The key purpose of the doubles matches appears to be to give the audience an entertaining display involving a range of shots; the players tend to fool around, and very often there will be a set piece - how long can all four players keep a rally going at the net, for example. Results don't really matter. Doubles teams may change from day to day - in fact, one year I can remember seeing a player being "substituted" part way through the first set (the reason being that perennial crowd favourite and king of trick shots Mansour Bahrami was late in reaching the Albert Hall from Heathrow).
In many ways I'd like to see a competitive doubles tournament here. Last year there were "semifinals" and a final, but how the semifinal lineup was determined is anyone's guess - presumably the combinations that made most sense at the time, for the organisers and the players. However, I can see that the exhibition doubles fill a useful need, especially if the singles matches are over fast. An exhibition match is somewhat elastic - it can, if necessary, be stretched to fit the time available. And often is - ending points fast and furiously really isn't the idea.
There's also the question of a big serve versus an audience's liking for rallies. During his on-court interview after defeating Jeremy Bates, Pete Sampras remarked that he'd have liked a slightly slower court, so that there could have been more play.
The BlackRock Masters is played on GreenSet, which is a medium-fast hard court surface, but it was certainly fast enough for the Sampras serve to look unassailable. During the match, Bates, the former British number one and ex-Davis Cup captain, at one point was heard to say that he was "running out of ideas" for dealing with the Sampras serve. He was playing well himself, and (with one exception during the first set) was holding his own serve without serious difficulties. Sampras, however, was able to sail through the second-set tiebreak with a slew of aces and unreturnables, to take the match. His serve looks just as impressive as you would expect, and the crowd sounded delighted to see him back in London at last. However, I'm sure they would have liked to see a few more of the passing shots and putaway winners that were the highlights of that match, much as Sampras himself might have liked more opportunity to produce them, with the audience in mind. There's a fine balance to be struck in choosing a court speed here - too slow a surface likely rewards the younger players, meaning those with better "legs", more than the older ones. Slowing down the Sampras serve a little would also mean blunting the McEnroe serve, and he may be more in need of it to be competitive. The surface here is probably as democratic as it can be, given the range of eras covered by the big names appearing.
I've also had time to see Stefan Edberg in action today, coming back from a slow start against Guy Forget (who served very well during the first set), and eventually taking the match in a Champions' tiebreak. This was a thoroughly entertaining match, with plenty of net play from both players (oh, how I wish I'd got a good picture of one particularly exquisite Edberg high backhand volley winner).
I've been hiding in the press box for today's matches so far, but last night I was taking pictures courtside during the match between Cedric Pioline and John McEnroe. Last year I didn't quite have the courage to be courtside for a McEnroe match (I think I was worried about accidentally doing something to annoy him), but what the hail - how often will I get the chance to photograph the man at close quarters? I think I've added plenty to last year's gallery of unique (but always pained) McEnroe facial expressions.
I'll be staying on to see tonight's Round Robin singles match between Greg Rusedski and Pat Cash. Given the fireworks that have existed between the two in the past (anyone who has read Cash's autobiography will know what I'm talking about - Cash once coached Rusedski, and it didn't end well, for various reasons including monetary ones, in his version of events) it could turn into a testy encounter. Most of the singles matches here are played in a positive, friendly spirit, but at times I've seen Cash become irascible - usually directed at himself, if he feels he's not playing as well as he should. When Rusedski played here last year, he was genial with the audience and his opponents - far different to how he was when playing on the ATP tour - it's amazing to see how the removal of dog-eat-dog pressures and the relaxed nature of this tour brings out some players' personalities. I'm glad that I had the chance to see today's smiling, relaxed Sampras. And not forgetting fist-pumping Stefan Edberg. Some players here seem more inclined to use such martial gestures than they would have done during their time on the ATP tour - Lleyton Hewitt has much to answer for.
When I get home tonight I'll try to upload some web galleries of the pictures I've taken so far - watch this space for a link.
Meanwhile you can talk about tennis, or go off-topic.
