The fight over player treatment is growing louder across professional tennis. While ATP and WTA singles players have already demanded a bigger share of Grand Slam revenue, frustration is now spilling into the doubles circuit too. With the recent ATP proposal to drastically reduce doubles draws from 2028, players on the ATP side have now openly pushed back against yet another major change.

“Doubles isn’t a carnival sideshow. It is one of the most successful parts of tennis – integral to the amateur game – with the potential to do so much more,” the ATP doubles players said in a joint statement. “Yet the impact of the ATP’s proposals will be to diminish the sporting excellence that is professional doubles and turn off the pipeline of pro doubles players and the entire infrastructure that supports them.”

“Doubles is not an afterthought we fell into. It has always been part of this sport’s identity, not a discount version of it. Do the maths on what that means for anyone outside the top 30: it will be impossible to make a living. This is not a minor adjustment. It is a plan to end doubles as a viable profession, dressed up as a cost-saving measure – and it is being pushed through with almost no transparency and almost no consultation with the players whose careers and livelihoods are on the line,” the statement added. 

The reaction comes after the men’s tennis organisation proposed changes that could cut the number of players in doubles events by half within the next two years. 

During a meeting at the All-England Club this week, the ATP laid out a plan that could reduce ATP 1000 doubles draws to just 16 teams, while smaller tournaments could have only 8 teams competing.

The financial gap between the top singles and doubles has already been a major issue for years, and this recent proposal has only made that divide feel even bigger. 

Take the example of the Indian Wells Open this year, where the Italian Jannik Sinner earned $1.151 million for winning the Masters singles title, while Guido Andreozzi and Manuel Guinard received only $234,000 for winning the doubles crown. 

Apart from far more prize money, the singles players also have much greater opportunities when it comes to sponsorship deals and visibility.

Under the ATP’s new controversial proposal, the prize money share dedicated to doubles will be reduced from the current 20% to just 10% of total tournament earnings at standard ATP events, with that money instead being redistributed toward singles players on the tour.

And with the issue now spreading debate across the ATP doubles tour, the players and coaches have started speaking out more openly against the controversial idea. 

Calvin Betton and Pierre-Hugues Herbert slam the controversial proposal

One of the biggest problems men’s doubles players are facing right now is how far it has drifted away from the singles game. On the WTA side, the picture looks different. The WTA Tour is not considering any similar changes.

In fact, 5 of the top-10 women in the WTA doubles rankings are also highly ranked singles players, including the American Taylor Townsend, Katerina Siniakova, Elise Mertens, Zhang Shuai, and Jeļena Ostapenko, is playing Aryna Sabalenka today at SW19.

Men’s tennis, however, tells a very different story. Only 4 players from the ATP top 100 are also inside the doubles top 100, such as Ben Shelton, Lorenzo Musetti, Lorenzo Sonego, and Rinky Hijikata.

It was not always like this in men’s tennis, though. Before the Bryan Brothers began building careers as doubles specialists, the divide was not this sharp.

And while the plan surfaced yesterday, Calvin Betton, who currently coaches Henry Patten, the world No. 1 in men’s doubles, shared his opinion.

“I think it’s quite disgusting, to be honest, for numerous reasons. For starters, We’ve had no real indication as to what the motivation behind it is, who exactly benefits from it, other than a few singles players who are already the richest in the world, which are the ones in the Top 70s or so,” he added in an exclusive interview with Ubi Tennis.

Even 35-year-old Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who recently suffered an opening-round exit at SW19, voiced his frustration on his IG. “A stronger sport isn’t built by creating fewer opportunities. Professional doubles has always been part of tennis’s identity, and its future deserves the same commitment, respect, and vision as every other part of the game,” he added with an image of the voice of doubles players. 

And with this latest development on the proposal only adding more fuel to the fire, the debate is clearly far from over.