Sports Then and Now

Underway this week in Sunrise, Florida, the BMW Tennis Championship Tournament enjoys “double” the normal excitement. In addition to providing superlative singles matches, some exciting top-ranked doubles duos are on hand to add another layer of exhilarating tennis.

Doubles play offers tennis aficionados with a real taste of full-scale tennis action. Although “doubles” often finds itself overlooked, wicked serving coupled with fast-paced net play and subtle, yet aggressive, team-play tactics make these matches true fan favorites.

Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes accept the trophy after winning the 2009 French Open Championship in doubles.

At Sunrise this week expect to see some first-rate doubles action provided by teams whose credentials have been built by winning the big events on tour:

#1 Seed –– Dloughy/Paes

Lukas Dloughy and Leander Paes are seeded No. 1 at BMW. Individually ranked Nos. 5 and 6 respectively in doubles play, while owning the overall world No. 5 team ranking in doubles, this two-some leads the pack of talented teams taking the court this week at Sunrise.

In 2009 they won two Grand Slams––the U.S. Open and the French Open. So far this year Dloughy and Paes have made it to the finals at Dubai, the quarterfinals of the 2010 Australian Open, the quarterfinals at Sydney and the finals at Brisbane. They are seeking their first win of the season at Sunrise.

#2 Seed –– Bhupathi/Mirnyi

Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi are currently ATP-ranked Nos. 8 and 11 respectively in doubles play. Combining forces for the first time since 2003, Bhupathi and Mirnyi sit at the No. 81 spot in team rankings. In 2002 they won the U.S. Open Grand Slam doubles title.

Max Mirnyi and Mahesh Bhupathi won the U.S. Open Championship in doubles in 2002.

Since they are both top-ranked and highly successful doubles players, the duo continues to build for better results as the year progresses. This year they teamed for the first time at the Australian Open where they lost in the round of 64. From there the team went on to Memphis advancing to the round of 16 and to Dubai where they made it to the quarterfinals.

Playing at Sunrise affords them additional playing time on hard courts, fine tuning their game before moving on to Miami. Bhupathi and Mirnyi did, however, find themselves overmatched by another splendid pair on hand at the BMW.

Although not seeded at Sunrise, the team of Martin Damm and Filip Polasek are world ranked No. 17 in doubles and offer stiff resistance to any team they face as they demonstrated by upsetting the No. 2 seeded team of Bhupathi/Mirnyi.

Seed #3 –– Kas/Norman

Christopher Kas and Dick Norman, seeded No. 3 at Sunrise, are ranked as world No. 13 in tennis doubles. They represent another reformed team of seasoned doubles players making its way into the 2010 season.

Kas and Norman made it to the semifinals at Doha, the quarterfinals at Sydney, the round of 64 at the 2010 Australian Open, the quarterfinals at Rotterdam and the semifinals at Dubai. This team, however, was upset in the first round by Bobby Reynolds of the U.S. and Andre Sa of Brazil. The competition at Sunrise is stiff this week.

Seed #4 –– Melo/Soares

Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares in doubles action in Auckland, 2010.

Marcelo Melo ranked No. 38 in doubles teamed this year with fellow countryman Bruno Soares of Brazil ranked No. 26. As a team they are world ranked No. 20.

In 2010 this team made it to the quarterfinals in Brisbane, to the finals in Auckland, the round of 64 at the 2010 Australian Open, the quarterfinals in Santiago, the round of 16 at Costa du Sauipe in Brazil, the round of 16 in Memphis and the quarterfinals in Acapulco. They have played a great many tournaments so far in 2010.

Add to these seasoned doubles veterans some exciting talented singles players taking on the role in doubles like Arnaud Clement teamed with fellow Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean plus the combo of Richard Gasquet with German journeyman Michael Berrer and you have the promise of a truly spectacular doubles field.

With these top-ranked players on tap, expect doubles to continue to provide exciting and compelling action at the BMW Tennis Championship this week in Sunrise, Florida.