‘Find another job’: ATP doubles plans leave players fearing the worst

A general view of the Gentlemen’s Doubles first round match between Sander Arends and David Pele of the Netherlands and Tallon Griekspoor and Botic Van De Zandschulp of the Netherlands on day four of The Championships Wimbledon on July 2, 2026 in London, England. (Photo/Getty Images) Wimbledon’s outdoor courts are full of doubles in the middle of the opening week. Spectators with ground tickets, which cost around £30 at SW19, flock to these entertaining contests, drinking Pimm’s and watching the tennis.If the ATP leadership has its way, the doubles draw at Tour-level tournaments will begin to decrease in 2028, as will prize money for the doubles competition, which is already split 80-20 with singles. Rumblings in the playing community, read as singles players, intensified when some of them, despite being ranked in the top-40, took home less money at the end of the season than the top doubles players.One of the biggest challenges facing men’s doubles is its growing separation from the singles game. The WTA Tour, which is not currently considering such changes, has a greater overlap between the singles and doubles rankings. Five of the top 10 women in the doubles rankings – Taylor Townsend, Kateřina Siniaková, Elise Mertensová, Zhang Shuai and Jeļena Ostapenko – are also highly ranked in singles. Among men, on the other hand, only four players from the ATP singles 100 are also in the doubles top 100, they are Ben Shelton, Lorenzo Musetti, Lorenzo Sonego and Rinky Hijikata.It’s a completely different line-up of players in two categories not seen before the Bryan Brothers, twins Mike and Bob Bryan, who started out as doubles specialists. This is exactly what the ATP seems to be aiming to limit, players who develop primarily as doubles specialists from the start.The plan is to reduce the draw size, which currently stands at 16 doubles and 28 singles at ATP 250 events. At the 500 level, it’s 16 doubles and 32 singles, while Masters 1000 events feature 16 doubles and 32 singles. This could be reduced to eight teams in the ATP 250 and 500 tournaments and 16 teams at the Masters 1000 level.In addition, the prize split could move further towards singles, potentially moving to a 90-10 split, which is only a marginal change from what the Grand Slams already operate with.By 2028, the projected prize money for doubles is likely to be around $60 million. The Tour isn’t aiming to cut overall spending, but rather redistribute funds, with up to $20 million being diverted to payouts for early-round individuals through 2028.That may affect the Indians, who have nine players in the top-200, with only three in the top-100 and one, Yuki Bhambri, in the top-50.Earlier this week, the underdogs met with their representatives on the players’ council, Marcelo Areval and Andrea Vavassori, to discuss the scenario they face. Balaji, ranked 59th in the singles doubles rankings, told TOI: “If they make this change, half of us won’t be playing tennis anymore. I have to find another job. If they reduce the draw to eight, of which two will be wildcards, what will be left?”Indians had little luck in the men’s doubles at Wimbledon on Thursday, with US Open semi-finalists Yuki Bhambri and Michael Venus losing to alternates Jean-Julien Rojer and Theodore Winegar 3-6, 4-6. Earlier, Sriram Balaji and his Brazilian partner Marcelo Demoliner failed to capitalize on a strong start to go down 6-3, 6-7 (2), 4-6 to Sander Gill and Sam Verbeek.Alternates Anirudh Chandrasekar and Japan’s Takeru Yuzuki lost to Ignacio Buso and Marco Trungelliti 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (7).