WATCH—Court Report - Career milestones for men's players:

Advertising

2018 was a particularly tough season for Jack Sock and CoCo Vandeweghe in singles as they struggled with form and injuries, respectively, and fell out of the world’s Top 100 after finishing in the Top 10 the year prior.

Fortunately, the two Americans found success on the doubles court. Sock won two majors and the ATP Finals among his six titles overall, while Vandeweghe captured her first Grand Slam at the US Open, partnering with Ashleigh Barty.

That’s three past and present top-15-ranked singles players that shined on the game’s biggest stages in 2018, and they were joined by a fourth, too: Kristina Mladenovic, who triumphed at the Australian Open with Timea Babos. It’s all a continuance of the notion that singles play can translate on the doubles court—to great effect.

In the men’s game, last year was somewhat of an anomaly this decade as the only player with even one singles ranking point to his credit to win a Grand Slam was Ryan Harrison, who teamed up with Michael Venus to take the French Open. Those two beat Donald Young and veteran doubles specialist Santiago Gonzalez in the final, making it the lone Slam to feature two players with singles rankings as Young was in the Top 60, along with Harrison.

This year’s Australian Open final featured two teams comprised of specialists as Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic defeated Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah for the title. Marach and Pavic then fell in the French Open championship to Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, both of whom still maintain solid singles rankings.

After that, it was Sock and Mike Bryan’s time to take over at the last two majors of the year. The duo, who teamed up after Bob Bryan was sidelined due to a hip injury, swept through Wimbledon and the US Open, defeating doubles specialists Venus and Raven Klaasen and Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo in those respective finals.

Advertising

The line between singles and doubles blurred to great effect in 2018

The line between singles and doubles blurred to great effect in 2018

Sock, who previously won Wimbledon in 2014 with Vasek Pospisil, was mired in a season-long slump in singles, though his ranking was still in the Top 20 during those struggles. The young American, who finished 2017 in London at the ATP Finals for the first time, managed to make a return trip there this year in doubles as he and Bryan won the championship.

Over the course of his career, Sock’s doubles play has overshadowed his singles accomplishments as he’s won multiple Masters titles and an Olympics Bronze Medal with Steve Johnson. He’s also shined in mixed doubles, too, winning the US Open and a Gold Medal with Melanie Oudin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, respectively.

Before she took a break from the game to pursue professional cricket, Barty was in a similar boat. The Australian reached four Grand Slam finals with her countrywoman, the recently retired Casey Dellacqua, then tacked on a fifth one at last year’s French Open as she started her ascent up the singles rankings.

Aside from their US Open triumph, Barty and Vandeweghe also won the Miami Open to add to Barty’s title haul: She won another two titles with Demi Schuurs and took home the top prize in singles twice to join Elise Mertens as the only players, male or female, to finish in the Top 15 in both rankings.

Throughout the course of the game, many of the all-time greats—such as the legendary Australians of the 1950s and ‘60s, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe and the Williams sisters—have been dominant in both singles and doubles. Then, as the evolution of the singles game led to a more intense workload, playing in both fields became less of a priority. The advent of the doubles specialist also made it harder for singles players to dip in and effectively compete.

As a more “one-up, one-back” style comes into play, singles players have found room to get in extra matches as opposed to spending more time on the practice court and find success. The traditional notion of whomever holds onto the net will win has been challenged time and again. Some singles players, like John Isner, are finding the benefits of a strong doubles run can help with their mental game as well.

Isner was the only member of the Top 10 on the men’s side to win a doubles title as the American teamed up with Sock to triumph in Indian Wells, their second Masters 1000 crown together. Off to a slow start in singles at the time, Isner carried the momentum from the desert to South Beach as he won the Miami Open, the most prestigious singles title of his career.

The University of Georgia alum would go on to enjoy his best season, finishing at No. 10 in the world and adding to the idea that success can be found in both disciplines.