Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who successfully paired up for Team Europe in the inaugural Laver Cup, are the greatest men's doubles pairing in history. After all, they are routinely described as the first and second best male tennis player ever. Nevertheless, they still have a long way to go before they can be considered among the very greatest doubles partnerships, as the finest men's doubles pairings have won Grand Slams, Davis Cup and much else besides.
5. The Murray Brothers
Judy Murray is the mother of all tennis mothers, having given birth to and then coached not one but two world number one players. In 2016, Andy and Jamie became the highest ranked players in singles and doubles respectively and if they have fallen off those lofty perches, they remain among the greatest players in their specialist fields.
Both Murray brothers have achieved doubles success with other partners, notably in mixed doubles. As well as winning the singles gold at the London Olympics, Andy won silver in the mixed doubles with Laura Robson, while Jamie has won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon twice, first with Jelena Jankovic in 2007 and then a decade later with Martina Hingis, with whom he also won the US Open mixed doubles title. In addition, Jamie won the 2016 Australian Open men's doubles title and the 2016 US Open men's doubles title with John Peers and Bruno Soares respectively.
Nevertheless, the Murray brothers' finest honour as doubles players came when they combined to guide Great Britain to Davis Cup glory in 2015, for the first time in 77 years.
4. Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka
The two great Swiss players have not always had an easy or even particularly friendly relationship. It must have been difficult for Wawrinka to labour in the shadow of Federer’s unmatchable greatness for so long and equally it must have been at least a little galling for Federer to see Stan overtake him eventually, not only as Swiss Number One but in the world rankings. Indeed, less than a week before their Davis Cup victory over France, there had been an unseemly bust-up between the two players at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, when Federer’s wife, Mirka, was accused of calling out between points and even accusing Wawrinka of excessive complaining.
Nevertheless, Federer and Wawrinka put aside their differences and paired up beautifully the following week to defeat France on clay in Lille. Not only did they win one singles rubber each, but in the doubles they defeated a typically strong French pairing of Richard Gasquet and Julien Benneteau. Although they had won the 2008 Olympic doubles title in Beijing i (in the process defeating the top-ranked pairing on this list in the semi-final), their Davis Cup triumph was even greater, as Davis Cup doubles, unlike Olympic doubles, is played out over five sets rather than three.
Also Read | Top 5 women tennis players with most Grand Slams
3. The Woodies- Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde
In tennis, “the Woodies” are not Messrs. Allen or Guthrie, but Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, two fine singles players who became an almost unbeatable doubles team. Their accomplishments as a pairing are legendary, especially in Australia, which has probably produced more great men’s doubles teams than any other country. As proof of that, one need only consider the astonishing fact that between 1956 and 1969, which was the golden age of Australian tennis, not only were the winners of the Australian Open all Australian pairings but so were the runners-up. Nevertheless, in the great Aussie doubles pantheon, the Woodies still rank ahead of other magnificent pairings such as Rod Laver/Bob Mark and John Newcombe/Tony Roche.
As a doubles pairing, baseliner Woodforde and natural volleyer Woodbridge complemented each other perfectly, and on all surfaces. They were most famous for winning a record six Wimbledon men’s doubles titles, but they also won all the other Majors at least once. However, as has been the case so often in the Open era, when doubles play has inevitably taken a back seat to singles play, their greatest achievement came in the Davis Cup, where doubles play is still absolutely central (and not just because it is played on the middle Saturday of a weekend tie). That was in 1999, when Australia beat France in Paris and the Woodies defeated yet another fine French pairing of Olivier Delaître and the sublimely gifted Fabrice Santoro. For the Woodies, it was the crowning glory of a glorious career, as the following year Woodforde retired from playing. Although Woodbridge would go on to win another five Major men’s doubles titles with Sweden’s Jonas Björkman, that tally was still less than half the 11 Major men’s doubles titles that he won with Woodforde, his perfectly alliterative and perfectly complementary playing partner.
Also Read | Top 5 youngest Grand Slam champions
2. John McEnroe and Peter Fleming
It was Peter Fleming who came up with perhaps the greatest saying about doubles when he declared that the finest doubles pairing in men’s tennis was “John McEnroe plus one”. That comment by Fleming was typically self-effacing, but McEnroe always regarded him as his perfect doubles partner. Like the Woodies, McEnroe and Fleming were a terrific combination of talents, with the tall, right-handed Fleming often banging in the powerful serves and McEnroe, perhaps the finest volleyer the game has ever seen, cutting off almost every attempted return at the net.
From the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, he and McEnroe were by far the finest pairing in the men’s game, winning four Wimbledon men’s doubles titles and three US Open men’s doubles titles, although, like McEnroe himself in the singles game, they never managed to win either the Australian Open or the French Open. In addition, they were pivotal to the three Davis Cup titles that the USA won in the four years of competition between 1979 and 1982.
1. The Bryan Brothers
Perhaps the Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, are the greatest ever pairing in men’s tennis because, being identical twins, they came as a package right from the start. They were certainly the perfect doubles pairing in that Mike is right-handed and Bob left-handed, and both men are well over six foot tall and natural, indeed wonderful, serve-volleyers, which is still the perfect style of play for a doubles player even if it has largely vanished from the singles game.
When they were competing alone, as it were, the Bryan brothers were virtually unstoppable. They finished as the year-end highest-ranked pairing in men’s doubles a record 10 times, in addition to winning 16 Major men’s doubles titles, including winning each individual Major at least twice.
It is only in the Davis Cup that their record is less than stellar and that is not due to their own abilities or lack of them. While they have won a phenomenal 24 doubles rubbers in Davis Cup ties and lost only five, their greatness as doubles players has not been matched by the greatness of the American singles players beside them. Indeed, it probably says everything about the undeniable decline in American men’s singles tennis over the last 20 years that, despite the Bryan brothers’ own phenomenal Davis Cup record, the USA has won only one Davis Cup in the Bryan brothers era. That was in 2007 against Russia, when Andy Roddick and James Blake won enough singles points to go alongside the point in doubles that the Bryans almost guaranteed.
Must Read | Best women's doubles tennis teams of all time
