L32: Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) & Jamie Murray CR 90 (83 [but has been as high as 1]+7) vs (WC) Amanda Anisimova & Michael Mmoh (USA/USA) CR 2030 (1174+856)
I think Jaggy protests too much, time to come out of the mixed doubles closet. I am sure he spends Sunday afternoons watching classic Jo Durie and Jeremy Bates matches on his Betamax player.
Yay, well done Jamie & Bethanie. And was good to see such a smiley BMS after their QF win and I assume SF win after that awful injury at Wimbledon last year and her subsequent time out.
Re mixed in general at Slams, many players enjoy it, many fans enjoy it, and it's of course nothing like as random as Jaggy's claims ( and nor certainly are men's and women's doubles ) - elements yes, and moreso than the other doubles, but gee. So while I may not be greatly into it myself, though yes I do peek at times ( like at the end of that QF and I'll try to catch at least something of the final ) mixed doubles will clearly be in Slams for the foreseeable and fair enough.
Just I do wish it wasn't at the Olympics - it is not played enough by the pros ( who in many pairs will never have played together competitively before ) or seriously enough to be an Olympic sport.
-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 6th of September 2018 02:01:24 AM
Given that Indian Wells and Miami have a joint event, they could easily hold mixed events. Cincinnati also. the doubles players are hardly overrun at the big events, so they have capacity to play. So there is potential to grow it if the demand is there. Put 7 events together and it is possible you could create some sort of circuit and effectively play into the top pairs playing off in a year end event.
The biggest issue in all that ? ATP is for men, singles and doubles. Job done, O2. WTA is for women - job done, Singapore singles and doubles. Mixed doubles has no promoter or organiser outside of the individual slams. But if someone would take it on, the events are there and the demand is probably there as I think many people enjoy mixed events. ITF cant do it, but ATP and WTA together could conjure up something and I could see a top 8 pairs event possibly working. It would need to be almost certainly be in the USA. But why not and a TV channel would almost certainly go with it. If they buy a ATP250 event, they would buy a mixed doubles top 8 event no problem.
Or perhaps I am miles off!!?
Edit - I also meant to add that with a few more events, and some sort of structure to a series of mixed events you could also have a ranking list or race style list- mixed currently has no context or structure. Like Test cricket, which has no linkage of one series to the next, I personally think viewers and media needs context and structure around sports to make them more relevant
-- Edited by JonH on Thursday 6th of September 2018 06:16:26 AM