We have all seen so many great female stars in tennis history. We have seen their individual records and achievements, but we don’t recognise their doubles achievement as such.
Here we take a look at the five best women’s doubles tennis teams of all time.
1. Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver
Czech-American ace Martina Navratilova is up there in the Greatest of All Time pantheon. In 1975, Navratilova won her first-ever Major doubles title, teaming up with the World No. 1 of that time, Chris Evert, to take top honors at the French Open.
The pair would team up again the following year, winning Wimbledon. Navratilova would win a doubles title a year over the next two years, twice with WTA founder and tennis legend Billie Jean King. But it was her partnership with American ace Pam Shriver in 1981 that proved to be one of the most fruitful doubles partnerships of all time. The two won the 1981 edition of Wimbledon, and for the next two years took top honors at both the year-opening Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Navratilova won three Majors in 1982, two of them with Shriver, and three Slams the following year. But it was 1984 that would prove to be their biggest year yet. That year, the Navratilova-Shriver combination won the Calendar Grand Slam-winning every Major doubles title.
Over the next five years, the two added another ten titles to their kitty. The pair ended their partnership with a staggering twenty-one double Majors titles on every possible surface.
Navratilova and Shriver won 79 out of the 104 tournaments they participated in over the course of their partnership, finishing with a win-loss record of 390-25. One of the most successful doubles partnerships in tennis history started only because of a phone call from Navratilova to Shriver, the former asking the latter to partner her.
2. Natasha Zvereva and Gigi Fernández
Belarusian Natasha Zvereva had success as a youngster in the singles, winning the Wimbledon girls’ singles title in 1986, then the US Open girls’ singles the following year. Like a number of successful women’s doubles players of her time, she was one of the top-ranked in the singles as well, reaching a career-high of World No. 5, making the finals of the French Open in 1988.
But it was in the doubles category that the outspoken Zvereva truly shone. Initially pairing up with Larisa Savchenko, with whom she won two titles, Zvereva won a title with Pam Shriver before partnering with Puerto Rican-American Gigi Fernández in one of the most successful women’s doubles pairings in tennis. Together, the two went on a nine-Grand Slam winning streak, and at Wimbledon 1993 they held all four Grand Slam titles.
The pair won fourteen Majors of 17 Slam finals they played together and a record number of titles on the Tour, becoming the most successful doubles pair since Navratilova and Shriver just before them. Together, the two were inducted into the tennis Hall of Fame in 2010.
3. Serena Williams and Venus Williams
By winning the 2001 Australian Open Doubles championship, Serena and Venus became the fifth pair to complete a Career Doubles Grand Slam and the only pair to win a Career Doubles Golden Slam. By winning the 2010 Roland Garros doubles, they became the first pair since 1998 to hold the four Slams at the same time.
By winning the 2010 Roland Garros doubles, the Serena-Venus duo became the first pair in Open Era history to complete the Career Doubles Golden Slam twice (2001 & 2003 Australian Open, 1999 & 2010 Roland Garros, 2000 & 2002 Wimbledon, 1999 & 2009 U.S. Open, and 2000 & 2008 Olympic gold medalists).
In 2016, Venus Williams won her 6th Wimbledon doubles title. It was the 4th time Serena won the singles and doubles titles at Wimbledon in the same year (2002, 2009, 2012, 2016). Venus also accomplished this feat twice (2000, 2008).
The Serena-Venus pairing’s Grand Slam doubles finals record stands at 14-0. Only Martina Navratilova-Pam Shriver own more Grand Slam doubles titles as a team, with 20 championships.
4. Cara Black and Liezel Huber
In 2005, the Zimbabwean (Cara Black) and the South African (Liezel Huber) teamed up together for the first time and won the Wimbledon in their first year together. This team got back together in 2007 and dominated the year in doubles. They ended 2007 as the No. 1 doubles team of the year, having won the Australian Open and the Wimbledon.
In April 2010, Cara Black and Liezel Huber announced their split up as doubles partners as both individuals entered the Family Circle Cup in Stuttgart with different partners.
Cara Black and Liezel Huber have undoubtedly been one of the most legendary doubles duos of this era. Together, they have won 29 titles, including four Grand Slams and two Sony Ericsson Championships titles. Both Black and Huber are second and third respectively for most weeks being spent as a No.1 doubles player, behind only Navratilova.
5. Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza
Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza were one of the most dominant doubles forces to be reckoned with over the last decade. Known as Santina, the team took the tennis doubles scene by storm. They won fourteen titles in sixteen months, which included a winning streak of 41 matches and 9 WTA title wins on the trot.
Mirza and Hingis won three of the six Grand Slams that they contested in during the course of their partnership. Santina won at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open, but failed to win at Roland Garros over two attempts. They reached the No.1 doubles rank in 2015 and didn’t relinquish it for 69 weeks.
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