Australian Open Doubles Final Preview - The state of the Doubles Game 2025
In this episode of the Ground Pass podcast, host Anastasia welcomes back Will from Tennis Tribe to discuss the Australian Open, focusing on the doubles tournament. They explore the unique experiences of attending the tournament in Melbourne, the exciting new partnerships forming in doubles, and the standout performances of various teams. The conversation also delves into the state of doubles tennis, discussing the need for better promotion and awareness of the sport, especially during major tournaments. As they wrap up, they reflect on the future of doubles and the importance of recognizing the players' personalities and skills.
transcript
Anastasia (00:00)
Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Ground Pass podcast. This is going to be another bonus episode that we're doing during the Australian Open. And I have here a returning guest, Will. Welcome back.
Will | Tennis Tribe (00:15)
Thank you for having me excited to be back. I just got back from Australia yesterday. So I think it's like 2 15 a.m. for me right now. But the I've found the transition to be okay so far. Even on the way there, like I don't know what it was I did right this time, but the jet lag is not bad right now. So I am feeling okay.
Anastasia (00:24)
Yeah.
Okay.
Did you sleep on either
flight?
Will | Tennis Tribe (00:42)
I was able to, so on the way back, it was really nice. It was almost weird. Like we had maybe 50 people on the entire flight and the plane fits probably 300 or something. So everybody could have like three rows to themselves. So I had three seats, like a row of three seats to myself and just leaned up against like the window and was able to stretch out. So I was able to get like, I mean, for an airplane, like decent sleep.
Anastasia (00:53)
that is so strange.
Right.
Will | Tennis Tribe (01:09)
So I think that helped, but yeah, I don't see how they're making money if they're having a flight with 50 people.
Anastasia (01:09)
Okay.
If they're only fit, that's not even
like, that's not even half full. That's like, wow, okay.
Will | Tennis Tribe (01:18)
No, no, it was
like 15 or 20 % full. Like was a joke, but it was awesome for me. So I loved it.
Anastasia (01:24)
Crazy, Yeah. Especially on those long haul
flights, if you can have all the space, like that's exactly what you want. But I have you here for everyone who doesn't know Will is from the tennis tribe. And you basically cover all things doubles. And that is why I have you here today. I think the very first conversation that we had, I was very sort of inspired to
Will | Tennis Tribe (01:31)
Mm-hmm.
Anastasia (01:52)
add more doubles to my schedule, watch schedule, especially when I'm at tournaments. And as a podcast that supports ground passes, I think doubles is something that on a ground pass, it's always available to you to watch. And we like to promote people going to see those matches that are super exciting and fun. And hopefully we can get people to get to know these players more by going and watching them live in
So you're just back from Australia. In general, what was that like as a tournament for you?
Will | Tennis Tribe (02:26)
Yeah. so this was my second time I went in 2020, right before COVID. it is still after going a second time. I think it's my favorite tournament. it like Melbourne is amazing. The, so I stayed like in their downtown basically I had an Airbnb. the price for the Airbnbs is very reasonable. I think I had like a
Anastasia (02:31)
Mm.
Mm-hmm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (02:51)
a one bedroom for $150 a night, maybe even a little less than that. For like the heart of downtown, you walk 15, it was like a 15 or 20 minute walk to the tennis courts. The walk is along this beautiful river with like the downtown skyline on this really nice walking path. It's just the contrast between that and how to get to Queens for the US Open is just.
Anastasia (02:55)
Wow, yeah.
Yeah.
Will | Tennis Tribe (03:19)
It's a totally opposite. So I love the tournament. The grounds are great. They do a great job with the, just entertainment outside of the tennis as well. There's like a huge kids area. It's almost like a theme park for kids. As you walk in from the downtown side, the food options are good. The drink options are good. One of my favorite parts about it is,
Anastasia (03:21)
Yeah?
Mm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (03:44)
when you do go to, you know, on your grounds pass, you go to get food or maybe you're, I think there's this called like the lemon ACE, which is their version of the honey, honey deuce or something. So it's not only like a reasonable price. It's like 25 Australian dollars, which I think is like 15 US, but they don't spin the thing around and ask you for a tip after with any of your, cause they don't do tips in Australia. So I love that.
Anastasia (03:53)
yeah, that's their new drink. Yeah, yeah.
Will | Tennis Tribe (04:12)
At the US Open, you pay $25 for the honeydews and then they say, do you want a tip 20 %? So you're paying like $30. So anyways, the prices are reasonable. The tennis is amazing. The venue is amazing. The weather's good. The city's great. It's my favorite tournament. It really is. I had a great time.
Anastasia (04:12)
Yeah.
and then, yeah.
Yeah,
everyone I've talked to so far that's been there and gone, it's the same thing. I remember I was talking to Craig Shapiro on a previous episode and just the way he described it, you know, the way he described it, was like, as if the US Open was in Central Park, like in the middle of the city by the water. That is a dream. That is a, it just sounds like an absolute dream. And it, the Australian Open has definitely moved way up.
Will | Tennis Tribe (04:47)
Yeah, that's good. Yep. Yeah.
Anastasia (04:59)
my list of must go to tournaments because it just sounds so awesome. So you were in Australia for the Australian Open covering the doubles. How was the doubles tournament this year? Because I also kind of want to get into a little bit the new teams that have formed for this new season because I think there's some really exciting teams in there. But just in general, like the doubles competition, how was that?
Will | Tennis Tribe (05:19)
Mm-hmm.
Anastasia (05:26)
so far. And by the way, we're recording this Friday 24th. I will release this episode today and it's before the finals. So we will preview that as well.
Will | Tennis Tribe (05:35)
Yeah. Yeah. So, the tournaments have both been great. the semi-final matchups on both sides were, were really good. especially the women's side. mean, it was two fantastic, matchups and they both went three sets. They were both great matches. so yeah, both tournaments have been great. You've seen like a lot of new partnerships. Like you said, it's always interesting this time of year to see how they work out.
last year, will, every year you have new partnerships in Australia. And then a lot of times I feel like by the time Indian Wells comes around, some of them have already broken up because they just don't have a great run. So it'll be interesting to monitor that throughout the rest of February. I can't say names, but I've like heard rumors about certain partnerships that may be like not going super well.
Anastasia (06:13)
Mmm.
Already.
Will | Tennis Tribe (06:24)
And other people have like told me this, but haven't told me names. I honestly, even if I wanted to tell you names, don't know them. But, yeah, but other partnerships are doing great. Like Su-wei and Ostapenko are doing obviously in the final coming up here. And yeah, there's a lot to kind of cover and a lot to keep an eye on throughout the finals and then the next month as well.
Anastasia (06:40)
Yeah.
So let's get into some of these new partnerships. You started there with Ostapenko and Hsieh Su-Wei Let's talk about them a little bit, but also touch on maybe some of your favorite new partnerships. Or I also want to talk about some partnerships that only started last year, but are doing so well in the case of Patten and Harri Heliovaara. So what about?
Will | Tennis Tribe (07:01)
Mm-hmm.
Anastasia (07:18)
Ostapenko and Hsieh Su-Wei like what makes them such a great partnership other than the fact that they just seem to have completely contrasting personality?
Will | Tennis Tribe (07:27)
Yeah. Uh, they have contrasting game styles as well, which actually is a good thing. I think it's going to be very difficult for opponents to, and it has been very difficult for opponents to find any sort of rhythm against them. Cause you hit the ball to Su-Wei and you get the ball back at like 40 miles an hour. And you hit the ball to Ostapenko and you get the ball back at 140 miles an hour. So I'm exaggerating obviously a little bit, but it is kind of like that. Um, and.
Anastasia (07:39)
Mm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (07:56)
Su-Wei is going to dominate from the net primarily. Ostapenko is going to dominate from the baseline, which is something, Su-Wei's coach Paul McNamee, who had on my podcast last year told me he likes, he, he's a big fan of having one person dominate from the back of the court. Another person dominate from the front of the court. So I think that's probably why the partnership kind of, came to be, they did not do well to start the year. think they lost their first.
match or maybe they want to match and then lost a match. In the last like six to nine months, Hsieh Su-Wei has not done super well. Last year, her and Mertens won the Australian Open, won Indian Wells, and then the rest of the year they didn't really have any great results and they lost a lot of early round matches. I think they lost first round at the US Open.
But in a lot of tournaments, yeah, they didn't do super well. So a lot of people were wondering, you know, is this the end of Su-Wei's kind of doubles dominance? And it's clearly not because she is in the finals coming up on Sunday.
Anastasia (08:55)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah. It's been nice seeing them together. And I remember that, they, I mean, I heard about the partnership and I was like, this is crazy. And I remember watching one of their early rounds and you're right, they did lose early. And, you know, I sort of chucked it up to, well, they just started. Maybe they're still figuring each other out and like how things are to work. But also in singles, Ostapenko kind of had a very slow start. She was out early as well at the Australian Open in singles. So.
Will | Tennis Tribe (09:19)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Anastasia (09:28)
it might be some of that stuff as well, but it's really been nice watching them. On the completely opposite spectrum is what I'm calling sort of the young Russian players, Diana Schneider and Mirra Andreeva, who kind of burst on the scene, which I think is just Mirra's thing. she just loves to burst onto the scene, but in doubles at the Olympics last year where they played together.
they hadn't played together before and they get to the finals and win a silver medal and it seems like they've committed this season to playing the whole season doubles.
Will | Tennis Tribe (10:00)
you
Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like it, with singles players, you never know how much they're going to play. But I think with the talent that they have, and then also this Australia, you but I sat behind the baseline at, Margaret court the other day during their quarter final match, I believe. And they know how to play doubles.
It's a lot of these singles players will come out and play some doubles, but they're just kind of banging the ball from the baseline and really stagnant at the net. But I would say especially Schneider, she knows how to move at the net and has the hands to be a really great doubles player. So I don't think this is the last time we're going to hear them making a semi-final run or a deep run in a grand slam. And I don't think.
You know, if they want to, they can probably manage their double schedule and not have to play really any two fifties or five hundreds, and just play the one thousands and, majors and still make the WTA finals at end of the year. think they're that good. if they want to be able to do that.
Anastasia (11:02)
Mm.
That's great. I mean, they're just fun to watch. Another fun pairing, it kind of, you know, going back to singles a little bit, I didn't know if this was one of those like, oh, it's a grand slam, let's just get together. But Rus and Kostyuk, they seem to have a lot of fun on court. I don't know if you watched any of their matches.
Will | Tennis Tribe (11:12)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah,
yeah, I did. I'd never watched them in person either. And yeah, they were very entertaining. And they're very they're good at doubles too. So they made the I think the quarters in Australia maybe two or three years ago. So I believe so. Double check me on that. But I'm pretty sure they made the quarters. They've definitely partnered up before. And yeah, it's
Anastasia (11:47)
Okay, so they've played before. Okay, okay.
Will | Tennis Tribe (12:00)
It's interesting that this is something that I was like thinking about on the plane ride home, but it seems like a lot of, I don't know why I've never made this connection, but a lot of the best doubles players are still good at singles, but not the top of the game at singles, right? So like you've got Siniakova who's like hovered around, you know, 50 to 80 in singles for a long time. Su-Wei was top 30 or 40 in singles for a while in her career.
Elise Mertens is somebody who's been around, you know, 20 to 50 in singles for a long time. so a lot of these top, and then you talked about the, the Russian team Schneider and Andreva, you know, they're both good singles players that are not, you know, top five or 10. and it turns out they happen to be really good at doubles as well. So a lot of these players who.
Anastasia (12:47)
Mm-hmm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (12:55)
can hang from the baseline with anyone, you know, that's what Siniakova can do. And a lot of these singles players can do, but also have that kind of doubles IQ and the skills that the net make for the best doubles players. And I think, I think that's what we're kind of seeing with a lot of the results here in Australia and cost you can kind of fall into that category, right? They're both singles players as well. And they,
after watching them, they do know how to play doubles.
Anastasia (13:23)
Yeah, yeah. mean, jumping into Siniakova who I think last year the theme for her was she could just pick up any partner and go win a grand slam. But it seems like she, because I didn't know what was going to happen. So last year she partnered with Taylor Townsend, but they couldn't really start together right away because I feel like Taylor Townsend had some injuries. Am I correct?
Will | Tennis Tribe (13:34)
Mm-hmm.
Anastasia (13:49)
to start, because I know she kind of jumped around a little bit. Like she did the French Open with Coco Gauff and I think she did Madrid with someone else.
Will | Tennis Tribe (13:55)
Yeah, well she started the year, yeah
she started the year with Storm Hunter. So Storm in April tore her Achilles and I heard that she'll be back in the next few months which is great to hear. So she, yeah, Siniakova started the year with Storm. Storm tears her Achilles. Then Siniakova wins Roland Garros with Coco, wins Wimbledon with
Anastasia (14:00)
Mm-hmm.
great, yeah.
Will | Tennis Tribe (14:23)
Taylor, and then from there, I don't know, I guess she was just kind of looking at who can I get into the WTA finals with? Maybe she asked Coco first, maybe not. I don't know. Coco focused mostly on singles last year and, obviously she and Jess had, had split up and decided to split up at the beginning of the year. So, yeah, I think at that point she saw she could still make the WTA finals with,
Anastasia (14:33)
Mm-hmm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (14:47)
Taylor and obviously they had a lot of success. they're continuing this year, at least for now. I don't know if they have plans through the end of the year, but, yeah, they've obviously had a good start to the year being, in the finals coming up on Sunday.
Anastasia (15:01)
Yeah. So that's the women's finals. Ostapenko, Heish Su-Wei and Siniakova and Townsend. What do you take of that? I mean, first of all, I think that's such a great finals lineup. Anyone, please watch that final. It's going to be a fun, fun time. But what do you think about it? Who do you think might be coming out on top?
Will | Tennis Tribe (15:14)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, it's, it's really a blockbuster matchup. Like if at the beginning of the tournament, you picked, you surveyed a thousand doubles fans, like who do they want to see? Like this is the final that they want to see. this is like a, you know, if you were to equate it to like men's singles, this is like a Djokovic Alcaraz type final. so the best two doubles players, probably the last 10 years have been Heish Su-Wei and,
Anastasia (15:37)
Nice.
Will | Tennis Tribe (15:52)
and Katarina Siniakova So that's what part of what makes this so exciting. Who comes out on top? I think it's really 50-50. mean, this is a really good matchup.
I kind of Ostapenko and, and Su-Wei just cause Ostapenko has made, I saw this tweet earlier and I knew this, but I didn't kind of put it together. She's made the finals of three consecutive hardcore grand slams. So, so she and Kichenok were in the finals of the Australian Open last year and lost to Su-Wei and Mertens. And then, she and Kichenok won the U S open in doubles.
Anastasia (16:31)
Mm-hmm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (16:31)
So,
Ostapenko is playing some really good hardcore doubles and Heish Su-Wei is Heish Su-Wei Siniakova is going to do what she does. potentially going to be, she'll be right there with them. One of the best players on the court. And then Taylor Townsend is kind of the wild card. Like she's, I feel like it's going to be kind of up to her if she and Siniakova win this match. feel like I know what I'm going to get from the other three players.
Anastasia (16:52)
Mm-hmm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (16:55)
And Townsend has these spells where she's just on fire and she looks like the best player on the court. And then she also has these spells where she makes some questionable, not decisions, but just some errors where it's like, where did that come from? You know? And it'll be a string of them and within like several games, you know? So if she plays well, of course they can win. but if she, if she doesn't, I feel like it.
Anastasia (17:12)
Yeah.
Will | Tennis Tribe (17:22)
It's going to go the other way. I feel like she's going to kind of be the X factor there.
Anastasia (17:26)
Love it. I love a good X factor. I love a good X factor. Excited to see how that one goes. Okay. Jumping to the men, new partnerships or are they any new partnerships on the men's side? This tournament that you were excited to see come through. I know the one that I was, you I think ever since I knew them as doubles players, it was always a question to me.
why don't Skupski and Salisbury play together? They're both British. They were both really, they were both on separate teams that were doing very well. So it was interesting to see them together now for the first time. How do you think their tournament went for this first time around?
Will | Tennis Tribe (17:57)
Mm-hmm.
I would say that they would probably tell you it was a little disappointing. they lost in the second round, I believe they didn't make the quarters. know that, and I actually talked with Louis Kaye, the, the basically head of men's doubles, for the LTA. And, that podcast will be coming out soon, but he, he talked about how the.
Anastasia (18:18)
Mm-hmm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (18:39)
the match was disappointing that they lost. And it was really interesting talking to him. It's a fun interview because he's just such a smart coach in general, regardless of singles or doubles. But he talked about how there's like, you know, he coaches the players and then he coaches the performer and the performer has to show up for the player to like execute the strategies.
So to get the performer to show up, they have to be in the right mindset. You know, it's more like intangibles, I guess. And he said for that match, the performers didn't show up. So they don't even review the statistics or the, the strategy or anything like that in a loss like that. They try to figure out why didn't you show up as a team? Like, why wasn't your effort there? Why wasn't your focus there? so it sounds like.
Anastasia (19:09)
Yeah.
Will | Tennis Tribe (19:28)
Yeah, maybe there was something else going on. I don't know if they were. Yeah, I have no idea. I can't even begin to speculate, but it sounds like they weren't at their best in terms of mindset. so that was a little bit disappointing, but I imagine that they will, do well throughout the rest of the year. mean, they're both fantastic doubles players. another new partnership is Nikola Mektic and Michael Venus. they were actually one of my picks to make a deep run and they.
Anastasia (19:33)
Yeah.
Will | Tennis Tribe (19:54)
Lost first round. So, I was a little off on that. won in Auckland earlier this year though. and they're, they're coached by Dan Kiernan, who coaches Debrowski and Ratliff. And I spoke with Dan, a few times throughout the tournament. he's a great guy, great coach. I think they're going to be a team to watch out for throughout the rest of the year for sure. they are just going to, you know, it's a new team early on. They're going to have some.
Anastasia (19:56)
Ooh.
Mm-hmm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (20:20)
speed bumps and things like that, that they'll work through. But I think, I think throughout the season, they're going to continue to improve. so those are two to keep an eye on for sure.
Anastasia (20:26)
A team?
Yeah, a team I kind of like talked about a bunch on ground pass because I still don't get why they were not seeded. And maybe you can explain it to me, but Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek seem like a crazy team to be unseeded in a draw.
Will | Tennis Tribe (20:45)
Yeah.
Yeah. The men's, I talked with a few people about this in Australia. So the men's draws now on the doubles tour are just so, so difficult. I feel like especially the 1000 events and a lot of times it majors, but especially the 1000 events, these draws come out and I'm like, every single team could lose first round. Like there's just no
And it's never like that in singles, right? Like you look at Sabalenka's draw, like you're never saying like, she's not going to win that first round or she might lose that first round match. Like, but in the men's doubles, for some reason, these 1000 events, it's just insane how much depth there is and how many good teams there are. Austin just didn't have the best year last year in terms of, ATP events. He and Rajeev won the silver medal, in Paris. that does not count for points. I think it should, but.
Anastasia (21:20)
Yeah.
Right.
Will | Tennis Tribe (21:40)
but it doesn't. So he and Rajeev winning that didn't help their ranking. Rajeev and Joe Salisbury, who had partnered for five or six years, didn't do as well last year. So their combined ranking just wasn't high enough to get seated in this tournament. But they made the third round, had a decent run. I think at the time that they lost 6-3-7-6, I believe, to
Harri Haliovara and Henry Patten and at the time I think they would have been pretty disappointed and I'm sure they still are but Harri and Henry are in the finals tomorrow. So it's not like they lost it's not like it was a bad loss. Harri and Henry were serving really really well that day. I went to that match. Men's doubles so often comes down to how well you're serving or how well you're returning the other side of that coin.
Anastasia (22:12)
Yeah.
Will | Tennis Tribe (22:27)
I feel like they're just playing at a super high level. think Rajeev and Alston are going to do really well this year though.
Anastasia (22:33)
Yeah, I'm excited to see them going forward, especially as an American team. So, and then that brings us to one of the finalists there, Harri, sorry, Harri Helivara and Henry Patten, who are in the finals of their second Grand Slam. So they got together last year, won Wimbledon, and here they are at the finals of the Australian Open. I mean...
Will | Tennis Tribe (22:38)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Anastasia (22:56)
Has there been a more successful sort of like coming together of two players in such a short amount of time, I feel like.
Will | Tennis Tribe (23:04)
Yeah, yeah, they're playing well. Harri's, yeah, it just seems like he's really dedicated to his craft and like obviously they all are, but he seems really focused like on improvement and I actually, had him on the podcast this off season and he's just so entertaining too. He's a great kind of, you know, there'll be many.
Anastasia (23:11)
Mm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (23:26)
I would hope like many faces to men's doubles, but he's certainly one of them. Like there's, not a ton of like super entertaining, like personalities right now, on the men's doubles tour. at least some people say that I'm not sure I agree with it, but, but he is definitely one of them. He is really entertaining. so obviously he's playing at a super high level. His partner, Henry, is
Anastasia (23:42)
Mm-hmm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (23:51)
a really good British player, Louis Kaye, who I mentioned is, you know, kind of overseeing Henry and, the team overall. and then Calvin Betton is, is their coach who I also interviewed on the podcast. that was published earlier this week and, he's doing a really good job with them as well. when they won Wimbledon, they were unseated, but they had been together. Calvin talks about it on the podcast, but they had been together for a few months and they had really.
dominated the challenger tour and like chosen to play a few challengers instead of going to play like a 500 or 250 just to get like more matches in and they you know, a lot of people were surprised to see them when Wimbledon last year but people who followed doubles knew that they were a contender even though they weren't seated because they had been playing so well and
Anastasia (24:18)
Mm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (24:45)
You know, regardless of the level you're winning at the challenger level, the ATP level, if you're winning a lot, then it can kind of. There's, there's a bit of a snowball effect there.
Anastasia (24:55)
Yeah, I got to talk to Harri and Henry at the DC Open last year.
Will | Tennis Tribe (25:02)
Yeah. Yeah, they mic'd him up for that and it
was, it was, went kind of viral, at least for doubles it did.
Anastasia (25:07)
Yeah,
it is. mean, when I talked to them, he hadn't done it yet. Harri hadn't done it. And then they sort of, I watched the match after. I mean, I think it's a great idea. I think it's, and I get it. Players maybe feel like they have to sort of.
Will | Tennis Tribe (25:14)
Mm.
Anastasia (25:28)
be careful of what they're saying, but I think that can be fixed with broadcasting a little bit if you sort of delay it so they feel free to be able to say whatever it is that they need to say. But I just think to help the audience understand what's going on, it's nice to have those things, especially from people watching from home. When I go to tournaments and I watch doubles in person, I learn so much from just listening to them talk to each other and...
Will | Tennis Tribe (25:50)
Mm-hmm.
Anastasia (25:52)
watching their signals and, what does that signal mean? And all that stuff. So I'm all for micing. I hope it's something that comes back. but I think Henry and Harri are fun team. We need to come up with a combo name for them. When I talked to them, we were looking at double H, H squared, you know, we'll, we'll make something up, but I think they are a fun team. And I think that's what doubles need someone like Harri, who's very just personable and has a lot of energy. Yeah.
Will | Tennis Tribe (26:03)
Yeah.
Yeah, H squared, yeah, that could work.
He's charismatic, yeah.
Anastasia (26:22)
I think is really great to have and hopefully people can latch onto that. So they're in the finals. The other team in the finals are Bollelli and Vavasorri the Italians, they've been doing so well. Talk a little bit about them and then what you think about that final matchup.
Will | Tennis Tribe (26:38)
Yeah. So they are into their third Grand Slam final in the last 12 months. So they made the finals in Melbourne last year. They made the finals at Roland Garros and yeah, have been one of the most consistent teams the last, over the last 12 months, even outside of those three tournaments. So, yeah, it's a, it's a really interesting matchup. Bolelli and Vavassori play
some pretty aggressive doubles. They play super tight on the net. Big serve from Vavassori especially. And they have really good hands at the net. So I think something to look for is who can execute the lob return a bit better and kind of put, kind of neutralize some of the serving and neutralize that net player. Henry and Harri.
Anastasia (27:21)
Mm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (27:28)
kind of play a similar game style. I mean, it's, it's the general style of men's doubles right now. You know, lot of. I formation, a lot of, servers partner really close to the net and just putting pressure on the returner to, you know, come up with something in a small window. and it's, it's very, very difficult to do. I think it's going to be a very tight match. I don't really have a pick for this one. I guess if you had to.
If I had to pick, guess I'll pick the Italians just cause this is their third, third grand slam final. They haven't won one yet. Harri and Henry won Wimbledon last year. So, it'd be cool to see the Italians get one. I know they've worked hard for it. but I don't know, it could go either way for sure.
Anastasia (27:54)
Mm.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I personally just would love to see double H get through again. I think it's like super cool. And yeah, I mean, again, the men and women's doubles finals, it's just so blockbuster. And I really hope people can start getting to know these players and latching on to them. And something I kind of want to go into a little bit now talking about like
the state of doubles, where we can see it grow and improve and, or sort of get more into the public sphere, like people recognizing doubles players and stuff. One thing I saw at this tournament, which we've talked about before, when you're on is, they were a lot of doubles teams wearing the same outfit. So Henry and Harri now are sponsored by Lotto and wear the same thing. And I believe Bollellia and Varvara Sori also wear the same brand.
Will | Tennis Tribe (28:52)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah, they look, they looked great in their, their, kit on. Yeah. Yeah.
Anastasia (29:04)
It looks so cool. And then I saw that little viral thing. I think they
were actually junior tennis players, but it was like two sets of sisters. And they were both wearing, like one was Adidas and they were wearing red and the other ones were in the Nike kind of blue sort of squirt thing. I was like, yes. Like, you know, I feel like it's, you know.
Will | Tennis Tribe (29:13)
Yeah.
Yeah, it the junior doubles final, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's what it needs to be. Yeah.
Anastasia (29:28)
when you when it's on a court and you
Will | Tennis Tribe (29:29)
I'm with you. I'm with you. That's what.
Anastasia (29:30)
just see like four people wearing different things, I don't know. I feel like you're not really building that sort of partnership a little bit. Like now we're thinking of like, what are we going to call this team or, you know, that sort of thing. Even even someone like Neil Skupski and Sailsbury they weren't wearing the same thing.
Will | Tennis Tribe (29:45)
Mm-hmm.
Anastasia (29:52)
But their color scheme was like, cause one was wearing solid purple and then the other one was like solid red and they kind of just like looked cool together. Is this something that they're actually, cause I was surprised this tournament. I don't think I've seen this many doubles pairings wearing the same brand. Is this a new thing happening on tour?
Will | Tennis Tribe (30:01)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Not that I know of. I think we've also seen more people from the same country playing together this year. So Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash, both from Britain are also teaming up. So the UK's got two teams who are all kind of all English teams. But I think that, I guess these players are just like.
Anastasia (30:20)
Mm-hmm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (30:37)
teaming up and deciding to go with the same brand. I'm really not sure. it might just be some kind of coincidence, but I'm with you. I like it a lot. I really hate when two players are wearing the same thing and they're on opposite teams and then they're not wearing the same thing is their partner. that bothers me a lot. Another problem we have is like when I was there, especially week one, so week one,
Anastasia (30:41)
Interesting.
That's even the worst part, yeah. Yeah.
Will | Tennis Tribe (31:01)
you have tons of people there on their grounds pass and they're going to all the doubles matches. and you know, every single like mini stadium there on those outside courts is packed. Like there's long lines to get in one in one out into a lot of these doubles matches. And I'm sitting in there and a lot of the people behind me are tennis fans and, they're not, you can tell like they don't know.
how the tour works, like they're kind of new to all this and they're like, what is the 15 by their name mean? it's the ranking. And they're like, well, is that for just that person or for the team? How does it work? Like they don't know. and they also don't know who the players are. So they're like, which one's Bolelli? Like they don't know. So if we could have a way to like figure that out, like, so that people there could figure out like which one is which. And then when they, as they're watching, maybe one of them like,
Anastasia (31:28)
Mm-hmm.
Mmm.
Yeah.
Will | Tennis Tribe (31:54)
Maybe it's Harri, does like, has a crazy reaction to a point or something. They're like, I love that Haley of our guy. And then maybe they look them up on Instagram later and start following him and so on. like, I think kind of correcting a lot of these like small things can help. another thing that you mentioned earlier is trying to, or being able to learn from some of these doubles matches and.
Some commentators are better than others. there was a few, was watching recently who like didn't even have a good understanding of what the signals meant. And it was just, it was really embarrassing. Like it was, yeah. And this was on ESPN as well. So it's like, I don't know that I think that the broadcasters just don't care enough to like get good commentators on there or, maybe the good commentators are like,
Anastasia (32:28)
Mm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (32:42)
on the singles matches or something like that. I'm not sure, but, yeah, I was listening to that and I was imagining like, if I was new to this broadcast or came here to learn something like they're just doing a really bad job of it because they were, they didn't understand the signals. They described the formations the wrong way. Like, they described who caused the serve plays incorrectly. Like there was a bunch of errors that I noticed that like somebody new to the sport.
would not pick up on and yeah, it's just like kind of a bad look for, the game.
Anastasia (33:12)
Right.
Right, right. No, you're completely right there because again, like you said, if it's someone who's new, who's trying to learn, you're telling them the wrong thing. And now they've learned the wrong thing and that's not what you, yeah.
Will | Tennis Tribe (33:24)
Yeah.
Yeah. And they're getting confused. Like some of it was confusing
too. So it's like, I think people would embrace it more and would watch more if that production was, you know, there. The, miking them up is a great idea, especially on changeovers. think changeovers, there's more kind of dialogue between players. Just creating like a better TV experience will help for sure.
Anastasia (33:44)
Right.
Yeah, totally. mean, finally, before we go, because I know you have to run, because this is something that came up that actually was, because with a lot of things, I think I just like to observe and hopefully see how we can make these things better. But this was actually a little bit upsetting because I had seen on the social media feeds coming out of Australia that
for the mixed doubles, and I know we didn't talk mostly about mixed doubles here, but I think it it carries through, but for the mixed doubles, which was being played on a show court, but it was being played first, they were gonna let ground pass holders go into the stadium and watch. Then there was a correction, which I found out late, but it was like, no, actually, not gonna let ground pass holders in. It's only gonna be people who have tickets to this men's semi-final match because this was on.
Will | Tennis Tribe (34:27)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Anastasia (34:41)
Rod Laver. Yeah. And so what you tuned into then was a doubles final, a mixed doubles final that by the way was two Australian teams at the Australian Open. And there were maybe 500 people there in a packed stadium. And I will post the photo because I was just like, cause I see this a lot, even at the US Open.
Will | Tennis Tribe (34:41)
This one, Rod Laver, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Yeah.
Anastasia (35:09)
I see this, the grounds are packed, the grounds are packed. And then you turn on the TV to the show court and there is nobody in there. And you're wondering why? Is there no way, you know, and I kind of, part of me was like, okay, so maybe they're worried about having to then clear out all those people and then re-seat the people who actually have tickets. And I get that.
Will | Tennis Tribe (35:19)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Anastasia (35:39)
But there has to be a way to be able to do that, I feel like.
Will | Tennis Tribe (35:41)
Yeah.
Yeah, I think, I mean, you just said it like there, there's gotta be a solution to this. I think the problem is I just don't think they care that much. Yeah, which is sad and unfortunate.
Anastasia (35:49)
Mm.
It's sad, especially,
you know, again, I need to emphasize these are home players. The two mixed doubles finals, they were both from Australia, you know, and I think wouldn't you want to give them the best final?
Will | Tennis Tribe (35:58)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, they were both awesome.
Yeah. Yeah. They were both
Australian teams. I think you're right. I I think they just were worried about having to clear out the stadium for the men's, semi-final, which was only one set of tennis. but, I think that, yeah, they're, don't know what the solution is. I'm still trying to like kind of dig and figure out what all happened. I know the, the communication was poor. They like made a mistake and then emailed.
Anastasia (36:13)
Mm.
Mm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (36:31)
the media, I don't know if they emailed ticket holders, it seemed like they probably did not. which to me is just like a really bad marketing strategy to like rely on the media to relay information to your customers. Shouldn't you like let your customers know directly that, Hey, your, your men's semi-final ticket also has access to mixed doubles. Like don't forget to show up at this time. and
Anastasia (36:46)
Yeah, this has changed.
Just show up at this time, they're home players. It's gonna be a fun time,
you know.
Will | Tennis Tribe (36:59)
And it's something, this
is something I've noticed, you know, people say, like some of the haters say, like, people just don't want to watch doubles, right? Or like people, you know, look at the stadiums and like, see like nobody's in the doubles. Well, this is a clear example of like poor communication and like the tournament just like not caring that much. this is not a representation of like, people didn't want to show up. People didn't even know about it and people.
Anastasia (37:23)
Yeah.
Will | Tennis Tribe (37:25)
who did want to show up on the grounds pass couldn't like they weren't allowed in. So I noticed it a lot. Uh, once you get into like later week two of the majors week one, all the doubles courts are packed. Even I went to a Kia arena, which is like the, I know, they're like third or fourth biggest arena. Like it's a pretty good size, a few thousand. I don't know how many, um, for two different matches week one. And they were both packed. Like they were just as crowded as the.
Anastasia (37:47)
Mm-hmm.
Will | Tennis Tribe (37:55)
the singles quarterfinal, I went to between Sonego and Shelton. Like, so week one, the doubles courts are all packed. It's like late week two, the quarterfinals and semifinals and finals, they're in the bigger stadiums and they have less people than they did in week one in the smaller stadiums. And to me, it's just, it's gotta be a lack of promotion. a lack of awareness because.
Anastasia (38:20)
Yeah, doesn't really,
it doesn't make sense because as you get on later, yeah, yeah.
Will | Tennis Tribe (38:23)
It doesn't add up. Yeah. It doesn't
like why week one or all these people like so happy to go watch doubles and you can hear them in the crowd, like. Ooh, and I, and at every single point. And then week two, all of a sudden they're like, no, we don't like doubles anymore. Like, no, it's, it's, it's not what's happening. They just don't know that it's going on. So.
Anastasia (38:41)
Right,
Okay, we could talk forever about the doubles situation and how we can make it better, but I am going to let you go. Will, thank you so much for coming on Groundpass and talking doubles with us. I will leave the links to all those episodes that you talked about in the description of this podcast. So please check it out. They're always a fun listen and just hear, trying to learn more about the doubles game helps you appreciate it more and also get to know
Will | Tennis Tribe (38:44)
We could.
Anastasia (39:08)
who these players are and their personalities. So thank you, Will. Excited to watch the finals, whoever the winners are. I think it's four teams of really awesome, awesome players.
Will | Tennis Tribe (39:19)
Mm-hmm.
Yep, absolutely. Awesome. Well, thanks for having me on.
Anastasia (39:23)
Thank you. Bye.
