Mumbai:
The yr’s final Grand Slam begins this week with an unconventional first. Combined doubles as a format in tennis is greater than a century previous, which the US Open has shaken up by means of a revamped standalone occasion beginning Tuesday.
It largely options prime singles stars, with a handful of doubles specialists thrown in to make up the 16-team, two-day, shorter format spectacle. The standard combined doubles, a 3rd wheel to the 2 doubles occasions at Slams, has been given the boot.
From the time this radical transfer was introduced in February, the controversy has been about sidelining a complete occasion and set of gamers. Reigning US Open combined doubles champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, who’ve since been handed a wildcard within the singles-driven discipline, termed it “profound injustice”.
Locker room chatter round this seems heading into the revolutionary unknown.
“A lot of the chat has been about uncertainty – if this may occur at one Slam, the place does it cease?” Rohan Bopanna, India’s 2024 Australian Open males’s doubles champion who has performed doubles with and towards prime singles gamers over a two-decade lengthy professional profession, advised HT from the US.
“Amongst doubles specialists, there’s concern that this units a harmful tone, like doubles could be handled as secondary each time handy. Even some singles gamers I’ve spoken to really feel it sends the improper message.”
The message that the US Open organisers wish to ship with the revamp is to draw “the game’s greatest stars” to doubles, as they put it of their assertion. And to have interaction bigger and newer audiences with a format that isn’t placed on present courts and sometimes grapples to replenish seats.
Over the past couple of months, social media has been abuzz about Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu teaming up for this, as one of many eight wildcards. Movies of “who’ll be the boss” on courtroom supply a enjoyable intrigue to those recent pairs with hundreds of thousands of particular person followers.
“I perceive the intent behind eager to function the “greatest stars” to attract extra followers,” Bopanna, the doubles world No.1 final yr, stated. “However I don’t suppose you develop a sport by sidelining a format that has historical past and worth. The largest stars are nice for short-term buzz, however constructing the game for the longer term requires depth throughout all codecs.”
Jessica Pegula, the singles world No.4, stated this shall be a “enjoyable” occasion to play in, however hoped for higher communication from the organisers earlier than urgent on with this drastic change. Lack of dialogue was “irritating” for Bopanna too.
“We’ve voiced considerations in several methods, however the construction of the game nonetheless doesn’t enable doubles gamers to have the identical platform because the singles stars,” the 45-year-old Indian stated.
Bopanna’s first Slam title got here in combined doubles on the 2017 French Open. A few of India’s most embellished tennis chapters involving the likes of Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi have had memorable combined touches. India’s first grand slam got here through Bhupathi’s French Open combined win in 1997 partnering Japan’s Rika Hiraki.
“For a lot of gamers, particularly from international locations the place tennis isn’t dominated by singles, combined doubles has been a pathway to visibility and success,” Bopanna stated.
With this shake up, that pathway stares at a probably harmful precedent. Not simply in combined however typically in doubles, a format steeped in custom that has displayed historic partnerships and basic spectacles – from The Woodies (Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde) to the Bryan brothers (Bob and Mike Bryan) to the Williams sisters (Venus and Serena Williams), to call a number of.
“That’s the largest fear,” stated Bopanna. “As soon as you’re taking away one thing like combined doubles at a Slam, it creates a precedent that doubles is non-compulsory, not important. That’s harmful, as a result of it undermines a long time of historical past. Doubles has given the game a few of its biggest champions. It deserves not simply respect however funding in its future.”
Within the current, although, it might do with some reinforcements given its present curiosity worth. Bopanna reckons doubles could be made extra interesting by constructing rivalries, showcasing personalities, placing it on present courts and rising fan engagement with mic’d-up participant interactions and shorter codecs.
“With out,” he added, “shedding the essence of the sport.”
