Still, it was a tough sell.īut Jamie Murray, winner of seven doubles Grand Slam titles, said the game’s popularity had grown during his career. “Then the money changed and it was not worth the fatigue during a tournament and the wear and tear on your body for the top 10 to 15 singles players.”ĭoubles faded in the public’s mind in the 1990s, although the star power of the Williams sisters and the dominance of the Bryans restored a little luster in the 2000s.
“Martina used to win all three, including mixed doubles,” said Tracy Austin, a former player who is an analyst on the Tennis Channel. Originally, there was not much prize money, so the game’s elite played plenty of doubles to earn more: Jimmy Connors, Arthur Ashe and especially John McEnroe won multiple doubles Grand Slams, as did Billie Jean King, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. Tournaments give 75 to 80 percent of the purse to singles players, so that attracted the biggest stars. Pam Shriver, an ESPN analyst and winner of 21 doubles Grand Slam tournaments, said the lack of recognition for doubles was set at the start of the Open era, when no one lobbied on behalf of doubles players. Doubles has great entertainment value, but it hasn’t been given a chance.” “People pay attention to singles just because this is how it’s been done. “That’s not acceptable to me,” Mattek-Sands said. But they are the exception.īetthanie Mattek-Sands, winner of five women’s doubles Grand Slam titles, points out that while WTA Finals competitors in Shenzhen, China, last week played for a record $1 million prize, the singles prize money has gone up proportionally - and that the marketing and coverage continue to skew toward singles. Yet, for a half-century, singles has received outsize attention from the tours, networks and sponsors, said Ross Hutchins, the chief player officer for the ATP, who won five ATP doubles titles during his playing career.Ĭasual tennis fans have most likely heard of Mike and Bob Bryan, the 41-year-old twins who have won 16 Grand Slams together and four of these year-end championships. Recreationally, more people play doubles. While the men’s and women’s doubles tours are experiencing something of a boom - in quality of play, in availability of coverage, and in prize money - they remain largely lost in the shadows of the singles game. But for the Colombian doubles team, which leads the field at the Nitto ATP Finals in London starting on Sunday, stardom is relative. Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah became stars this season when they won Wimbledon and the United States Open.
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