2025 ATP Doubles

The entry list is published for IW, and it looks like the musical chairs of partners has begun:
Murray and Peers are done. Murray is partnering Pavlasek, who was w/ Rojer. Rojer is playing w/ Dimitrov. Peers is playing w/ Ebden, who was w/ Vliegen. Withrow is playing w/ Vliegen. Old guys Dodig and Bopanna are playing together. Fun stuff, can't wait to watch in person next month!
 
ey039524 said:
The entry list is published for IW, and it looks like the musical chairs of partners has begun:
Murray and Peers are done. Murray is partnering Pavlasek, who was w/ Rojer. Rojer is playing w/ Dimitrov. Peers is playing w/ Ebden, who was w/ Vliegen. Withrow is playing w/ Vliegen. Old guys Dodig and Bopanna are playing together. Fun stuff, can't wait to watch in person next month!
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Doubles partner switch Pandemonium.
 
travlerajm said:
The new pairing of the week, the underrated Borges and the not-quite-done-yet Bopanna, got it done.

They upset the mighty Italian duo of Bolelli / vavassori.
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Yah man- some interesting outcomes in Doha today. Bolelli / Vavassori ousted by the pairing with the 44 year Bopanna was unexpected, to be sure. I've got a soft spot for Murray / Peers, so was sorry they are out. But cheered up watching Glasspool / Cash come back to win it. Well played by them. Mektic/Venus got through quite straightforwardly.
 
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Tallawah Tennis said:
Yah man- some interesting outcomes in Doha today. Bolelli / Vavassori ousted by the pairing with the 44 year Bopanna was unexpected, to be sure. I've got a soft spot for Murray / Peers, so was sorry they are out. But cheered up watching Glasspool / Cash come back to win it. Well played by them. Mektic/Venus got through quite straightforwardly.
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I just watched the TBs on tennistv: interesting that Borges served first in the second tb (first set wasn't recorded for some reason). Vavassori is so good for being relatively young. Bopanna stole the second tb w/ some great play.

Also interesting to see that Skupski served first, considering how Salisbury is a big guy, but his serve has really diminished from when he and Rab were #1. Ebden/Vliegen looked terrible and handed over the second set tb. I guess Ebden/Peers are looking for some of that gold magic from last summer.

Glasspool/Cash dominated the match tb. Their opponents looked like amateurs in the tb.
 
ey039524 said:
I just watched the TBs on tennistv: interesting that Borges served first in the second tb (first set wasn't recorded for some reason). Vavassori is so good for being relatively young. Bopanna stole the second tb w/ some great play.

Also interesting to see that Skupski served first, considering how Salisbury is a big guy, but his serve has really diminished from when he and Rab were #1. Ebden/Vliegen looked terrible and handed over the second set tb. I guess Ebden/Peers are looking for some of that gold magic from last summer.

Glasspool/Cash dominated the match tb. Their opponents looked like amateurs in the tb.
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I notice a lot of teams have the better net cleanup guy start at net, even if he is arguably the stronger server.

Salisbury is certainly better at net than Skupski. Of course Salisbury also has always had a weak serve for his height and was quite reliant on Ram’s effective SP skills.

Melo is another guy who lets his 6’0” partner serve first, despite being 6’8”. His strength is his wingspan in the dunker spot.

Vavassori is much taller than Bolelli, but Bolelli always serves first, with Vavassori more confident at net then he is on serve.

The tennisTV cam view from behind server of the B/V vs C/G match in Rotterdam showed how sneaky good Bolelli is at mixing up the second serve bounce angle left/right.
 
travlerajm said:
I notice a lot of teams have the better net cleanup guy start at net, even if he is arguably the stronger server.

Salisbury is certainly better at net than Skupski. Of course Salisbury also has always had a weak serve for his height and was quite reliant on Ram’s effective SP skills.

Melo is another guy who lets his 6’0” partner serve first, despite being 6’8”. His strength is his wingspan in the dunker spot.

Vavassori is much taller than Bolelli, but Bolelli always serves first, with Vavassori more confident at net then he is on serve.

The tennisTV cam view from behind server of the B/V vs C/G match in Rotterdam showed how sneaky good Bolelli is at mixing up the second serve bounce angle left/right.
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I thought it was interesting b/c w/ Ebden, Bopanna always served first. Ebden served first in the tb w/ Vliegen, which was interesting, also. Big lefty server taking a backseat to Ebden's serve?
 
ey039524 said:
............Glasspool/Cash dominated the match tb. Their opponents looked like amateurs in the tb.
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Yah man, good stuff from G/C. They'll play Bopanna/Borges in the qf which could be an interesting contest-I'll try to watch it.
Watched a bit of the Djokovic/Verdasco match in which Hatten/Heliovaara very much the dubs specialists. Good job by them to get it done in straights. Apparently this was Verdasco's swan song. Wish him well.

Brits are well represented in the qf's - Patten / Skupski/Salisbury/Cash/Glasspool - Patten / Skup/Sali into SF.
travlerajm said:
............Melo is another guy who lets his 6’0” partner serve first, despite being 6’8”. His strength is his wingspan in the dunker spot.....
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Enjoy the dude's efforts.
 
Krajicek/Ram looked the more settled in the 1st, there is something disciplined in their demeanour. Melo / Matos seemed 'ad hoc' in comparison, but stayed focused, and were the more incisive when it mattered. Please to see them through-hope they get further. Only 2 seeded pairings remain.
 
Can’t complain about Doha results so far. Both my teams still alive, and everyone ahead of us in the race or the rankings got upset.

Pavic/Arévalo haven’t been playing like a #1 team in 2025. They were thoroughly outplayed by Bhambri/Dodig down the stretch of the super.
 
travlerajm said:
My rule of thumb is don’t mess with Brazilians when in Brazil.
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Heh, heh, yah man.

Liked this article, reporting how excited Helio/Patten were at playing Novak (Verdasco). Probably enjoyed the experience even more after their win!
www.atptour.com

Heliovaara/Patten's on facing Djokovic in Doha | ATP Tour | Tennis

Heliovaara and Patten will stand across the net from Novak Djokovic for the first time on Wednesday in Doha, during a doubles match at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
www.atptour.com www.atptour.com

In Doha, the number 1 seeds out in a good contest to Melo's former partner Dodig (& Bhambri) who are in the sf. Well contested match between Bopanna/ Borges too, glad to see Glasspool / Glass prevail, who'll play Dodig / Bhambri next. There'll be at least 1 Brit in the final.
 
Tallawah Tennis said:
Heh, heh, yah man.

Liked this article, reporting how excited Helio/Patten were at playing Novak (Verdasco). Probably enjoyed the experience even more after their win!
www.atptour.com

Heliovaara/Patten's on facing Djokovic in Doha | ATP Tour | Tennis

Heliovaara and Patten will stand across the net from Novak Djokovic for the first time on Wednesday in Doha, during a doubles match at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
www.atptour.com www.atptour.com

In Doha, the number 1 seeds out in a good contest to Melo's former partner Dodig (& Bhambri) who are in the sf. Well contested match between Bopanna/ Borges too, glad to see Glasspool / Glass prevail, who'll play Dodig / Bhambri next. There'll be at least 1 Brit in the final.
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Heliovaara has raised his level a notch in Doha compared to in AO.

In particular he’s been holding serve at a more reliable rate, losing only 2.5 serve points per set, which I would guess leads all players in the tourney.
 
I was impressed with Borges’ groundy level at the start of today’s match, but he lost steam at the end when he had trouble landing first serves.

He has short secure limbs that make him an underrated doubles guy. And Bopanna is always a tough out if you give him a mobile partner to cover for his tree-like movement.

First set wasn’t pretty. 3 of the 4 guys took turns getting broken. When it was cash’s turn, he had just enough bot dna to serve his way out of a jam at 3-4.

Second set went on serve with both teams looking a bit shaky in the breaker.

Cash/Glasspool seemed to stabilize just before the finish line to close it out.
 
Major upsets in Doha. I rewatched the tiebreaks in the Ram/Krajicek match and the Brazilians got hot at the end, when it mattered.

I'm most interested to see how these teams practice at IW. A couple of years ago, when Ram/Salisbury were at the top of their game, they were doing drills w/ their coach, which was very different than what I saw last year. Last year, I saw a few teams, and they just played practice sets.

About 17 years ago, I remember seeing the #1 ranked Bryans play a practice set against Melo, who was partnering Sa at the time. It was an outside court, and not many people watching, so we were able to sit first row. As soon as they were finishing, none other than Fed came on to practice. He was #1 at the time, so the court quickly filled, but I was able to keep my first row seat.
 
ey039524 said:
Major upsets in Doha. I rewatched the tiebreaks in the Ram/Krajicek match and the Brazilians got hot at the end, when it mattered.

I'm most interested to see how these teams practice at IW. A couple of years ago, when Ram/Salisbury were at the top of their game, they were doing drills w/ their coach, which was very different than what I saw last year. Last year, I saw a few teams, and they just played practice sets.

About 17 years ago, I remember seeing the #1 ranked Bryans play a practice set against Melo, who was partnering Sa at the time. It was an outside court, and not many people watching, so we were able to sit first row. As soon as they were finishing, none other than Fed came on to practice. He was #1 at the time, so the court quickly filled, but I was able to keep my first row seat.
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Seems like a lot of teams do 1-set practice matches at the tournament site. Sometimes these short matches give misleading feedback.
 
I just noticed that Pavic/Arévalo outplayed opponents and doubled up Bhambri/Dodig in the return points won stat 10:5 in both set 1 and set 2, yet somehow lost the match.

That’s quite a remarkable steal for B/D.

It underscores that not every point in tennis has equal value. And the current doubles short format exaggerates this.

Unlike football, basketball, or baseball, in tennis it’s much better to be stronger at the end of the match than at the beginning.
 
travlerajm said:
I just noticed that Pavic/Arévalo outplayed opponents and doubled up Bhambri/Dodig in the return points won stat 10:5 in both set 1 and set 2, yet somehow lost the match.

That’s quite a remarkable steal for B/D.

It underscores that not every point in tennis has equal value. And the current doubles short format exaggerates this.

Unlike football, basketball, or baseball, in tennis it’s much better to be stronger at the end of the match than at the beginning.
Click to expand...
Deciding points are huge.
 
ey039524 said:
Deciding points are huge.
Click to expand...
Another hidden consequence of the short format:

Teams that are more imbalanced with one stud return guy are stronger in short format, because your stud can take every deciding point.

In slam format, it’s harder to hide a weaker returner. Both guys need to be capable returners, so the more balanced return teams tend to rise.
 
Will be a lot of familiar faces facing off in the Doha semis back to back tomorrow.

Patten/Heliovaara, Salisbury/Skupski, and Cash/Glasspool have all been frequent sparring buddies at the LTA, practicing with Louis Cayer.

Patten teamed up for Davis Cup last year with Skupski.
Heliovaara partnered Glasspool for a two-year stretch.
Cash and Patten rose from ITF to main tour in 2022 together. Cash and Bhambri partnered for a stretch in late 2023. And Patten and Dodig partnered for a trial match mid last year before he and Heliovaara linked up.

These folks all know each other’s games.
 
travlerajm said:
Will be a lot of familiar faces facing off in the Doha semis back to back tomorrow.

Patten/Heliovaara, Salisbury/Skupski, and Cash/Glasspool have all been frequent sparring buddies at the LTA, practicing with Louis Cayer.

Patten teamed up for Davis Cup last year with Skupski.
Heliovaara partnered Glasspool for a two-year stretch.
Cash and Patten rose from ITF to main tour in 2022 together. Cash and Bhambri partnered for a stretch in late 2023. And Patten and Dodig partnered for a trial match mid last year before he and Heliovaara linked up.

These folks all know each other’s games.
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I heard a podcast last year w skupski talking about how the LTA has files on nearly every player, so British players can ask for video and scouting reports on their upcoming opponents. Nice that they support their players like that. I'm skeptical that usta does the same for our players.
 
travlerajm said:
Will be a lot of familiar faces facing off in the Doha semis back to back tomorrow...........These folks all know each other’s games.
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Yah man, and the finalists will no doubt bear that familiarity in mind! It will be S/S and G/C - an all Brit event! Not surprised G/C are through, but surprised ( not unpleasantly) that S/S got past H/P - my anticipated winners.

ey039524 said:
.............About 17 years ago, I remember seeing the #1 ranked Bryans play a practice set against Melo, who was partnering Sa at the time. It was an outside court, and not many people watching, so we were able to sit first row. As soon as they were finishing, none other than Fed came on to practice. He was #1 at the time, so the court quickly filled, but I was able to keep my first row seat.
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Man, I'm green - you got to see the Bryans, Melo/Sa & Roger! Would love your memories of that day .................
I'm reminded when you mention doubles and seeing Roger, that he won an OGM with Stan! To that extent, he was on par with the Bryans in doubles. Nice memories, for sure.
 
ey039524 said:
I heard a podcast last year w skupski talking about how the LTA has files on nearly every player, so British players can ask for video and scouting reports on their upcoming opponents. Nice that they support their players like that. I'm skeptical that usta does the same for our players.
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USTA does the same, but it is too analytical without much direct thought from players, only analysis from robots. I do give USTA credit for trying, just sometimes, they take the human element out of the report
 
travlerajm said:
My guys dominated the first set today. But that worries me because that happened yesterday too and then Joe and Skup came from behind to beat us.
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Yah man - my guys too, and they gave short shrift - champions after a win at 63.62!!

www.atptour.com

Julian Cash/Lloyd Glasspool cruise to Doha tite | ATP Tour | Tennis

Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool wasted little time adding a third tour-level title to their flourishing partnership on Saturday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
www.atptour.com www.atptour.com

www.atptour.com

Julian Cash/Lloyd Glasspool cruise to Doha tite | ATP Tour | Tennis

Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool wasted little time adding a third tour-level title to their flourishing partnership on Saturday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
www.atptour.com www.atptour.com

Now then, gooooooo Melo!
 
travlerajm said:
My guys dominated the first set today. But that worries me because that happened yesterday too and then Joe and Skup came from behind to beat us.
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I watched the match TB: on serve at 4-5, heliovaara seemed to lose focus, dropping both points on serve, and then missing an easy second serve return. That was the match.
travlerajm said:
Cash/Glasspool dominated on Glasspool’s return points (winning 17) and Cash’s serve points (losing only 2).

The big advantage in team serve quality was too much to overcome for Salisbury and Skupski.
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That was a drubbing.
 
In Dubai, the #1 seed already gone. And the #2 seed down a set.

Yuki Bhambri has been a match tiebreak hero this year.

And Mektic playing much better than in Doha.
 
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Top ranked dogs Arévalo/Pavic continue to underwhelm in 2025.

With their match tiebreak meltdown today against Bhambri / Popyrin, and the 4 teams just behind them still alive this week, they are all but guaranteed to lose their 8th spot this week in the Race to Turin.

They are also in jeopardy of losing their grip on the #1 ranking this week. They have a slim 400 point lead over H/P.

Heliovaara/Patten advanced today against familar formidable rivals Mektic/Venus in a 3-set match that never felt quite as close as the nailbiter scoreline. H/P won the +/- stat all 3 sets, but M/V stole the first set after Heliovaara served first the set and H/P were up a mini deep in the breaker. Very reminiscent of the AO final when B/V escaped 10 set points to steal.
 
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It’s hard to believe that it was only a year ago that Matthew Ebden was the World #1 doubs player. He and his new partner, lanky lefty Belgian Joran Vliegen, have yet to get off the schnide, sitting way back at #140 in the race.

Can they end the slump against Salisbury and Skupski in a few hours?

Edit: nope
 
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travlerajm said:
It’s hard to believe that it was only a year ago that Matthew Ebden was the World #1 doubs player. He and his new partner, lanky lefty Belgian Joran Vliegen, have yet to get off the schnide, sitting way back at #140 in the race.

Can they end the slump against Salisbury and Skupski in a few hours?

Edit: nope
Click to expand...
Looks like that was their last match together.
 
With Vavassori/Bolelli getting upset by not-quite has-been Haase and younggun german Jebens today, along with Cash/Glasspool routing 9x slam champ but dual bald spot tandem Bopanna/Dodig, I’m going to bestow C/G the title as the new best short format team in the world.

C/G have the most short format points of any team in 2025, and trail only the AO champ and finalist in the race.
 
My eye test said Yuki Bhambri was the best doubles player on the court today. He and Popyrin outplayed C/G. Bhambri’s second win over C/G. He has also beaten the #1 team twice already. All with 4 different partners.

Bhambri has been playing like one of the top 10 players in the world this year, and if he just had a decent partner would be a slam contender.
 
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travlerajm said:
My eye test said Yuki Bhambri was the best doubles player on the court today. He and Popyrin outplayed C/G. Bhambri’s second win over C/G. He has also beat the #1 team twice already. All with 4 different partners.

Bhambri has been playing like one of the top 10 players in the world this year, and if he just had a decent partner would be a slam contender.
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Who's his regular partner? I remember he was playing w/ Olivetti last year. He's way down on the alternate list w/ Goransson (who normally plays w/ Verbeek) to get into IW.
 
ey039524 said:
Who's his regular partner? I remember he was playing w/ Olivetti last year. He's way down on the alternate list w/ Goransson (who normally plays w/ Verbeek) to get into IW.
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He seems to be a nomad last several years. If he can trade up soon he could be dangerous.
 
I give Salisbury’s racquet smash after losing the decider to get broken at 0-2 second set a 10/10. Form. Racquet speed. Aesthetics. Destruction.
 
Harrison/King have climbed into the 5th slot in the race to Turin. They will likely need to do some damage in the long format of a a slam or two to stay there, as they are still ranked too low to qualify for masters 1000s.
 
Bollipalli / Barientos into the final in Chile- nice run here. Bollipalli won his first ATP dubs title last year at Almaty, beating Barientos in the final. Can they upset the number 1 seeds in the final?

travlerajm said:
Yuki Bam Bam Bhambri has won his last 5 match tiebreaks with 4 different partners. He is no fluke, and ended the Dubai run of 10x slam champions Murray/Peers.
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True man, Bhambri seems to be enjoying his tennis. Was sorry to see M/P go out, but they put up a well contested sf.
The ubiquitos and excellent chaps Patten/Heliovaara will most likely be a tall order in the final, let's see.
 
Tallawah Tennis said:
Bollipalli / Barientos into the final in Chile- nice run here. Bollipalli won his first ATP dubs title last year at Almaty, beating Barientos in the final. Can they upset the number 1 seeds in the final?


True man, Bhambri seems to be enjoying his tennis. Was sorry to see M/P go out, but they put up a well contested sf.
The ubiquitos and excellent chaps Patten/Heliovaara will most likely be a tall order in the final, let's see.
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Interestingly, excluding H/P matches, 100% of the doubles matches in Dubai in QF and SF rounds were upsets. Oddsmakers’ underdogs went 4-0, including scalps of all 3 of the other seeded teams.
 
This one stings a bit.

The Bam Bam Bhambri superhero match tiebreak streak marched on. 6 supers in a row and 7-1 in 2025.
Bhambri and whoever his partner is have been the best metch tiebreak team in 2025.

He and his new partner-of-the-week Popyrin saved 4 mp in the second set before rolling in the super to take out H/P to win Dubai title.
 
travlerajm said:
This one stings a bit.

The Bam Bam Bhambri superhero match tiebreak streak marched on. 6 supers in a row and 7-1 in 2025.
Bhambri and whoever his partner is have been the best metch tiebreak team in 2025.

He and his new partner-of-the-week Popyrin saved 4 mp in the second set before rolling in the super to take out H/P to win Dubai title.
Click to expand...
I hope he and Harrison/king are able to get into IW. I would hope that Harrison/king would get a WC, considering they're Americans. If they win tonight, they might be in on points (guessing, haven't looked at the rankings).
 
travlerajm said:
..............He and his new partner-of-the-week Popyrin saved 4 mp in the second set before rolling in the super to take out H/P to win Dubai title.
Click to expand...
Popy serving at 9-8 in the decider was a formality, given his excellent serve. Not sure why P/H looked slightly unbalanced in the last 5 or so points, with B/P looking more composed.
Anyway, well done to B/P, and in particulr to Bhambri on his current run of good form. It's the more impressive given your summaries of his changes in partner.
 
Harrison/King move up into the #4 slot in the race to Turin by taking the title in Acapulco, their second 500 of the year. C/G’s title of best short format team was short lived. H/K are now officially the new short format world #1, having earned the most short format points of any team in 2025.

World #1 team A/P are now on the outside looking in.

Only 3 of last year’s Turin participants (H/P, K/P, & B/V) are currently on track to repeat.
 
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