Weeks 22 & 23 - French Open, Roland-Garros, Paris (clay) - mixed doubles

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Weeks 22 & 23 - French Open, Roland-Garros, Paris (clay) - mixed doubles

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

I could offer my insight on this waste of time if you like in Rattys absence?

flamingowings · All-time great

Mixed doubles is fun! How anyone's cold heart not be warmed by Heather and Henri's matches at Wimbledon. Even Martina looked to be having fun (ish) with Jamie last year. Andy and Laura on their silver medal run at the Olympics. Etc.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Exactly it is fun and should be kept as such as in exhibitions. Ive watched exhibition doubles in the flesh at Slams and its a good laugh, but a serious competition with decent prize money? No, sorry.

the addict · Tennis legend

Well the prize money is not all that decent - 120k euros to the winning pair for winning 5 matches, compared with 79k for winning one round of singles.

MD is always fun to watch, and should be played more often, not just at the slams.

indiana · Tennis legend

I'm not too bothered about mixed in the Slams, folk can take it or leave it.

But how the tennis authorities ever managed to get mixed doubles accepted as an Olympic sport is quite beyond me and pretty ridiculous. C'mom, pick a partner shortly before, probably little practice together for a version of the sport that still has etiquette at times rather than always do whatever to win the point ( within the rules! ). It just should not be in there with the other Olympic sports involving folk that strive for so long to be the best they can be in pursuit of these Olympic medals.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 29th of May 2018 06:45:32 AM

Michael D · All-time great

Jaggy1876 wrote:
Exactly it is fun and should be kept as such as in exhibitions. Ive watched exhibition doubles in the flesh at Slams and its a good laugh, but a serious competition with decent prize money? No, sorry.

On this point I definitely disagree with you Jaggy. The mixed doubles is not just fun, but also competitive... and there is a wider point that it makes too, that women and men can play competitive matches on the same court together. If you don't think that's important... I'll make a diversion to another sport, golf. Just recently in the UK the European tour held a very gimmicky 6 hole tournament, which I was inclined to dismiss from the outset, until in this year's format they included two women's teams, and one mixed team. The women's teams reached the QF and then were beaten, but that wasn't the point. The point was that the format allowed women to compete competitively with men, it enhanced the status of the women's game, it brought new spectators into watching the sport, including young girls, and was good for the overall confidence of the women involved and the women's game in general. Those are some achievements for a gimmicky tournament. Personally I think it would be good to expand the mixed doubles certainly to include the two 12 tournaments in California and Florida in March, and possible one or two others. Not to go overboard, but although it is and should be fun - and therefore highly watchable - there is also a wider purpose and role it serves and a bit more could be made of it. (Acknowledging too that tennis is much more integrated than golf and women are already rewardd to far greater extents in tennis than in golf).

flamingowings · All-time great

the addict wrote:
Well the prize money is not all that decent - 120k euros to the winning pair for winning 5 matches, compared with 79k for winning one round of singles.

MD is always fun to watch, and should be played more often, not just at the slams.

No ranking points either so the players aren't doing it for that.

flamingowings · All-time great

indiana wrote:
I'm not too bothered about mixed in the Slams, folk can take it or leave it.

But how the tennis authorities ever managed to get mixed doubles accepted as an Olympic sport is quite beyond me and pretty ridiculous. C'mom, pick a partner shortly before, probably little practice together for a version of the sport that still has etiquette at times rather than always do whatever to win the point ( within the rules! ). It just should not be in there with the other Olympic sports involving folk that strive for so long to be the best they can be in pursuit of these Olympic medals.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 29th of May 2018 06:45:32 AM

About the partner picking - I know Andy and Laura played Hopman Cup but other than that and at the few mixed doubles events, how are you supposed to pick a partner...?

indiana · Tennis legend

flamingowings wrote:
indiana wrote:
I'm not too bothered about mixed in the Slams, folk can take it or leave it.

But how the tennis authorities ever managed to get mixed doubles accepted as an Olympic sport is quite beyond me and pretty ridiculous. C'mom, pick a partner shortly before, probably little practice together for a version of the sport that still has etiquette at times rather than always do whatever to win the point ( within the rules! ). It just should not be in there with the other Olympic sports involving folk that strive for so long to be the best they can be in pursuit of these Olympic medals.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 29th of May 2018 06:45:32 AM
About the partner picking - I know Andy and Laura played Hopman Cup but other than that and at the few mixed doubles events, how are you supposed to pick a partner...?

The way they pick is probably understandable in the circumstances of the players generally having hardly played together, kind of you two are at the Olympics anyway, let's make a mixed doubles pair of you ( Hopman Cup maybe put Andy and Laura ahead of some! ), with most hardly having played mixed doubles as pros full stop. And that's really the point. Suddenly they are playing for Olympic medals with long term pairs and teams from other sports as well as so many dedicated individuals, just sort of rocking up in a version of tennis rarely played at top level and looked on as a "fun" event when it is. An Olympic sport it ain't or rather shouldn't be.

I generally love my tennis and love my Olympics but not mixed doubles tennis in the Olympics since I can't get my head around the fact that it's there at all.

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

I love doubles and I love mixed doubles too!! The MD events at slams always seem to attract an audience, sometimes a better one than the single sex dubs and indeed I wish it was extended to Miami and IW. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but there is plenty of appetite for it and on TV it also seems to have a good appeal to non-tennis audiences (all audiences good for the sport IMO). It's a bit like those who don't consider one-day and T20 to be proper cricket and not worth bothering with. No problem with them sticking to the tests and full-length county games but there is a good audience for other forms of the game and they should be catered for as well as the purists.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Michael D wrote:
Jaggy1876 wrote:
Exactly it is fun and should be kept as such as in exhibitions. Ive watched exhibition doubles in the flesh at Slams and its a good laugh, but a serious competition with decent prize money? No, sorry.
On this point I definitely disagree with you Jaggy. The mixed doubles is not just fun, but also competitive... and there is a wider point that it makes too, that women and men can play competitive matches on the same court together. If you don't think that's important... I'll make a diversion to another sport, golf. Just recently in the UK the European tour held a very gimmicky 6 hole tournament, which I was inclined to dismiss from the outset, until in this year's format they included two women's teams, and one mixed team. The women's teams reached the QF and then were beaten, but that wasn't the point. The point was that the format allowed women to compete competitively with men, it enhanced the status of the women's game, it brought new spectators into watching the sport, including young girls, and was good for the overall confidence of the women involved and the women's game in general. Those are some achievements for a gimmicky tournament. Personally I think it would be good to expand the mixed doubles certainly to include the two 12 tournaments in California and Florida in March, and possible one or two others. Not to go overboard, but although it is and should be fun - and therefore highly watchable - there is also a wider purpose and role it serves and a bit more could be made of it. (Acknowledging too that tennis is much more integrated than golf and women are already rewardd to far greater extents in tennis than in golf).

Im all for integration of the sexes in Sports, Im always puzzled by Sports that have little or no physical strength required to compete. Snooker, Darts and Motorsport being 3 off the top of my head. Always find it strange why women dont compete with men here. Are there any sports that both sexes freely mix? A fair point about no ranking points, I suppose therefore it more or leas is exhibition stuff and prize money has to be offered as a form of remuneration. Again though interest is limited unless you have Nadal/Muguruza v Federer/Williams etc, then it would be interesting to watch.

indiana · Tennis legend

Equestrian sports are ones where the sexes freely mix. More particularly eventing, and individually the show jumping and dressage elements of 3 day eventing ( you've surely had a day at Burghley or Badminton, Jaggy? ). But also increasingly horse racing.

Again one of my big issues re mixed doubles in the Olympics ( I'm not nearly as bothered about it when just within tennis including the Slams ) is that it is not all equal ( now don't hit the ball too hard at the women! ) and doesn't fit amongst dedicated Olympians. It's bringing them together for indeed an often entertaining event, and if the Slams want to include it, and there is an audience, no problem.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Mixed doubles is a fabulous concept and sets Tennis apart from many other sports there is parity in that both sides are equally balanced and the athletes get appropriately rewarded in slams and in a different way at the Olympics.

What better example can there be to children where often the difference between 8-12 year olds is marginal than you can compete together professionally and for your country at the highest levels and some of the best players (eg. Mr Murray) enjoy doing it.

I like it but I come from a family where the best athletes are women and us blokes sort of saunter along in their wake playing the social stuff

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Mixed doubles is a jolly, in my view.

A lot of fun, quite 'educational', great for crossing age and sex barriers and, net net, a great invention.

But not an Olympic sport. Or a serious one on any scale.