Doubles players angry at proposed ATP cuts

LONDON, July 4 : Doubles players have reacted angrily to suggestions that the ATP Tour plans to reduce the size of draws and prize money at tournaments with British player Julian Cash accusing the organisation of trying to kill off part of the sport.

Under plans discussed this week, doubles draws at ATP 1000 events would be halved to 16 pairs with only eight pairs competing at the smaller tournaments on the men's tour.

Prize money could also fall from 20 per cent to 10 per cent of the total pot with singles players likely to benefit.

"We're all members of the ATP, we all pay membership and the reason it was set up was to protect players," said Cash, who won the Wimbledon doubles title last year with Lloyd Glasspool.

"It's not to try and kill parts of the sport."

Glasspool told the BBC it was "annoying" that the doubles players were having to deal with the situation during Wimbledon, adding that the ATP should do more to promote doubles.

"I'm not sure what they're hoping to achieve out of it," he said. "They say it is a product issue but when singles players - who are known and have been marketed - step on the doubles court it is a packed crowd.

"So it's not a product issue is it? If you know the players then you will watch them in singles or doubles."

Apart from at the Grand Slams and the Olympic Games, doubles receives far less attention than singles. Few top singles players these days commit to playing doubles, although there are exceptions such as Serena and Venus Williams who have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together, including six at Wimbledon.

A statement issued on behalf of the doubles players this week accused the ATP of trying to end doubles as a "viable profession, dressed up as a cost-saving measure".

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