Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Doubles teams--who can keep up with them?

Some players on the tour play with several different doubles partners throughout the season. Some are locked-in pairs, but those seem to change more often than I can keep track of them. Here are some notable doubles pairings, for one reason or the other:

Stosur and Stubbs--When Sam Stosur split with Lisa Raymond, she said she was going to concentrate mostly on singles this year. Raymond paired with Kveta Peschke, who had been Rennae Stubbs' partner. Stosur and Stubbs then paired for what Stosur said would be a temporary arrangement just for the Australian season. Obvious, that plan has changed, for they have played together regulary outside of the Australian tournaments.

Chan and Chuang--When I first saw them playing with other partners, I wondered what was going on. Now it seems pretty obvious: They have split up as a team. Too bad.

The Bethanie Mattek mystery partner--While Mattek was recovering from an injury, she told reporters she wanted a regular doubles partner and was talking to several women about pairing with them. She is playing with Nadia Petrova in Miami. However, I think Petrova is taken as a regular partner.*

Hantuchova and Sugiyama--They used to play together, then Sugiyama began to play with Katarina Srebotnik. They had a lot of success, but now Sugiyama is back with Hantuchova. I don't know why. Srebotnik is still out with an injury, but the rumor is that she is going to partner with *Nadia Petrova.

Gallovits and Govortsova--They played together for the first time in Charleston last year, signing up at the very last minute, and went all the way to the final. They were fantastic, and complemented each other quite well. Since then, I think they have played together only once, and I wish I knew what that was about.

Dechy and Zvonareva--They made a really good team, but do not play together anymore, either.

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