There was a time when players were reigning in both singles and doubles without specialising in one event over the other.
Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis, and at times the Williams sisters, are just a few examples of players who achieved great things in both disciplines.
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But over the past decade, as singles play got more and more physical, many players chose to stick to one or the other with very few doing well in both simultaneously.
This week in Singapore however, two players – Garbine Muguruza and Lucie Safarova – have qualified for the WTA Finals in both singles and doubles with Carla Suarez Navarro barely missing out on a spot in singles, but is playing the doubles alongside Muguruza.
Safarova and Mattek-Sands won two doubles grand slams this year in Melbourne and Paris with the former making the French Open final in singles as well. Meanwhile the Spanish pair of Muguruza and Suarez Navarro, who also qualified to the WTA Finals in doubles last year, have won Tokyo and Birmingham together this season and made two more finals. They also made their top-10 debut in singles, with Muguruza placing runner-up at Wimbledon.
Could this perhaps be a sign that players will once again focus on doing well in both events?
“I think is very tough to play singles and doubles, especially when you are really in high rankings because every match you play, you really need to be 100 per cent,” admits Muguruza.
“Obviously playing singles and doubles makes you more tired. You have to spend more hours in the side practicing, talking and thinking. But I enjoy playing doubles with Carla. We said two years ago, Carla, let's play doubles and see what happens.
“We are playing Masters again, it's amazing. I think it helps me a lot, doubles, as a better player, to learn things. So far I'm enjoying singles and doubles, but it's hard, really hard.”
Hingis, who is partnering Sania Mirza in Singapore and are the top doubles seeds, says that many players compete in both events but they just aren’t good enough doubles players to reach the latter stages.
“I think it's not only the physical impact being too much, but they've been not very successful in the doubles. It's a little bit different event, you have to play differently, have to train for that, as well. You can't think just because you play singles you come into doubles and win that title as well. It doesn't fall from heaven, like everything else,” said Hingis.
Mattek-Sands and Safarova – who refer to themselves as Team Bucie, combining their first names into one – will take on Suarez Navarro and Muguruza on Sunday, while Hingis and Mirza will open their campaign on Monday.
