Tennis

Doubles Debate Heats Up in Madrid: “They Don’t Justify the Cost”

Published: Jun 26, 2025, 3:55 PM
5 min read
Updated: Jul 8, 2025, 7:45 AM
Madrid Open chief Gerard Tsobanian says doubles events must evolve

Madrid Open chief Gerard Tsobanian says doubles events must evolve (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

MADRID — The debate surrounding doubles is growing in intensity. While Salvadoran Marcelo Arévalo has criticized those who disparage the format, the head of the Madrid Masters 1000 Gerard Tsobanian sees things differently: doubles tournaments must be reformed because they cost an unjustifiable amount of money.

“Doubles don’t sell enough to justify the cost they represent for a tournament,” Tsobanian, president and CEO of the Spanish tournament, told RG and CLAY in an interview.

“Unfortunately, in tennis tournaments, doubles don’t sell enough to justify the cost they represent for a tournament. I would like every singles player to also play doubles. Or that every doubles player be required to have a certain singles ranking,” added the Frenchman.

Tsobanian believes the doubles tournament cannot settle for specialists alone. The way to attract spectators and justify the event’s cost, he says, is to bring in “top-level players.”

“An endless debate,” he adds with some frustration.

The total prize money for the latest edition of the Madrid tournament was €8,055,385. The winner of the singles tournament, Norway’s Casper Ruud, took home €985,030. The doubles champions, Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos and Spain’s Marcel Granollers, shared €400,560. Tsobanian argues that doubles does not justify its cost compared to what singles generates. And he leaves open the question: how many tickets are bought to see a doubles player?

Doubles, an essential and historic part of tennis, no longer features the best-known players. While in the 1980s a star like John McEnroe formed one of the world’s top duos with Peter Fleming, that was the exception. The best players have largely not followed the example of greats from the 1950s and ’60s, who played doubles with as much consistency and enthusiasm as singles.

For the “Big Three” — Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer — doubles was a rarity, although Federer and Nadal won Olympic gold in the event in 2008 and 2016, respectively. Today, stars like Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz also place little emphasis on doubles.

The tradition of doubles in women’s tennis held strong until more recently, with legends like Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis and the Williams sisters frequently competing. But in recent years, top women have also distanced themselves from the discipline.

On Calendar Reform and Latin American Expansion

A seasoned observer of the tour, Tsobanian acknowledges the debate over how to structure the men’s calendar is also “endless.” But he opposes transforming the circuit into a space solely for elite players. In that sense, he diverges from his mentor, Romanian Ion Tiriac, who has long advocated for a Formula 1-style structure — only the best players competing each week.

“I don’t see it. Cancel the 250s and only have 500s and Masters 1000s to create a top league like they want to do right now? The question is whether the players want it, and I don’t think they do, because they want to have the chance to play in smaller tournaments. Djokovic, for example, played and won the ATP 250 in Geneva before Roland Garros.”

“I think you have to have a clear vision. If the top players play — how many of them, and from when can we call them elite? The top 50 in the rankings? The top 40, 30, 20? Can they only play 500s, Masters 1000s and Grand Slams, or can they play smaller tournaments too?”

“It’s true that there are a lot of 250s, but that’s also the strength of tennis. It’s a worldwide, global sport. There’s a tournament every week somewhere in the world. We take the sport to all parts of the world, combining men and women in the same event — something not many sports do. Tennis is a complete product. It’s unique, it’s privileged, and we have to preserve that.”

Tsobanian also addressed Latin America’s long-standing ambition to host a major tournament, specifically a Masters 1000. American Butch Buchholz, the creator of the Key Biscayne tournament, pursued the idea in the late 1990s when the format was still called Super 9. Tiriac also considered the possibility.

“South America has a long tradition of important tennis, with great players. There were discussions about bringing a Masters 1000 to Buenos Aires, and I was involved in discussions with Tiriac and the people interested. They told us about what a great place Buenos Aires was to host a Masters 1000.”

When was that? “Less than ten years ago, before Tiriac sold the tournament [from Madrid to IMG].”

The idea, Tsobanian believes, makes sense. But there’s one major obstacle.

“The problem is economic. While in the Middle East it’s more of an audience problem, in Latin America it would be more of an economic problem than an audience problem.”

Tennis Reporter
Founder of CLAY, a global tennis media platform. More than 70 Grand Slams covered during a 35-year journalistic career. Sebastian is the former Sports Editor of the German news agency DPA and the Argentine newspaper La Nación. He has reported on every FIFA World Cup since 1998 and every Olympic Games since 1996. Correspondent for Spanish newspaper El Mundo in South America, he co-chaired the International Tennis Writers Association (ITWA), an organization that gathers the 100 most influential tennis journalists in the world, and is currently a board member.
Interests:
Tennis
Olympic Sports
Politics
Music
Travel
Books

More RG Exclusive Interviews

Soccer
Analysis
Premier League Title Contenders: Who Did Best Business For 2025–26?

From Arsenal to Liverpool, we assess which Premier League title contender did the best transfer business ahead of the 2025–26 season.

20
07/30/2025
Ryan Murray
Ryan Murray
Premier League Title Contenders: Who Did Best Business For 2025–26?
Tennis
Interview
Betting Threat Shakes Tomás Barrios, But he’s Focused on Top 100

Tomás Barrios opens up about a terrifying betting threat in Mexico and the changes he’s making to break into the ATP top 100.

9
07/30/2025
Sebastián Varela
Sebastián Varela
Betting Threat Shakes Tomás Barrios, But he’s Focused on Top 100
Hockey
News Report
Jimmy Vesey Weighs KHL Offers as NHL Future Uncertain

NHL veteran Jimmy Vesey is exploring a move to the KHL, with SKA St. Petersburg emerging as a top contender for the 32-year-old forward.

4
07/29/2025
Daria Tuboltseva
Daria Tuboltseva
Jimmy Vesey Weighs KHL Offers as NHL Future Uncertain
Football
News Report
Manhattan Shooter Who Killed Four Was Targeting NFL Headquarters

The Manhattan shooter who killed four people on Monday evening was targeting the NFL headquarters but took the wrong elevator bank.

5
07/29/2025
Quinn Allen
Quinn Allen
Manhattan Shooter Who Killed Four Was Targeting NFL Headquarters
Prev
...
Next

Tennis Writers

Karina Niebla
Karina Niebla
Tennis Reporter

Karina Niebla is an Argentinian journalist with more than 15 years of experience.

A former editor at Clarín, she currently contributes to elDiarioAR, Revista Acción, Infobae and CLAY.

In 2025, she was selected for a journalism fellowship with the Internationale Journalisten-Programme (IJP) in Germany.

She covers society, cities, transport, culture and tennis.

Niebla has published features and opinion pieces on nightlife culture, urban life and public policy. She writes in Spanish and English, with intermediate German. Tennis and public space nerd.

She lives between Buenos Aires and Berlin.

Meet All Our Experts
This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Read our
Privacy Policy
.