World No. 1 Iga Swiatek was among a handful of Top 100 players who did not play doubles in WTA competitions for a full calendar year this season.
In fact, the Polish star hasn’t featured in WTA doubles since 2021 when she partnered five-time Grand Slams doubles champion Bethanie Mattek-Sands in Indian Wells which was held in October due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier that same season, Swiatek reached the Roland Garros doubles final together with the American where they would lose to Czech pair Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova. The 22-year-old has elected to focus on her singles career since the start of 2022.
And that decision has bore fruits for Swiatek who became World No. 1 for the first time in April and has reigned for more than 75 weeks. It is worth noting that Swiatek played mixed doubles with Hubert Hurkacz at the inaugural United Cup, but not doubles at WTA-level tournaments.
Other notable mentions who chose to compete solely in the singles fold are Petra Kvitova and Camila Giorgi who have historically found it distractive to play doubles. Giorgi has played three matches as a pro in doubles, the last of which was in Rome nine years ago.
Kvitova, meanwhile, last played at Indian Wells in 2016. The Czech Republic has produced some top-notch doubles players for many years, but the 33-year-old is clearly not in that category. But she’s reserved her name in tennis folklore as a multiple champion at Wimbledon in singles.
The other unheralded players in this list include China’s Qinwen Zheng who broke the world’s Top 15 in 2023, the Ukrainian duo of Elina Svitolina (who returned from maternity absence) and Lesia Tsurenko, and lastly highly-talented Dane Clara Tauson.
There are many factors as to why some of these players chose not to play doubles, with the overriding reason being the compact tennis schedule. Differences in strategies can also affect a player’s decision-making, so some of them may not necessarily feel the need to play doubles to improve their conditioning.
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