World News – CA – A letter to ATP doubles the players: Life in the era of the After Bryan Brothers

Doppelgangers can be a fascinating episode on and off the square. Here are some ideas on how.

It was great to see your games at the Nitto ATP Finals last week. All eight teams still have a chance to end the year. 1, there was a lot at stake. As you know, in the end the team was brought to the top by Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares.

There was plenty of drama on the lines too. Ten games ended with 10-point tiebreakers, including the final, which Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic won against Jürgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6: 2, 3: 6, 10: 5. Mobility and sportiness, strength and sensitivity were shown again and again in a completely different way than with singles. It was the first joint title for Koolhof and Mektic, a win for which they 254. $ 000 will share. Mektic in particular was great, scoring four great hits in the final tiebreaker, including one around the net post, a sharp forehand volley poacher on a return, an ace and a return winner.

Now consider doubles in the ABB era – After Bryan Brothers. For 15 years, Bob and Mike lit the marquee and put doubles in the spotlight. It wasn’t just because they were the best team. The Bryans were also a fantastic advertisement for Doppel, a two-man advertising company that was relentlessly generating tremendous excitement and affinity from fans, sponsors, and the media. And they didn’t just do that with their thugs, but with their personality as well: approachable and polite, concerned and connected. Got Sharpie, will travel.

Now that the Bryans have retired, it’s your turn. At a time when the economy of sport is more fluid than ever and tournaments are keeping a close eye on money and marketing issues, you have the opportunity – and a challenge – to keep doubles not only relevant, but meaningful and maybe even to make mistress. Andrea Gaudenzi, chairwoman of ATP, said in a recent SportsPro Media story: “Instead of having this tournament or that player-centric approach, we need to focus on our fans and try to have a better and richer experience by working together. ”

One reason fans enjoy having singles occasionally play doubles is because of familiarity – with the player, their story, the strokes. But doubles have been harder to spot for years. impressively skillful, but often faceless. First, write your names on the back of your shirts. This includes all the clothing that you wear at all times during a tournament. The fans want to know who you are, be it in practice or on the premises. And they have wanted to get to know you for a long time. After all, players like the Bryanes, Daniel Nestor and Leander Paes have proven that double pros can last into the 40s (Melzer will be 40 next May). . The more we can tell one great doubles player from another, the more likely we are to be curious about you, pay attention to your specific games, and follow you regularly. Familiarity leads to clothing deals, equipment bonuses, patch deals, corporate appearances, and motivational appearances.

Contact any tournament director, from majors to challengers, and ask: How can I become an ambassador for your event? No question about it, doubles players use their share of hard yards in training, practice and match play. However, when you consider that the workload outside of the majors consists of two sets of no-ad scoring and a 10-point tiebreaker, doubles players also have a fair amount of available capacity to hold multiple clinics, pro-am or charity events as well To carry out autograph sessions. Again, greater contact with the public triggers increased engagement.

Fans connect with players not just because they are skillful, but because they are interesting. And the only way you can make that connection is for people to know more about someone. A quick investigation on the ATP website reveals that Mate Pavic is a moviegoer. Wesley Koolhof is a fan of the San Francisco Giants. Rajeev Ram is a nonprofit that helps high school players in his home state. Joe Salisbury lists The Power of Wow as his favorite book. Each of these data points is a potential starting point for a bigger story that can also draw attention to you and your games at the same time.

But please give the media a chance to tell. I will never forget when a Grand Slam double champion gave me a cursory 20-minute interview while repeatedly checking his watch. But I’ll never forget the time Luke and Murphy Jensen took me on a helicopter to be part of a clinic they ran during an ATP tournament, or that night in Indian Wells when Mike and Bob suggested I grab one of their clubs and spend five minutes immersed in one of their practice sessions. These are stories that I will write and tell for decades to come. They bring the world of doppelgangers to life in a lively and convincing way.

Please initiate and maintain frequent contact with the media to bring your stories more deeply to life. How about a double diary at every tournament? Or an analysis of such past great binary stars like Paes and Leach? Or a story about imaginary pairings like Ram and John McEnroe? Or a five-minute hit after the game with a random fan in the stands?

You know the vast majority of the fans who watch your games play double. Teach these players by creating classroom content with a video breakdown of key double hits as volleyball, overhead, and return of serve. Tell us some stories about the way good teams communicate, using specific examples from your many experiences around the world. With that in mind, tell us a little bit about why certain players are banding together – and why others are splitting up. On and off the square, doppelgangers can be a fascinating episode.

You don’t have to do everything yourself. Doubles guarantees its own leadership group with someone like Luke Jensen or Wayne Bryan at the helm, who generates and implements ideas, holds everyone accountable and, above all, arouses continued enthusiasm and interest.

I hope you take some of these ideas to heart. Fans love doubles, but mere athletic skills are not enough to involve them in the long term. Give us the chance to get to know you even better.

Nitto ATP Final, Nikola Mektić, Wesley Koolhof, Édouard Roger-Vasselin, Jürgen Melzer, Tennis, Association of Tennis Professionals, Joe Salisbury, Rajeev Ram, Comrade Pavić