Most of you have likely played doubles tennis whether recreationally, or competitively. But even if you haven’t, you should know that doubles is simply when there are two players on both sides of the net, rather than one on each side as in singles. Unfortunately, the truth is that doubles is continuously declining professionally, even if recreational players overwhelmingly choose it over singles. After all, how often do you see great doubles players, such as the Bryan brothers, in promotions and advertisements in comparison to singles players like Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer. The top singles players are much more exposed to both the world of tennis and the general public. They are in all of the advertisements, they take up the center courts at tournaments, and they are the only ones televised on major television networks like ESPN or NBC.
This lack of promotion of professional doubles already discourages tennis players from becoming involved with doubles. Television and advertisement viewers only see singles play, which restricts them from learning vital doubles skills and tactics. And, as we all know, people are very likely to mimic their favorite players that they see on television. Therefore, kids end up only learning skills that are applicable to singles, such as baseline hitting and maintaining longer points. As a result, they end up only participating in singles.
Another reason for the decline of doubles is the disparity in prize money and match length between singles and doubles. First of all, all four grand slams reduced the length of men’s doubles matches from best-of-five sets to best-of-three sets. Now many tournaments have even replaced the third set of men’s doubles matches to a ten-point tiebreak, which significantly shortens the length of matches. Also, the difference in prize money earned by singles players in comparison to doubles players is enormous. The winning doubles team in a grand slam only earns 460,000 dollars, or 230,000 dollars per person. On the other hand, a grand slam singles champion currently earns 2.6 million dollars, more than 10 times the amount of the doubles champions. In fact, even a losing quarterfinalist in singles makes 350,000 dollars, which is still more than the each player on the winning doubles team.
The decline of interest in doubles which causes these disparities can be largely accredited to the lack of star power within doubles tennis. None of the top doubles players are household names, but how would they become household names if the players are not even televised? The only way to increase interest in doubles is to get top singles players playing doubles, which is not very common. Although they can and occasionally do play doubles, most of the top players like to focus entirely on singles in major tournaments. So, unless we create a ranking system which combines doubles and singles points into one system, it is very unlikely that things will change. The popularity and participation in professional doubles will continue to diminish.