Why US Open’s $1 million prize money can’t make Mixed Doubles great again | Tennis News

There was once a time when tennis stadia wouldn’t empty out after the singles programme. Doubles too had stars and ardent followers. And then there was the uniquely vibrant mixed doubles circuit where greats on either side of the gender divide came together.The US Open, offering a million dollar incentive, Las Vegas-style fanfare and a new diet-format to woo the singles champions, is trying to make mixed doubles great again. But then, if money had the power to turn back the clock, that dreamy feeling of nostalgia would have been the most popular product on Amazon.
Back in the day, when tennis truly qualified as a team sport, hardcore tennis reporters would have for company entertainment hacks and gossip columns to watch the stars in mixed company.
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This was a battle of sexes. At times, even the exes. In the early 1970s, the two best players in the world, Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert, were America’s ‘boy and girl next door’. The world wanted them to get married and they did get engaged while pairing up on the court too.
It was a classic doubles tag-team. Evert took the deuce side, the left flank, hitting her pin-perfect angular forehands. Connors on the ad court, the right flank, driving opponents on the backfoot with his famous forceful double-handed backhand. Evert, the queen of women’s tennis’ moonball era, would toss up measured lobs that would make the rival pair at the net look ridiculously helpless. And Connors, bending double like only he can, grinding those groundstrokes across the net with impeccable perfection. This glorious mixed doubles harmony would turn tennis beat reporters poetic. Away from the court, things weren’t smooth and soon they had on their trail the paparazzi and tabloids.
In 1974, they would both win Wimbledon titles and pose for pictures on the All-England lawns like a love-smitten couple at Hyde Park. They would even pick a trippy name for their management company – Love Double. That same year, they would split but the tennis partnership continued. They would continue to play together and win Slams.
Once at the World Mixed Doubles event, sitting in the crowd together were their respective partners – Playboy model Patti McGuire and top British pro John Llyod. That day, body language experts would have had a busy day – interpreting every smile, lip-reading every on-court exchange. They had to do all this while keeping an eye on their partners in the stands.Story continues below this ad
Lived happily ever-after
Mixed doubles has also thrown up ‘lived happily ever-after’ endings. Like the one that started at the 2000 Sydney Games. Roger Federer was 18, his Swiss teammate Miroslava ‘Mirka’ Vavrinec was 21. He would lie about his age and the two would start to date. The same year, they would play mixed doubles at the Hopman Cup in Australia. There is an old clip of the two being interviewed an old anchor with the persence of a match-maker.
Anchor: Welcome to Perth, who do you like here?
Mirka: The hotel is nice, the sights are nice, the people are nice …
Anchor: Is the guy you are with very nice?
Mirka: He is very nice.
A career-ending injury would see Mirka quit the sport that year and become Federer’s manager. Later, she would be his wife and mother of two sets of twins.
In 2007, tennis would be the backdrop of a quirky tale of fling and flirtation that unfolded in the true English setting of Wimbledon. How a modest British player called Jamie Murray and Serbian star Jelena Jankovic accidently met and went on to win the most coveted title deserves a rom-com. The charmingly mumbling Hugh Grant and the straight-from-the-pages-of-a-Jane Austen- book Emma Thompson could well be the perfect lead pair.Story continues below this ad
Jamie and Jelena seemed to be having a blast on court. They laughed and pulled each other’s legs. The press kept calling it a love match. Jelena too played along.
Britain took time to understand Serbian humour as the two went their separate ways after the win. They never played together again but they will always have Wimbledon.
One for the memories
There is one mixed doubles yarn with a cruel tw in the tale and a typical John McEnroe punchline. It’s straight from the Angry American’s book ‘You cannot be serious’.
In 1999, McEnroe, 40, was making a comeback. He was to play with German great Steffi Graf. They were on a roll, their games had fans lining up. In the quarters, they would beat Venus Williams and Justin Gimelstob, the double Slam winners the previous year. Steffi-Mac mania had hit England. And then Graf pulled out from mixed doubles since she needed energy for her singles games. McEnroe would have certainly said ‘You can’t be serious’ but Graf was.Story continues below this ad
McEnroe sat in the locker room with two other Americans for company. The tennis great narrates the episode in his book. “I turned to them and said, ‘Can you believe what this b***h did to me?’ The two people were Andre Agassi and his coach Brad Gilbert. It turned out there was a lot I didn’t know at that moment,” he wrote.
Oh, those good old times when tennis wasn’t just about the Big 3, keeping a Slam count and endless GOAT debates!
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