The Baseline Awards: Best team chemistry

The 2020 season has been like no other in tennis. This year’s Baseline Awards look at the standout performers and moments during an unusual year.

Over the past three seasons, doubles partners Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic have proven that they can rely on each other through the good and bad times.

And 2020 definitely put their resilience to the test.

The year started off quite perfectly: After winning the WTA Finals at the end of 2019, that momentum carried over to the Australian Open, where they claimed the title for the second time in three years. Over the course of their run in Melbourne, the duo didn’t drop a set in six matches, including a win over the top seeds, Su-Wei Hsieh and Barbora Strycova, in the final.

Their winning streak soon came to a halt in the Doha semifinals. Babos and Mladenovic didn’t get an immediate chance to bounce back as that was their last tournament before the shutdown.

Still, when play resumed, they were among the heavy favorites for the US Open title. However, the 2018 runners-up didn’t get to make a serious charge at the top prize. Mladenovic got caught up in the COVID-19 protocols set up for the tournament, forcing them out of the Grand Slam.

With so many changes to the tour schedule, the spring clay-court stretch was flipped over to the fall, after play in New York. Mladenovic’s recent tough stretch continued over to the French Open singles, where she suffered a controversial loss in the opening round. Determined to put it behind her, she and Babos would go on to win the women’s doubles event for the second year in a row as they beat Alexa Guarachi and Desirae Krawczyk in the final.

This marked the first time Babos and Mladenovic had won two majors in a year together. And navigating through such a difficult season for everyone surely makes their success all the more special.