Singles and Doubles
For the first time in four years, the two singles finalists at the Stanford, California stop on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, i.e. Anna Chakvetadze and Sania Mirza, also reached the doubles final. Chakvetadze won the singles while Mirza was victorious in the doubles! On the men’s side last week, Italian Potito Starace also lost in the singles final at the ATP event in Austria and then captured the doubles title! There continue to be
changes to the doubles game, e.g. a super-tie-breaker in place of a third set, in order to increase fan appeal and encourage more players to participate. Nonetheless, scheduling will always be a challenge. In a previous generation, Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe frequently reached both the singles and doubles finals in tournaments. These top players had as much pressure and media attention as today’s top stars, but one of the major differences was that doubles was much more important to their games since they both attacked the net frequently. Therefore, the serve-and-volley and net points in doubles were also excellent practice for their singles’ games. Although some top players such as Amelie Mauresmo and Rafael Nadal play doubles occasionally, the current crop of top players rarely serve and volley so they prefer to get their extra hitting on the practice court rather than in doubles matches.
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