Mens Doubles on the ATP Tour is nothing short of sensational, a chook raffle of sorts where any team can win on any given day, a joy to watch, a joy to read the results where not one team dominates.
Let's face it, you can't dominate a 'chook raffle'.
How many numbers in it ?
How many variables in the current Mens Doubles format ?
Anything can happen.
Tennis is a grind in singles, the fittest player usually wins, particularly on clay, if your name is Rafa and you can loop the ball back into play all day long with funny scoring plays;
Deuce, advantage, deuce, advantage, etc, etc.
Spare a moment for the Doubles geniuses of the World who do not own that option.
Deuce, swing hard, no time for thinking, next point wins the game.
A super tiebreaker will finish the match.
You may be a doubles specialist but it will account for nothing in a 60- 90 minute match of shot making, particularly against free swinging opposition who enter doubles for extra pocket money and training.
The Monte Carlo Open currently being played has dished up some ridiculous results. Some teams it seems are simply gearing themselves to play a third set super tie breaker to finish the match where nerves of steal are the only ones you require to seal a victory.
How good are the Bryan Brothers ?
Well experience is EVERYTHING in tennis. Just ask Jimmy Connors who famously once said " Experience is a great advantage. The problem is that when you get the experience, you're too damned old to do anything about it".
Don't be so hard on yourself Jimbo, you made the semis of the US Open at age 39.
The Bryan Brothers are now through to the Monte Carlo Open Mens Doubles final where a trip to the French Riviera in April with their wives and anyone else who is lucky enough to have anything to do with them is a time of the year to be cherished.
However it's the way in which they have got to the final that has tennis traditionalists scratching their heads. Is Mens Doubles now just an ounce of luck, or what Jimbo said, experience ?
Maybe a bit of both.
Dodig and Ram, two accomplished doubles specialists lost to two singles specialists in Goffin and Dimitrov, 5-7, 7-6, 10.8 That's ridiculous but it's how the Mens Doubles on the ATP Tour now work.
If a Mens Doubles match goes over 90 minutes the organizers think their throats have been cut as the singles is apparently the way to go as far as entertainment value is concerned.
Personally I am not a fan of 'the grind'.
I love a close finish, all within 90 minutes.
Don't tell John Isner and Nicolas Mahut that .
The number 1 and 2 seeded Mens Doubles teams in Monte Carlo were beaten in a third set super tiebreaker by two unseeded teams, 18-16 and 10-7 respectively in the third.
In fact they didn't even win a match as the top seeded teams received a bye into the Round of 16.
Hows that chook raffle looking now ?
Better odds ?
Hows this, in the Round of 16 Arneodo and Nys held a match point in the third set super tiebreaker against the team who have won over 100 titles together. Now if you look at it realistically, that is outrageous as Romain Arneodo this time last year had won just $54 .
That's a fact, 54 bucks.
But that's how doubles now works, anything can happen, yet the ATP aren't interested in that sort of finish in a Mens Singles event, they opt for the long drawn out option where a spectator can be seen nodding off at times until they get woken by the person next to them, 'Hey buddy, it's almost finished, we are at 5 -5 in the final set'.
Yaaawwwwnnnn.
Monte Carlo 2018.
Round of 16. Mens Doubles
11-9 third set super tiebreaker, Bryan Brothers.
Quarter Finals Mens Doubles
10-5 third set super tiebreaker, Bryan Brothers
Semi Finals Mens Doubles
10-7 third set super tiebreaker, Bryan Brothers
FINAL
BRYAN BROTHERS 7-6, 6-2
All comes down to the heart, in tennis, that's what matters and in Mens Doubles, well these guys own a bigger heart than many singles players........
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