ATPTour.com’s annual season-in-review collection appears again at 2022’s greatest matches, greatest upsets, most dramatic comebacks and extra.
From large serving and defiant defence to speedy reactions and razor-sharp volleying, the ATP Tour’s doubles motion affords continuous depth and pleasure to followers around the globe.
Despite enjoying a format the place every level, sport, set and match may be determined by the best of margins, some pairs have discovered a option to constantly rise above the remaining in 2022. Today, ATPTour.com appears at a few of these best-performing groups from an action-packed season on the doubles circuit.
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Koolhof/Skupski Shine In First Year Together
Seven tour-level titles, a 56-19 match file, and the year-end No. 1 doubles crown. As first seasons enjoying collectively go, Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski may hardly have requested for extra.
“We win collectively, lose collectively, share moments on and off courtroom collectively… In January the press was there from the start,” stated Koolhof after the pair had been topped ATP Doubles No. 1 offered by Pepperstone on the Nitto ATP Finals in November. Their achievements in a whirlwind first 12 months as a group included three ATP Masters 1000 titles, received in Madrid, Montreal and Paris.
Even adjustments in floor or circumstances did little to gradual the Koolhof/Skupski successful machine. Their total tally of seven tour-level titles included triumphs on outside arduous courts, clay, grass and indoor arduous. They additionally carried out strongly on the majors, reaching the quarter-finals at three of the 4 Grand Slams, together with a championship match run on the US Open.
Those stellar performances as a group propelled each Koolhof and Skupski to the highest of the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings. Dutchman Koolhof hit high spot on 7 November following the duo’s Rolex Paris Masters triumph, earlier than Great Britain’s Skupski joined the Dutchman as joint World No. 1 every week later.
Ram/Salisbury Built For The Big Stage
Few groups extra constantly introduced their greatest to large events in 2022 than Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.
The American-British pair lifted its second and third ATP Masters 1000 titles with high-class shows on the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (Ram and Salisbury’s first tour-level title collectively on clay) and on the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. They backed up these successes by turning into simply the second group to efficiently defend the lads’s doubles title on the US Open, after legendary ATP Tour duo Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde.
“Those [Masters 1000s and Grand Slams] are those we need to win, the massive ones,” Salisbury advised ATPTour.com previous to November’s Nitto ATP Finals. “Even if it’s solely a pair a 12 months, these are those we’re going for. I feel it’s good we carry out our greatest at these greater tournaments.”
The pair efficiently continued that pattern with its fourth and last tour-level of the 12 months in Turin, the place it went undefeated to say its maiden Nitto ATP Finals crown in fashion and end a standout 12 months on Tour with a 37-14 file.
Just like Koolhof and Skupski, each Ram and Salisbury rose to develop into No. 1 within the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings for the primary time in 2022. Salisbury held the place from April till the start of October, when his companion Ram took over high spot till Koolhof’s ascent 5 weeks later.
‘Special Ks’ Light Up Doubles Circuit
“We positively don’t practise doubles in any respect,” stated Nick Kyrgios prior to creating his Nitto ATP Finals debut alongside Thanasi Kokkinakis in November. “We don’t do any doubles drills or something like that. Maybe it may be a bonus, perhaps a drawback at instances, as a result of we solely do our personal factor.”
One of probably the most uniquely gifted pairs to grace the doubles courtroom in 2022, Kokkinakis and Kyrgios started their season in fashion by charging to victory at their dwelling Grand Slam, the Australian Open. A semi-final run in Miami and a second tour-level title as a group in Atlanta adopted because the pair racked up a 20-7 file throughout the eight tournaments it performed.
Yet these outcomes solely inform half the story of Kokkinakis and Kyrgios’ time on the doubles courtroom. The pair revelled in placing on a present for followers, who had been engrossed by its thrilling mix of big-serving, outrageous shotmaking, and joyous celebrating. The greater and louder the ambiance, the extra energised the duo appeared to develop into.
Despite enjoying comparatively few tournaments throughout the season, Kokkinakis and Kyrgios certified for his or her Nitto ATP Finals debut in Turin as one of many eight best-performing groups on Tour. Kokkinakis believes it was a reward for merely sticking to their pure sport.
“I feel we deliver our singles strengths onto the doubles courtroom,” he stated in Italy. “If we attempt to be doubles gamers as an alternative of enjoying our [natural] sport, it’s not going to come back out too good for us… I feel we’re going to proceed to play singles on a doubles courtroom.”
History-Making Arevalo/Rojer’s Big Impact
An 11-match successful streak sparked first-year pairing Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer’s 2022 season into life. The duo lifted back-to-back ATP Tour titles in Dallas and Delray Beach in February earlier than a championship match run in Acapulco to announce its arrival as probably the most full groups on the circuit.
That early-season type laid the muse for a stellar 12 months for the Salvadoran-Dutch pair, which went on to clinch its maiden Grand Slam title at Roland Garros and a fourth tour-level title of the 12 months on the indoor arduous courts of Stockholm in October.
Rojer & Arevalo carry the trophy at Roland Garros. Photo Credit: Adam Pretty/Getty Images
Their greatest title triumph of the 12 months nearly by no means occurred. Arevalo and Rojer saved three championship factors in opposition to Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek within the Roland Garros last earlier than finishing a 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-3 win that etched each their names within the historical past books — Arevalo as the primary Grand Slam males’s doubles champion from Central America, and Rojer because the oldest Grand Slam males’s doubles champion within the Open Era.
“I actually need to thank my companion,” the then-40-year-old Rojer said after the dramatic victory in Paris. “We spent plenty of time residing and coaching in Miami and we determined to play collectively. I do know this child has an enormous coronary heart. He confirmed it immediately and I thank him. I’m glad he trusts me, and I’m so pleased and happy with this second right here.”
Mektic/Pavic Masterclass Continues
Having a profitable debut season collectively is one factor. Backing it up is one other.
Yet Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic had no issues doing simply that this 12 months. The 2021 year-end No. 1 pair within the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Teams Rankings added 5 ATP Tour titles to their tally with some sometimes elegant performances throughout a variety of surfaces.
Clay-court crowns in Rome (their fourth collectively at ATP Masters 1000 degree) and Geneva had been adopted by victories on grass at The Queen’s Club and Eastbourne throughout a red-hot run that noticed the Croatians win 24 of 26 matches throughout six tournaments in May and June. That included a run to the ultimate at Wimbledon, the place they fell only one win wanting finishing an unbelievable defence of their 2021 Wimbledon title regardless of Pavic enjoying with a fractured wrist from the primary set of their semi-final.
“We gave our best and we gave it a fight,” said Pavic after Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell prevailed 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(10-2) in a marathon championship match at SW19. “I think we can be very proud of ourselves for those two matches.”
There was to be no stopping Mektic and Pavic in October on the Astana Open, nonetheless, the place they lifted their fifth and last title of the season on the indoor ATP 500 occasion. The pair then rounded out a formidable 51-21 season with a run to the championship match on the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, their twenty first tour-level last look in simply two seasons collectively.
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