A new tennis season marks new beginnings for pro tennis players: new coaches and physios, new racquets and clothing deals, or new tactics and techniques. For doubles players, the start of a season also brings a multitude of new partnerships. And 2025 looks to be no exception.
WTA 2024 Partnership Recap: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Among the top eight teams who competed at the 2024 WTA Finals in Riyadh, only three remain intact at the start of the 2025 season. These make up three of the top four seeds at the 2025 Australian Open:
- No. 1 Katerina Siniakova & Taylor Townsend
- No. 2 Gaby Dabrowski & Erin Routliffe
- No. 4 Sara Errani & Jasmine Paolini
Notable partnership splits from 2024 include Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens, the former No. 1 pair and defending Australian Open champions who won five WTA titles and two grand slams together. Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok, the 2024 U.S. Open champions and top seeds at the 2024 WTA Finals, also parted ways after a disappointing showing in Riyadh where they crashed out in group play with an 0-3 finish.
Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez ended a successful three-year run together where they qualified in the top 8 for the WTA Finals the last two seasons. Lastly, Americans Desirae Krawczyk and Caroline Dolehide are not playing together this season.
WTA Doubles Preview: 9 New Teams to Watch
Ahead of the 2025 Australian Open, here’s a breakdown of new WTA doubles partnerships who we expect to make a splash on tour this year.
No. 3 Hsieh Su-Wei & Jelena Ostapenko
Hsieh and Ostapenko on the same side of a doubles court…need we say more? Quirky meets fiery personality in this fan-favorite duo who have both built their own cult followings.
On paper, this new partnership has loads of potential. Hsieh is crafty and deceptive with a high tennis IQ and doubles pedigree. Ostapenko is a strong server and returner with an explosive baseline game off both wings. Together, they could create the ultimate doubles pair given their complementary strengths and personalities.
Not to mention they are both former No. 1s and have won a combined 44 WTA career doubles titles. Both players lack momentum and Ostapenko lacks any semblance of a plan B when the aggression train comes off the tracks. In their debut campaign in Adelaide, the top seeds crashed out in the first round against the difficult American team of Jessica Pegula and Ashlyn Krueger.
They face a difficult opening test against the trending team of Olivia Nicholls and Teresa Mihalikova, the Brit-Slovak pair who posted a career-best season in 2024 and cracked the top 40.
Related Podcast
Paul McNamee Interview: The Aussie doubles veteran talks about his playing career, what it’s like coaching Hsieh Su-wei, doubles strategy tips, and more.
No. 6 Elise Mertens & Ellen Perez
A lefty and righty is typically an ideal blueprint for a good doubles team. Perez, an athletic lefty, possesses an explosive forehand and laid-back demeanor with an aggressive doubles game that can be error-prone at times.
Mertens, however, might just be the doubles partnership recipe to help steady Perez’s ship. She has one of the best serves in the doubles game and plays incredibly consistently from the baseline with a world-class lob that can easily redirect points. With three majors and 21 titles on her resume, Mertens is the more accomplished and experienced player of the bunch who has proven herself capable of winning with any partner.
Can she help Perez get over the grand slam hump and win her first doubles major? They won’t benefit from any match play together as both players competed in different AO leadup events, where Perez advanced to the semifinals in Adelaide with Siniakova and Mertens opted to focus on singles in Hobart.
Related Podcast
Ellen Perez Interview: The Aussie doubles star shares her tennis story, gives lefty playing advice, talks about the doubles calendar, and more.
No. 13 Timea Babos & Nicole Melichar-Martinez
A two-time Australian Open and Roland Garros doubles champion, Babos is the more accomplished player on paper while Melichar-Martinez comes into the partnership with a more polished recent track record. Holding 15 WTA career titles, the 31-year-old American has been a staple at the top of the WTA doubles game for the better part of the last decade but is still searching for her maiden women’s doubles major.
If Babos puts her singles career in the rearview mirror and solely focuses on maximizing this doubles partnership, the American-Hungarian team will be a tough out. They started the season out in promising form, going 3-2 during the first two events with a semifinal showing in Brisbane and a quarterfinal appearance in Adelaide.
Babos and Melichar-Martinez could have their hands full in their opening AO match against the young Americans Hailey Baptiste and Caty McNally, a former top 15 WTA doubles player and two-time U.S. Open doubles finalist herself.
Rounding out the List: Six More WTA Teams to Watch
- No. 5 Hao-Ching Chan & Lyudmyla Kichenok: Both players competed at the 2024 WTA Finals in Riyadh and are coming out of partnership breakups: Chan formerly with Veronika Kudermetova and Kichenok formerly with Ostapenko. Between their respective strengths and career results, they should be a formidable team on paper, but their 2025 campaign has started off slow with a 1-2 record.
- No. 7 Asia Muhammad & Demi Schuurs: Two doubles veterans who have been consistent contenders in the top 10-20 yet still searching for their first major title. If Muhammad goes all in doubles this year, they have the right ingredients and complementary playing styles to be a top 8 team and qualify for Riyadh. They fell in their 2025 season opener in Adelaide with a straight-set loss to Hanyu Guo and Alexandra Panova, the eventual champions.
- No. 11 Ena Shibahara & Veronika Kudermetova: Both are top doubles players and former major finalists who are currently prioritizing their singles careers. The Russian-Japanese pair has explosive groundstrokes on both wings and the upside to beat any team in the draw when in good form. An elusive doubles grand slam title could give them extra motivation ahead of their first grand slam campaign together.
- No. 15 Laura Siegemund & Beatriz Haddad-Maia: As one of the best individual doubles players on tour, Siegemund has the weapons and doubles IQ to single-handedly take over a doubles match. That means she often prefers calling the shots in a partnership, which works well for some partners and others…well not so much. Her doubles strengths combined with Bia’s firepower has boded well for the new team thus far with a runner-up finish last week in Adelaide.
- Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Marie Bouzkova: Both are equally as likeable among their WTA peers and fans as they are talented on the doubles court. Though past her prime, Mattek-Sands is a nine-time major winner who narrowly missed qualifying for Riyadh with former partner, Sofia Kenin. Consider this American-Czech duo a reunion tour, as Mattek-Sands and Bouzkova won the Seoul title in 2023 and finished runner-up in Auckland last year together.
- Peyton Stearns & Luisa Stefani: Expect the pair of former NCAA doubles standouts to be one of the most athletic teams on tour. Stefani is searching for a rebound season after a disappointing 2024 showing with former partner Demi Schuurs. Will Stearns, a top 50 singles player on the rise, give doubles the time of day that Stefani, a doubles specialist, will expect? They’re an unseeded floater that no top seed will want to face. Look out for a potential second round clash against No. 9 Kristina Mladenovic and Shuai Zhang.
Related Podcast
Bethanie Mattek-Sands Interview: The American fan-favorite talks about her 2024 season, mid-match doubles strategy and more with Sofia Kenin in a post-match interview at the 2024 National Bank Open.
ATP 2024 Partnership Recap: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Five of eight teams who competed at the 2024 ATP Finals in Turin are staying together and will be favored as top contenders in a parity-filled field in Melbourne:
- No. 1 Marcelo Arevalo & Mate Pavic (2024 Roland Garros champions)
- No. 2 Marcel Granollers & Horacio Zeballos (Perennial top team of this decade)
- No. 3 Simone Bolelli & Andrea Vavassori (2024 Australian Open and Roland Garros finalists)
- No. 4 Kevin Krawietz & Tim Puetz (2024 ATP Finals champions)
- No. 6 Harri Heliovaara & Henry Patten (2024 Wimbledon champions)
Aussies Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson, the reigning U.S. Open champions, were set to play as the No. 3 seed until Purcell’s recent doping suspension was announced, which will sideline him from the Australian Open.
The highest-profile ATP doubles breakup from last year involves the defending Australian Open champions, Matt Ebden and Rohan Bopanna, who recently split after a successful two-year run together. The final team rounding out the 2024 ATP Finals field, Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic, dissolved naturally following Koolhof’s retirement at the end of the season.
Related Podcast
Harrio Heliovaara Interview: The Wimbledon champion talks about handling pressure, doubles psychology, format changes, and new 2025 partnerships.
11 New ATP Doubles Teams to Watch
Ahead of the 2025 Australian Open, here’s a breakdown of new ATP doubles partnerships who we expect to make a splash on tour this year.
Nikola Mektic & Michael Venus
The fifth seeds in Melbourne came out of the gates hot in 2025 with a 5-1 record and a fresh title under their belt in Auckland. Now under the guidance of coach Dan Kiernan, coach of Gaby Dabrowski and host of Control the Controllables Podcast, Mektic and Venus could be the new ATP doubles team to beat.
Mektic comes into 2025 on the heels of one of his career-best seasons, where he and Koolhof won five ATP doubles titles, which also marked Mektic’s 30th ATP career title. Venus also posted a fine 2024 campaign with three ATP doubles titles alongside former partners Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski.
In Brisbane, Mektic and Venus scored a signature win over the fan-favorite doubles team of Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios, 6-2, 3-6, 10-8. Fans packed the stands in an exciting “singles vs. doubles” matchup that produced one of the best points of the year so far. Mektic and Venus eventually fell in the quarterfinals in a tight contest against the new brit team of Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool.
The following week, they captured their first title together in Auckland, an extra special occasion for Venus winning in front of the home crowd support in New Zealand. With a favorable draw in Melbourne, the Croatian-Kiwi duo will be one of the top title contenders in the field.
Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski
For this newly formed British pair, it only felt like a matter of time. Both Salisbury and Skupski, ages 32 and 34 respectively, have been close peers on the British Davis Cup and Olympic teams and were also former collegiate standouts in the U.S. before turning pro. Last year, they teamed up to represent Great Britain at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Salisbury comes into the partnership after a successful six-year tenure with Rajeev Ram, one of the longest partnership tenures of any current ATP doubles team. Together, Ram and Salisbury won four major titles, including a historic three-peat at the U.S. Open from 2021-2023, and qualified for the ATP Finals five consecutive seasons.
Skupski has also found success with a multitude of partners, most notably Wesley Koolhof. In 2022 and 2023, they reached world No. 1 and won nine titles together, including Skupski’s first major at Wimbledon.
The 10th seeds kick off their AO campaign against the Argentine duo of Sebastian Baez and Francisco Comesana.
Related Podcast
Neal Skupski Interview: The 2023 Wimbledon champion talks doubles practice drills, mixed doubles, scouting, and more during an interview at the 2024 Dallas Open.
Matt Ebden and Joran Vliegen
After a decade-long partnership with good friend and Belgian countryman, Sanders Gille, Joran Vliegen will look for a fresh start with Aussie Matt Ebden as they kick off the 2025 season. Fortunately, he’ll benefit from Ebden’s past success in Melbourne and the rowdy Australian home crowd support.
The defending Australian Open doubles champion and former No. 1 is one of the most accomplished players in the ATP doubles field, with two major doubles titles and a gold medal fresh on his resume from the 2024 Paris Olympics. With eight ATP doubles titles and a career-high of No. 17, Vliegen is a proven top doubles player in his own right. His best career tennis hasn’t come in Australia, however, as the Belgian hasn’t made it past the first round here since 2020.
They started out 1-1 in their opening event last week in Adelaide, advancing to the quarterfinals before falling to eventual champions, Bolelli and Vavassori, in a pair of tight tie-breakers. Ebden begins his title defense with Vliegen against a familiar doubles foe in Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, the most accomplished unseeded doubles team floating in the doubles draw.
Related Podcast
Matt Ebden Interview: The Aussie doubles star sits down with Will Boucek to discuss doubles format changes and ways to grow the doubles game.
Austin Krajicek & Rajeev Ram
Similar to Salisbury and Skupski, it only felt like a matter of time for the American Davis Cup and Olympic doubles teammates to join forces. Both former No. 1s and major title winners, Krajicek and Ram have each been a staple of the ATP doubles landscape this decade in their own right.
Apart from their individual success, the Americans will also lean in on prior success together. Last year, they captured the silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics with a signature win over Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal (“Nadal-Caraz”) along the way in the quarterfinals. They have also helped score numerous victories for Team USA at Davis Cup in recent years.
Since teaming up last fall, the Americans have gotten off to a slower start than expected. After going 3-0 in Davis Cup competition together last September, they went 1-4 in their next five tournaments during the Asian and European indoor swing.
Both players’ rankings have slipped, and as a result, they just missed out on getting seeded for the Australian Open. Krajicek and Ram take on a familiar foe in the opening round against Ebden, who they lost to in a heartbreaking Olympic gold medal match in Paris.
Related Podcast
Rajeev Ram & Austin Krajicek Interview: The American doubles team recaps their experience winning the silver medal at the Paris Olympics and beating Nadal/Alcaraz along the way.
Rounding Out the List: 7 More ATP Teams to Watch
- No. 11 Julian Cash & Lloyd Glasspool: Two more names to keep an eye out among on a deep roster of UK doubles talent featuring six players currently ranked inside the top 40 (Patten, Skupski, Glasspool, Murray, Cash and Salisbury). They face a tricky opening round match against the Argentine singles standouts, Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Martin-Etcheverry. Upset alert?
- No. 13 Sander Gille & Jan Zielinski: The Belgian and Polish pair kick off a new 2025 campaign after parting ways with both of their long-time partners. Look out for a potential second round clash versus two former grand slam doubles champions, Vasek Pospisil and Jordan Thompson.
- No. 14 Nicholas Barrientos & Rohan Bopanna: Bopanna made history last year by becoming the oldest man to win a grand slam doubles title. Can the 44-year-old Indian superstar do it again this year with new partner, Barrientos?
- No. 15 Hugo Nys & Edouard Roger-Vasselin: Both players have made it deep in Melbourne but still searching for their first Australian Open title. They’ll have their hands full in the opening round against the big-serving Brazilian team of Marcelo Melo and Rafael Matos.
- Jean-Julien Rojer & Adam Pavlasek: The Australian Open is the one major that has eluded 43-year-old Rojer, a three-time major champion with 37 career ATP titles. Keep an eye on this unseeded sleeper team who has a workable draw to make the second week and can lean on Pavlasek’s quarterfinal success in Melbourne in 2024.
- Ivan Dodig & Skander Mansouri: Never count out a former champion, Dodig, who won the AO title in 2021 and is a three-time doubles major winner. Especially when he’s paired with the big-serving Mansouri.
- Santiago Gonzalez & Lucas Miedler: The new Mexican-Austrian pair should cruise in their opening match against a pair of Japanese wildcards before a looming second round clash with the winner of No. 11 Cash/Glasspool or Cerundolo/Etcheverry awaits.
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Our very own Will Boucek will be on the ground covering daily live doubles action in Melbourne. Send him a message if you’re on the grounds and follow us for the latest doubles action from the 2025 Australian Open.
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