Best Of 2015: Doubles Review

If only all tournaments were played in London. Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau would be unstoppable it seems.

Twelve key victories in the English capital in 2015 went a long way to securing the year-end No. 1 spot in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings for Rojer and Tecau – making them only the third team in the past 13 years to interrupt the Bryans’ reign at the top and ending the Americans’ six-year run.

In their debut season together in 2014, Rojer and Tecau had lifted eight trophies together. It was quite the feat, but the pair knew they could still achieve even more on a bigger stage. And while their tally amounted to ‘just’ three titles in 2015, those triumphs came at Wimbledon (the first Grand Slam title for both), the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals – where they didn’t lose a set in five matches – and at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Rotterdam.

Indeed, it was a season where the spoils were largely divided in the doubles game. The four Grand Slam championships were won by different teams, and though Bob and Mike Bryan went major-less for the first time since 2004, they still finished as the No. 2-ranked duo courtesy of six ATP World Tour titles – including three at Masters 1000 level – and a runner-up showing at Roland Garros.

The battle for the team year-end No. 1 went right down to the penultimate match of the season, with four teams still in the hunt at the start of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

The Bryans kept their hopes alive in arguably the best contest of the season as they saved five match points to edge Jamie Murray and John Peers 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 16-14 in a Group Ashe/Smith decider at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. But in the subsequent winner-take-all semi-final battle with Rojer/Tecau, it was the Dutch/Romanian pairing who prevailed, sealing the No. 1 ranking and a spot in the final at The O2.

Having notched just two wins between them in three previous visits to The O2, Rojer and Tecau would go on to cap a dream week with victory over Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea in the final.

“It’s amazing,” said Tecau. “We were joking that next year we’re only going to play in London! It’s a great city that we enjoy very much. It was a great year, our second year playing together. We improved as a team. We had bigger goals, a better schedule. We’re always trying to improve our games and our partnership. It’s very rewarding to be able to finish the year being able to do all those little things that you’ve worked on – winning this title, being No. 1, having a Grand Slam on our resume.”

“Our big breakthrough came at Wimbledon,” said Rojer. “Having won that match, playing on Centre Court at Wimbledon, it really gave us a lot of confidence for our other goals. One of them was playing at The O2. It’s such a big event and nice arena. There’s a lot of pressure on the court, but it gives us confidence knowing we can overcome these situations. [Everything we’ve achieved this year] is overwhelming. It’s really, really nice.”

The Bryans also lost their grip on the individual No. 1 spot in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings for the first time since 2012, with Marcelo Melo finishing top of the pile after a standout season. The Brazilian captured six titles with three different partners, including his first Grand Slam triumph at Roland Garros alongside Ivan Dodig, and went on a 17-match winning streak after the US Open – lifting trophies in Tokyo, Shanghai, Vienna and Paris. He and Dodig were semi-finalists at the year-end championships in London.

“Of course all tennis players dream of being No. 1 and winning a Grand Slam,” said Melo. “So I’m pretty happy I could make it. All of my family, my father and mother, are so proud. It’s really nice for me. This year I had my best results so far. I was a bit surprised to start the season so well, but I realised it was going to be my year.”

Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini sprung somewhat of a surprise at the start of the season. The unseeded Italians lit up Melbourne Park as they triumphed at the Australian Open, beating Rojer and Tecau in the semi-finals before overcoming fellow first-time finalists Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the final. Also runners-up in Indian Wells, Monte-Carlo and Shanghai, they would go on to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the first time.

“For sure the Australian Open victory is something we always keep in our minds, it was fantastic,” said Fognini.

Bolelli added, “After the win we immediately started thinking about the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. It was our goal. We made a couple of other very good results this year. Our doubles success helped our confidence in singles too.”

The disappointment of losing the Australian Open final for Herbert and Mahut was forgotten in September when they triumphed at the US Open, becoming the first all-French duo to prevail at Flushing Meadows. It also marked the ninth Grand Slam in a row to have been won by a different men’s doubles team.

“The Australian Open was the first time I had ever won a match at a Grand Slam, and I went on to reach the final with Nicolas. It was all new and great to be part of it,” said Herbert. “The US Open was even bigger. When you’re five years old and you see Grand Slams on TV, you want to be part of it and you work for 15-20 years to have the level to play those kind of tournaments. Then we won it. And it came so fast with Nico. When you realise a childhood dream, it’s amazing and it was the best sensation I’ve had in my whole life.”

Defeat at the US Open marked a second Grand Slam final defeat of the season for Murray and Peers, who had also fallen just short at Wimbledon. The British/Australian pair, who will go their separate ways in 2016, enjoyed a career-best campaign, winning two titles from eight finals and finishing as the fourth best team in the world.