Tennis Needs Doubles – By Wayne Bryan

Written by: Staff on 7th January 2014

Tennis Needs Doubles - By Wayne Bryan

epa03778497 Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan celebrate with their trophies after winning the gentlemen's doubles final against Croat Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo of Brazil for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 06 July 2013. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

Editors Note: We are sharing a personal letter we received today from Wayne Bryan. We can’t emphasize how strongly we feel toward the game of doubles. Instead of cutting back on doubles as John McEnroe wishes, why doesn’t the tennis world just cut back on John McEnroe?

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Doubles is a great game and has been around for over a hundred years. Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles, Senior Doubles, Boys Doubles, Girls Doubles, Junior Mixed Doubles, Father Son Doubles, Father Daughter Doubles, Mother Son Doubles, Mother Daughter Doubles, High School Doubles, College Doubles, Davis Cup Doubles, Fed Cup Doubles, ALTA Doubles, USTA League Doubles, and Junior Team Tennis Doubles are all so important to our tennis mosaic.

Doubles gives our sport more width and breadth. It broadens tennis skills. Requires all the shots. Has amazingly exciting points. Wonderful team work and tactics. If singles is checkers, doubles is chess.

Watch the top ten singles points at the US Open and watch the ten best doubles points at the US Open and tell me which are the most amazing.

If we had more doubles programming, promotion, and coaching we could greatly increase the number of kids playing tennis. Doubles is fun for juniors and it really rounds out skills and teaches additional life lessons – – – and some youngsters just love the “team thing”. Plus, it gives them a second chance if they lose their singles match at a tournament. And don’t forget Mixed Doubles – – – boys and girls truly love that and there are also great life lessons inherent in Mixed.

And there are always more smiles on the doubles court. Hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season . . .

Best,