaps the true intention of the tours has already been revealed.
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