[rhz]

Nothing against Doubles Specialists, but unlike ATP, the ladies of WTA used to like playing doubles week in and week out...


but now: The Top 4 Doubles Teams are all Doubles Specialists:

Black/Huber
Raymond/Stosur
Zheng/Yi
Chuang/Chan

Forget about Williams sisters or Henin & Sharapova to play doubles, but we rarely see players like Kuznetsova & Petrova play doubles now..

So what's up? If less and less top singles players opted not to play doubles, the game would be ignored by spectators real soon...

What do you think?

 

[Chrissie-fan]

Maybe it has to do with the demise of the serve and volleyers. Some top players in the past used to play doubles because it was excellent practice for their net game in singles. But today nearly everyone is a baseliner.

Another reason may be that since injuries are THE big problem in women's tennis these days players just don't want to risk getting injured playing doubles or make the minor injury that they are already suffering from even worse.

And finally, the sad fact is that there ain't as much glory involved anymore in being a doubles champ as there was in the days of old. That may partly be because many of the stars aren't competing, but whatever the reason may be, even a slam title in doubles barely gets a mention by the media.

 

[Perseust]

oh come on..!!!

i thought Nadia did play doubles in one of those green clay...
and Kuznetsova... is coming off from injury...

but you know... i think... 2007-2008..
we would see more top players play doubles...
so that they would qualify to the olympics

 

[Rex59]

Because it is the equivalent of playing badminton in the back yard with family or friends during a barbecue or picnic. It doesn't hold the interest like singles play among the players as well as the paying public, although amongst certain players, who can't compete in the singles competition, it affords them a little more income, if successful. Therefore, its decline is inevitable.

 

[Dave.]

What do you mean weaker?

Raymond/Stosur
Black/Huber
Zheng/Yi
Chuang/Chan

+ Rennae Stubbs

These are all very high quality teams. I would rather see the doubles specialists play doubles and the better singles players play singles. Hopefully there will be a player who is capable of both (which there aren't many anymore). It would be great to see Venus and Serena play doubles again, but really the teams we have now are great. I would rather see a doubles match between doubles specialists than between makeshift teams with Henin/Sharapova/Mauresmo/Myskina etc. I would rather have the doubles specialists shine more aswell. Believe me they are all really good players, and if you watched doubles, you would find it exciting and high quality. Watching Raymond/Stosur is better than a team with players who are better at singles.

 

[Mateo Mathieu]

Weak? :shrug: These teams you named are heaps better than a singles player in the doubles court. Full stop.

 

[lecciones]

The fact that the top 10 (except for martina's career) choose not to excel i the doubles field is definitely hurting doubles. Unlike before where you had Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport battling out no.1 and no.2 spots in both singles and doubles, those were the glory days of the entire womens tennis sport - singles and doubles.

 

[Baby-Na]

how about peng/sun? :angel:

 

[Captain Topspin]

Nothing against Doubles Specialists, but unlike ATP, the ladies of WTA used to like playing doubles week in and week out...


but now: The Top 4 Doubles Teams are all Doubles Specialists:

Black/Huber
Raymond/Stosur
Zheng/Yi
Chuang/Chan

Forget about Williams sisters or Henin & Sharapova to play doubles, but we rarely see players like Kuznetsova & Petrova play doubles now..

So what's up? If less and less top singles players opted not to play doubles, the game would be ignored by spectators real soon...

What do you think?

Lol... its Zheng/Zi ... yi sounds like a chinese dog..

 

[go hingis]

I think we've had some good suprising teams this year.

 

[GoDominique]

The quality of women's doubles is truly abysmal and not worth watching at the moment.
I doubt that this will change in the near future though.

 

[pigam]

From the doubles matches I saw in Antwerp, I would have to agree with you.
I saw black and Huber and even they did NOT impress me :shrug:
Husarova and Peshke were really really bad (that day?).
It's sad. but there's still big money in doubles, even if almost no-one stays to watch it at the events, and it is hardly ever televised. I dunno if it can continue like this.

 

[Erika_Angel]

The quality of women's doubles is truly abysmal and not worth watching at the moment.
I doubt that this will change in the near future though.

Do you even watch women's doubles? The quality is fine.

 

[pigam]

Do you even watch women's doubles? The quality is fine.

U sure?
I saw 4 matches (I know, not a lot, but they were 'top teams' vera, nath, vesnina, lichovtseva, ...) this year, and they ALL STUNK!! A lot of rallies from the back of the court, bad overheads and just not entertaining at all.

 

[GoDominique]

Do you even watch women's doubles?

Yes. Do you?

The quality is horrid.

 

[NoTabou]

Weak? :shrug: These teams you named are heaps better than a singles player in the doubles court. Full stop.

I totally agree with that! :wavey:

 

[GoDominique]

Weak? :shrug: These teams you named are heaps better than a singles player in the doubles court. Full stop.

Well that might be true, but it says more about the lack of volley and tactical skill of the singles players than about the outstanding quality of the doubles players.

 

[PLP]

I disagree, I think there are many great teams.

However, there is no Hingis/Kournikova or Vee/Serena kind of high profile team. That would be a great thing for WD's...to have a high-profile team that would also have great results, but not sure if it's going to happen because of injuries/heavy schedules, the game is just too physically demanding now for top players to play 2 matches, basically everyday of most tournaments.

 

[bandabou]

Just missing that high-profile match. Before 2004, when the sisters still were playing that odd major...the doubles-field was getting a huge boost, but since then..no really high-profile team..

 

[saki]

Like pigam, I'm really puzzled as to how the prize money for doubles is staying at the level that it is. Even GS doubles finals often don't draw a full crowd or get televised. Where is the money coming from?