‘Find another job’: ATP doubles plans have players fearing worst-case scenario Tennis News
In the opening week of Wimbledon, the outdoor courts are filled with doubles action. Spectators with ground tickets (SW19 tickets cost around £30) flocked to watch the fun games, drink Pimm’s beer and watch the tennis matches.If ATP leadership has its way, doubles draws for tour-level events will begin to shrink by 2028, as will prize money for two-person team events, which is currently down to an 80-20 ratio with singles. The buzz among the player community grew louder when some singles players, despite being ranked in the top 40, ended the season with less money than the highest-ranked doubles players.One of the biggest challenges facing men’s doubles is its increasing separation from the singles competition. The WTA Tour is not currently considering similar changes, with more crossover between the singles and doubles rankings. Five of the top 10 women in doubles — Taylor Townsend, Katrina Siniakova, Elise Mertens, Zhang Shuai and Jena Ostapenko — are also ranked high in singles. By comparison, among men, only four players from the ATP’s top 100 singles rankings are also ranked in the top 100 doubles rankings: Ben Shelton, Lorenzo Musetti, Lorenzo Sonego and Rinky Hijikata.It was a completely different set of players in two categories that had never been seen before with the Bryan brothers, twins Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan, who started out as doubles specialists. This is exactly what the ATP seems intent on curbing players who develop primarily as doubles specialists from the start.The plan is to reduce the size of the draws, which currently number 16 players in doubles draws and 28 players in singles draws at ATP 250 events. In the 500-level competition, there are 16 doubles games and 32 singles games, while in the Master 1000-level competition, there are 16 doubles games and 32 singles games. The number of participating teams in ATP 250 and 500 events can be reduced to 8 teams, and the number of participating teams in the Masters 1000 level can be reduced to 16 teams.Beyond that, the prize money split could shift further towards singles, potentially becoming a 90-10 split, which would be a minor change from the Grand Slam’s current approach.By 2028, doubles prize money is expected to reach around $60 million. The PGA Tour’s goal is not to reduce overall spending but to reallocate funds, with as much as $20 million potentially being reallocated to early singles prize money through 2028.This may affect the Indians, who have nine players in the top 200, with only three in the top 100 and one in the top 50, Yuki Bhambri.Earlier this week, the doubles players met with Players Council representatives Marcelo Arevalo and Andrea Vavassori to discuss the situation they face. Balaji, who is ranked 59th in individual doubles, told TOI, “If they make such a change, half of us will not play tennis anymore. I will have to find another job. If they reduce the draw to eight, of which there will be two wild cards, what will be left?”The Indians had bad luck in the men’s doubles match at Wimbledon on Thursday as US Open semifinalists Yoki Bembry and Michael Venus lost 3-6, 4-6 to substitutes Jean-Julien Roger and Theodore Winega. Earlier, Sriram Balaji and his Brazilian partner Marcelo Demoliner failed to capitalize on a strong start and lost 6-3, 6-7 (2), 4-6 to Sander Gille and Sem Verbeek.Substitutes Anirudh Chandrasekar and Japan’s Takeru Yuzuki lost 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (7) to Ignacio Buse and Marco Trungelliti.
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