Women's doubles has always been a joy to watch.  The number of top singles players who compete on the doubles circuit helps further enhance the importance of this form of tennis. The financial rewards for a successful doubles team are also noticeable - many players making more money on the doubles court than they do at singles! Or is this just because they don't have the confidence in themselves and need a partner to encourage their every shot?

There have been many doubles partnerships which I can remember in the 20 years I have been watching the WTA tour. Some that stand out are Sukova/Novotna, Garrison/MJ Fernandez, Sanchez-Vicario/Neiland, Hingis/Kournikova, Shriver/Navratilova, Davenport/Raymond, the Williams sisters and of course my favourites, Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva.

When most people think of the greatest doubles teams of all time, it is hard to beat the talents of Pam Shriver and Martina Navratilova.  Their record in the 1980s was second to none, winning Grand Slam after Grand Slam and being ranked No.1 throughout the decade.  What was even more remarkable is that both players were at the top of their game in singles as well, especially Navratilova who showed her brilliant physique, regularly playing finals in singles and doubles week in week out. Simply brilliant.

'How did a Belarusian communicate with a Puerto Rican? The answer was they didn't need to!'


Navratilova was probably the greatest individual doubles player of all time, winning women's and mixed-doubles tournaments throughout her career - a total of 41 Grand Slam events in all, with a massive 21 women's successes with her great friend Pam Shriver. This partnership seemed to grow and grow due to the length of time each player spent on the court together. They knew they could trust each other's shot choice and court movement, a great quality in doubles tennis.

Gigi and Natasha were also good at this and were true friends.  Both spent most of their careers together on tour and it showed in their results. But how did a Belarusian communicate with a Puerto Rican? The answer was they didn't need to! The communication was inbred into both players as soon as they started practising on the court. Hardly any words needed to be spoken beween the two. A smile of a grunt could say it all!

Unfortunately I am not old enough to remember too much of the great American duo in action and so my women's doubles heroines would have to be Fernandez and Zvereva. Although not my favourite singles players, the two combined well to gain the admiration and the support of the crowd. 

The unusual partnership was a huge success in the 1990s after the domination of Shriver/Navratilova ended.  Both were good singles players but found true and everlasting success on the doubles court, winning a fantastic 38 tournaments together. 

Of these, 14 successes came in Grand Slam events - five French Opens, four Wimbledons, three US Opens and two at the Australian Open.  The pairing had so much fun on the court, regularly laughing, having a joke with their opponents and generally lighting up the court with their smiles.  If only the Olympics allowed mixed-nation teams to compete with each other then the pair would surely have had a gold medal to add to their many titles.

However, Gigi had to partner her namesake Mary-Joe Fernandez at the 1992 Olympics but still managed to win a gold medal without her European partner, showing her class. As for their Grand Slam successes the pair were most dominant between 1992-94 where they won a fantastic nine out of the 12 played!

They always looked like they were having fun and it paid off with the amount of success they had. Both had other doubles partners with whom they were also very successful - but this partnership is what most fans will remember Fernandez and Zvereva for. They where an all-time great doubles force. Zvereva won a total of 80 womens doubles titles in her career and Fernandez 66, making them true legends on court.

Currently there are still many good doubles players on the WTA tour. I wish the Williams sisters would play more together, but they now seem to be concentrating more on their singles play - and who can blame them! The likes of Lia Raymond, Rennae Stubbs, Ai Sugiyama, Liezel Huber and Cara Blackare brilliant but it's hard to find any pairing to match the enthusiasm and love of the doubles game more than my favourites Gigi and Natasha.