NEW YORK – Players at the U.S. Open describe doubles like dating: There's the need to pick a partner, gauge chemistry, and then determine if they'll stick it out for the long haul or go their separate ways — and then maybe get back together.
So there was something akin to courtship before anyone took the court in women's, men's or mixed doubles this week at Flushing Meadows, a process of putting together pairs that everyone involved hopes will go the distance and lead to a trophy.
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Taylor Townsend, one half of the reigning Wimbledon women's doubles title-winning duo, knows her enviable combination of left-handed power and touch at the net make her desirable. So she's not surprised when she looks at her phone and sees text messages — occasionally from numbers she doesn't recognize — sent by players shooting their shot.
“Definitely people knocking on my door,” she said.
Alas, Townsend is in a committed relationship, back at the U.S. Open with Katerina Siniakova after they teamed up at the All England Club. Townsend said they want to see if, despite only a half season together, they can qualify for the season-ending WTA Finals for the top eight teams.
But many times, doubles is two people who are single seeing how they might work as a couple.
“I’ve found partners, like, the day before sign-in,” said Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who has won nine Grand Slam titles in women's and mixed doubles. "It’s not that uncommon to just be like, ‘You don’t have one? Let’s go.’”
She's not exaggerating. That happened last year for Anna Danilina and Harri Heliovaara in New York, pairing up just before the entry deadline and going on to win the mixed doubles trophy.
“Sometimes it works like a dream. You never know,” Heliovaara said.
Many teams prefer to avoid last-minute scrambling, like Australians Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell, who are entered in their sixth consecutive tournament.
“We’re like a married couple at this point,” Purcell said.
Sara Errani enjoys stability, too. She won a career Grand Slam in doubles with Roberta Vinci and now plays with Jasmine Paolini, her partner for a gold at the Paris Olympics for Italy.
“To play doubles well, I definitely need a partner I trust and with whom I feel free to say everything I’m thinking. That helps me a lot,” Errani said. “I find it hard to play doubles with someone I don’t know well or have a friendship with.”
Still, even some couples who seem to have it all don't last.
Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova split up last year after winning a career Grand Slam and an Olympic gold medal for the Czech Republic together.
Siniakova has done just fine, teaming with Coco Gauff to win the French Open before pairing up with Townsend to win the next Grand Slam tournament. But it's been an adjustment looking for someone to play with.
“Usually I’m set for the whole year with the same partner, because I want to keep it the same and try to get to the final stages,” Siniakova said. “This year it’s a little bit different."
In mixed doubles, too. When Siniakova and Tomas Machac hugged and kissed after winning gold in Paris, it sent social media buzzing with speculation about whether the pair was or was not a couple.
No firm answers then and none now — beyond that they're not playing together in Flushing Meadows.
“Next time, maybe we’ll play mixed, but not this time,” Machac said Thursday.
Mattek-Sands now plays with Sofia Kenin; they won their opening match in New York. But at 39 and on tour since 2005, Mattek-Sands knows there are too many times during the sport's lengthy calendar that both members of a team can't — or simply won't — play the same week.
For those times, she said, players will “throw some feelers out there: ‘Hey, if you’re free, let me know.’”
Mixed doubles is played only at the four Grand Slams events and Olympics. Mattek-Sands is playing with her fourth mixed partner this year, and says the mad rush to pair up is akin to the lights coming on and a slow song starting at a dance.
“You’re like, ‘Do you want to play? Like, what’s your ranking?’” Mattek-Sands said, mimicking pointing at different people.
For Heliovaara and Danilina, their ranking wasn't high enough to play together at the year's first three majors. Eligibility for mixed is determined by the players' combined doubles ranking, sometimes forcing players who liked a partner to look for a new one.
But like a Hallmark Channel movie coming out of the last commercial, this story of the couple who seemed so good together was saved just in the nick of time.
Thanks to the Wimbledon title he won with Henry Patten, Heliovaara soared back to his current No. 11 spot. With Danilina at No. 48, that was good enough to get them into the field in New York.
“This might be the secret to our relationship,” he joked. “We only see each other at the U.S. Open, once a year.”
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AP Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich contributed.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis