By Vic Braden

The official line is that doubles is here to stay. But the world’s best doubles players will tell you a different story. In their opinion, officials have done everything possible, to date, to minimize the value of doubles. That’s a terrible mistake, in my opinion.

I’m not so naïve that I don’t notice that the stands have fewer spectators when the doubles begin. However, the old saying that “the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts” seems to apply here. The 40 percent of spectators who stay to watch the doubles represent nearly 90 percent of the playing population. Doubles leagues in the United States are many times more popular than singles leagues. Is it right for us to say that the 40 percent of the spectators aren’t as important as the 60 percent who viewed only the singles matches? I’m often reminded of successful television shows that remove minor actors, only to find that they have lost some unexplainable balance and are left with a reduced number of viewers.

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