With so much drama surrounding the ‘race to London’ during the singles tournaments of the last fortnight, it has been all too easy to forget the other race, the one for tennis’s doubles teams.
It is a rare pleasure when a tournament gives doubles tennis the same exposure, same court time and same peak sessions as the singles, and that is just what The O2 offers the eight pairs who take part in the ATP World Tour Finals.
The doubles format of the game is, after all, what most tennis fans have played themselves. Perhaps it was at school, maybe at a local club, and some may have remained enthusiasts when they got to college or university.
And it was at university that one of the duos still among the hopefuls for London first teamed up. Briton Dominic Inglot and Filipino Treat Huey found they got on like a house of fire when they met at the University of Virginia, and now, several years on, are playing some world-beating tennis.
They scored their first title of the season this weekend at the Swiss Indoors in Basel to move them up to 11th in the race. No surprise, then, that they were so exuberant when they left the Centre Court at St Jakobshalle, both at career-high rankings and carrying what were, apparently, pretty heavy trophies:
“Goodness, an interview! Wait, let’s put these down!”
So how did it feel to score their first win of the year, especially after losing in the final at this very tournament last year? It was the 27-year-old Inglot—6ft 5ins tall and with a big personality to match, who began.
“It feels amazing. We really enjoy this tournament, but we came out knowing we had to defend a final. It can put pressure on you. I wasn’t hitting the ball that great, and Treat has been pushing me to keep working hard. We got a good win in the first round against Qureshi and Rojer [the No2 seeds] and I think that set us up nicely for this tournament.
“It’s just such a great feeling to win a title again, after not having won one this year. We left it late, but better late than never! We worked on a few things during the summer and I think it’s really paying some dividends because we’re having a great fall and winter season.”
Although their first title as a pair came last season, in Washington, this year has seen them build up a steady stream of successes. They reached two finals before Basel, in Dusseldorf and Winston Salem, and went on to reach their first Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open.
Next came a final for Inglot with Denis Istomin in St Petersburg, before the Briton reunited with Huey to make the semis of Tokyo and the quarters in Shanghai.
There is clearly much more to come. They are still only in the late 20s despite making a slow start on the professional tour due to a string of injury problems that kept Inglot out of competition.
“When I was in college, I had foot surgery, I had shoulder surgery, then after one year I had ankle surgery and then knee surgery, because I had a terrible accident on court. Milos Gialecic [they physical trainer since 2011], who’s started travelling with us, has really looked after us. He’s honestly one of the biggest reasons I’ve been able to stay healthy. Makes sure we do the right things, and it’s testament to that help that we are playing well and all season.”
But that is just one factor in the Inglot-Huey success story. At the core of the partnership is that x-factor that all good doubles teams need.
It was Huey, who graduated in Foreign Affairs in 2008, who put his finger on what makes them gel on a tennis court:
“We play well together because we’re good friends, hang out a lot. We went to college together for three years—he’s a year younger than me—and we practised a lot of doubles together. We get along pretty well, we have some fun… it’s fun practising with him, we have fun playing on the court, and it’s always a good thing when you’re enjoying it.”
It may be a step too far to expect to see them in London this time around, though if they reach the final of the one remaining tournament of the season, the Paris Masters, it is certainly possible.
They are drawn first against another unseeded pair, Italians Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi, who reached the final in Beijing a month ago. Then they could face the No2 seeds, Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares who are fresh from victory in Valencia over world No1s, the Bryan brothers.
The British/Filipino pair is also drawn in the same quarter as another international team, Briton Jamie Murray and Australian John Peers. They, too, reached the US Open quarters this year and are at No10 in the race for London.
But surely London 2014 is a viable target for Inglot and Huey?
“That’s definitely one of our goals. I wouldn’t say it’s our main goal because you don’t want to be thinking too far ahead. We take it tournament by tournament and try to figure out things that work a little bit more. We definitely know there are holes in our game that we want to work on…and identifying those problems is one of the issues—and rectifying them.
“We have a good coach, a good team behind us that can help with that. And then there’s working up a good schedule. Last year we didn’t do a good job of that, we tried to get into the biggest tournaments we could and we just started flying around like crazy. A good example of that: We flew to San Jose and realised we were in Rotterdam. We had to fly right back as soon as we landed—from France to San Jose! That messed us up for about two weeks.
“So now, with our ranking higher, we should not be having any issues about where we go. So we can schedule better—you know, train harder, smarter, and a lot of good things could happen.”
This pairing of rightie with leftie—a frequent feature of successful doubles partnerships—of the tall Briton with the 5ft10in man from the Philippines, already feels like a good thing. They complement each other on the court, communicate constantly but, above all, seem to enjoy every minute.
Asked about their plans for heading off to France, Huey began:
“We’re off to Paris tonight on the train and we’ll hopefully enjoy Paris. But we’ve been to Basel the last two years, final last year, win this year, so we’ll definitely enjoy our last few hours in Basel.”
And Inglot piped up: “Let’s not bring Paris up too soon! We want to enjoy this for a little bit longer!”
Both Britons and the partners open their campaigns in Paris tomorrow.
Doubles race to London (Q indicates already qualified)
1 (Q) Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan, 13,365
2 (Q) Alexander Peya, Bruno Soares, 6,730
3 (Q) Ivan Dodig, Marcelo Melo, 3,775
4 (Q) Marcel Granollers, Marc Lopez, 3,620
5 David Marrero, Fernando Verdasco, 3,370
6 Aisam-Ul-Haq, Jean-Julien Rojer, 3,215
7 (Q) Leander Paes, Radek Stepanek, 2,990
8 Mariusz Frystenberg, Marcin Matkowski, 2,865
9 Max Mirnyi, Horia Tecau, 2,515
10 Jamie Murray, John Peers, 2,490
11 Dominic Inglot, Treat Huey, 2,375
12 Julien Benneteau, Nenad Zimonjic, 2,265