The Mixed Doubles Racket

Some mediocre Indian tennis players are earning good money playing second-rung sports like mixed doubles

The late nineties were special for Indian tennis. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were racking up titles on the men’s doubles circuit. The peak was 1999, when they reached the finals of all four Grand Slams and won two, including Wimbledon. India had had better players before. Ramanathan and Ramesh Krishnan and Vijay Amritraj were more complete players than Paes and Bhupathi. But none had the actual titles to match Paes and Bhupathi’s Fourth of July fireworks at Wimbledon a decade ago. Not even in doubles. The two were deservedly feted.

Now, men’s doubles has lost the semblance of mojo it had. Mixed doubles is recreational tennis which Smriti Irani could play. But these remain the only disciplines in which Indians do well. Worse, they derive satisfaction from it. “It’s always a dream to win a Grand Slam. That’s what we all play for when we’re younger,” Sania Mirza said after the 2009 Australian Open mixed doubles title with Bhupathi . It’s scary. If winning the mixed is what Sania dreams of, so will youngsters who look up to her.

Doubles can be fast and exciting. Doubles needs to be saved. No less than John McEnroe is its passionate votary. But at the end of the day, it is not the highest level of tennis. Doubles players are like dentists, sort of doctors but not really so. A typical 64-team doubles draw in a Grand Slam has few top singles players. The rest is made up of anonymous, pale East Europeans and, you guessed it, some Indians. The money is not bad, though. Paes and Lukas Dlouhy shared 3,12,000 euros for winning the French Open. Bhupathi and Sania split Aussie $1,34,460 after the so-called Grand Slam triumph in Melbourne. For serious practitioners of the art of tennis, doubles is a way of sharpening reflexes and practicing strokes like the volley. That is why McEnroe played doubles. But for others, it’s an easier route to a glamourous life. There’s nothing wrong in it. What is unhealthy, though, is the tendency of Indian players to switch to doubles after just a few years of tentative effort in singles. Bhupathi quickly became content, and despite some strong performances in Davis Cup ties against Holland and Chile, ignored singles. Paes did better, but not as much as he could have. Over time, he too gave up on singles.

The other dangerous thing is to shower disproportionate attention on victories in mixed doubles. Mixed doubles players are not even dentists. They are compounders and nurses.

By now, even people who are most ignorant about sports, like sports ministers, are not fooled by the deceptively grand purses and the ‘Grand Slam’ tag of doubles titles. “Doubles are alright, mixed doubles are really just fun events,” MS Gill said recently. “Singles are the real thing and Indians should be striving to achieve in competitions around the world in singles.” He is right.

About The Author

Akshay Sawai