karanveernath19Below we are going to take a look at the best men’s doubles tennis teams of all time. The rankings aren’t based on the individual players and how good they were, but are instead based on their Grand Slams, Davis Cups, and the impact they’ve had on the doubles history of tennis.
Let’s dive into the top 5 men’s tennis doubles teams of all time.
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5. Sir Andy Murray and Jamie Murray
Judy Murray is the mother of all tennis mothers, having given birth to and then coached not one but two World No. 1 players. In 2016, Sir Andy and Jamie became the highest-ranked players in singles and doubles respectively, and they remain among the greatest players from the United Kingdom in their specialist fields.
The Murray brothers have achieved doubles success with other partners, notably in mixed doubles. As well as winning the singles gold at the London Olympics, Sir Andy won silver in the mixed doubles with Laura Robson, while Jamie has won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon twice, first with Jelena Jankovi? in 2007 and then a decade later with Martina Hingis, with whom he also won 2017 US Open mixed doubles title. In addition, Jamie won the 2016 Australian Open men’s doubles title and the 2016 US Open men’s doubles title with John Peers and Bruno Soares respectively.
As a duo, the Murray brothers’ finest hour as doubles players came when they combined to guide Great Britain to Davis Cup glory in 2015 — their first triumph in 77 years. Although Sir Andy’s heroics in playing both singles and doubles in the Davis Cup were rightly hailed, Jamie was also instrumental in that victory, particularly in the quarter-final against France and the semi-final against Australia, when the Murrays defeated powerful French and Australian pairings Nicolas Mahut & Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Lleyton Hewitt & Sam Groth respectively. The semi-final victory, in particular, was authentically epic, lasting five sets and more than four hours, and it remains the Murray brothers’ finest few hours on a tennis court together.
4. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are considered the ‘first pair’ in the sport in India, they are almost single-handedly responsible for putting India in the limelight when it comes to tennis. The two had a renowned partnership and became top-rated doubles players in the world – the first time an Indian pair had achieved the same.
Both of them were considered the poster boys for tennis in the country. They were able to motivate so many of the youth to play tennis and were nicknamed ‘The Indian Express’ by their fans.
The pair first met in 1988 when both of them were just teenagers and then went on to break several records, including a 24-game unbeaten run in the Davis Cup.
Paes and Bhupathi played together from 1994 to 2006 and reunited for their second stint from 2008 to 2011. They won the Wimbledon championship during their first stint in 1999. They also won two French Open titles — in 1999 and 2001.
Their partnership, however, came to an end in 2012 due to a public fallout during the selections of the London Olympics. Since then, Bhupati has retired, while Paes managed to win mixed-doubles titles in 2017. It is said that the two have now put their differences behind them and moved on.
Also Read – Top 20 Male Tennis Players Of All Time
3. John McEnroe and Peter Fleming
It was Peter Fleming who came up with perhaps the greatest saying about doubles when he declared that the finest doubles pairing in men’s tennis was “John McEnroe plus one”. That comment by Fleming was typically self-effacing, but McEnroe always regarded him as his perfect doubles partner.
Like the Woodies, McEnroe and Fleming were a terrific combination of talents, with the tall, right-handed Fleming often banging in the powerful serves and McEnroe, perhaps the finest volleyer the game has ever seen, cutting off almost every attempted return at the net.
Fleming reached as high as No. 8 in the singles world rankings before, like so many doubles specialists, deciding to concentrate on the two-man format. Indeed, from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, he and McEnroe were by far the finest pairing in the men’s game, winning four Wimbledon men’s doubles titles and three US Open men’s doubles titles. Although, like McEnroe himself in the singles game, they never managed to win either the Australian Open or the French Open. In addition, they were pivotal to the three Davis Cup titles that the USA won in the four years of competition between 1979 and 1982.
However, like McEnroe’s singles career, the McEnroe-Fleming partnership did not really survive the extended break that “Supermac” took from tennis in 1986 after marrying the similarly-fiery Tatum O’Neal the year before. Just as McEnroe himself was never quite the same great player again when performing on his own, the McEnroe-Fleming pairing did not win another Major title or Davis Cup.
2. Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde
Known as the “the Woodies”, Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde were two fine singles players who became an almost unbeatable doubles team. Their accomplishments as a pairing are legendary, especially in Australia, which has probably produced more great men’s doubles teams than any other country. As proof of that, one need only consider the astonishing fact that between 1956 and 1969, which was the golden age of Australian tennis, not only were the winners of the Australian Open all Australian pairings, but so were the runners-up. Nevertheless, in the great Aussie doubles pantheon, the Woodies still rank ahead of other magnificent pairings.
As a doubles pairing, baseliner Woodforde and natural volleyer Woodbridge complemented each other perfectly, and on all surfaces. They were most famous for winning a record six Wimbledon men’s doubles titles, but they also won all the other Majors at least once.
Their greatest achievement came in the Davis Cup, where doubles play is still absolutely central. This was in 1999 when Australia beat France in Paris and the Woodies defeated yet another fine French pairing of Olivier Delaître and the sublimely gifted Fabrice Santoro. For the Woodies, it was the crowning glory of a glorious career, as the following year Woodforde retired from playing. Although Woodbridge would go on to win another five Major men’s doubles titles with Sweden’s Jonas Björkman, that tally was still less than half the eleven Major men’s doubles titles that he won with Woodforde, his perfectly alliterative and perfectly complementary playing partner.
1. Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan
Undoubtedly, the Bryan brothers—Bob and Mike—are the greatest ever pairing in men’s tennis because, being identical twins, they came as a package right from the start. They were certainly the perfect doubles pairing, given Mike is right-handed and Bob left-handed, and both men are well over six-foot tall and natural, indeed wonderful, serve-volleyers.
When they were competing alone, as it were, the Bryan brothers were virtually unstoppable. They finished as the year-end highest-ranked pairing in men’s doubles a record ten times in addition to winning 16 Major men’s doubles titles, including winning each individual Major at least twice.
It is only in the Davis Cup that Bryan brothers’ record is less than stellar and that is not due to their own abilities or lack of them. While they have won a phenomenal 24 doubles rubbers in Davis Cup ties and lost only five, their greatness as doubles players has not been matched by the greatness of the American singles players beside them. Despite the Bryan brothers’ own phenomenal Davis Cup record, the USA has won only one Davis Cup in the Bryan brothers era. That was in 2007 against Russia, when Andy Roddick and James Blake won enough singles points to go alongside the point in doubles that the Bryans almost guaranteed.
The only relative failure of the Bryan brothers in the Davis Cup is part of a wider picture, in which they have been the greatest-ever men’s doubles pairing of all time.
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