The 13 most exciting doubles pairs of all time

1 – NADAL / ALCARAZ, PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES

Seeing two players who have won a Grand Slam and have already reached world No 1 team up in doubles is something extremely rare.

This is what we will experience at Roland-Garros this summer during the Paris Olympic Games. A tennis legend, Rafael Nadal, and one of today’s stars, Carlos Alcaraz, will try to win the gold medal next August.

The two players, obviously more than at home on clay, are favourites for the men’s doubles. Their partnership is made even more exciting because Rafael Nadal is Carlos Alcaraz’s idol. Seeing them play the Olympic Games together feels like a real passing-of-the-torch moment.

2 – FEDERER / NADAL, LAVER CUP 2022

This is undoubtedly THE doubles combination that made the entire tennis world cry the most. 

For the final match of Roger Federer‘s career, he called on his biggest rival Rafael Nadal to play a doubles match at the Laver Cup 2022 in London. Very complicit, the two men first offered the British public smiles before tears appeared at the end of the match against the winning pair, Sock/Tiafoe.

Seeing Federer and Nadal shoulder-to-shoulder on the bench, with tears in their eyes, is an image that will remain in tennis legend.

3 – ANDY MURRAY / SERENA WILLIAMS, WIMBLEDON 2019

If Andy Murray had already created a surprise by announcing that he was going to play the men’s doubles alongside Pierre-Hugues Herbert at Wimbledon in 2019, the Briton placed a cherry on the cake by revealing the name of his mixed doubles partner: Serena Williams. The country’s hero, twice winner in London alongside a legend of women’s tennis, seven-time winner on the lawn of the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club.

This unique and exciting duo reached the round of 16 of the mixed doubles at Wimbledon. The pair lost to Bruno Soares and Nicole Melichar.

4 – FEDERER / SAMPRAS VS NADAL / AGASSI, HIT FOR HAITI 2010

Four legends on a tennis court for an exceptional doubles match! In 2010, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Rafael Nadal and Andre Agassi played an exhibition match in Indian Wells to raise funds for victims of the Haiti earthquake.

The four players, who at the time represented 44 Grand Slam titles, put on a show in front of nearly 15,000 spectators. The Sampras/Federer pair won the match eight games to six against the Agassi/Nadal duo.

5 – FEDERER / DJOKOVIC, LAVER CUP 2018

Their relationship has never been the same as that between the Swiss and Rafael Nadal, but Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic playing doubles together was an unprecedented and exceptional event. The two teamed up at the 2018 Laver Cup in Chicago. This one-off resulted in a defeat against the pair Kevin Anderson / Jack Sock.

During the match, Novak Djokovic notably sent a forehand straight into the back of his Swiss partner, who obviously took it with a smile.

6 – NADAL / DJOKOVIC, TORONTO 2010

The rivalry between the two men was still far from being what it is currently, but history will remember that Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic played together in doubles. The two legends teamed up at the Masters 1000 in Toronto in 2010, at a time when the Serbian had only one Grand Slam title to his name!

The unprecedented pair was beaten in their first match at the Toronto Masters by Canadians Vasek Pospisil and Milos Raonic, 5-7, 6-3, 10-8. This is the first time that the world No 1 and No 2 played together in doubles since Americans Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe teamed up in 1976.

7 – DJOKOVIC / MURRAY, MIAMI 2011

Friends outside of tennis, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray decided in 2011 to team up in doubles to compete in the Masters 1000 in Miami. Respectively No 2 and No 5 in the world and candidates for victory in the singles event, the two players still took the gamble of playing the doubles in Florida.

The Serbian and the Briton lost in the first round against the Stakhovsky/Youzhny pair. Novak Djokovic consoled himself by winning the singles tournament for the second time in his career.

8 – MCENROE / GRAFF, WIMBLEDON 1999

After retiring from singles at the end of the 1992 season, John McEnroe still made a few appearances on the circuit, notably in 1999 when he lined up in mixed doubles at Wimbledon with Steffi Graf (a first since 1979 for the American).The team, made up of two tennis legends, reached the semi-finals. The German player then withdrew to concentrate on the singles, which did not necessarily please the American:

“For one of the few times in my life, I was left speechless. I sat there in silence for five minutes, then I started to get angry. It was the end of the day and there were only two people left next to me in the locker room. 

“I turned to them and said, “Can you believe what that b***** did to me? These two people were Andre Agassi and his trainer, Brad Gilbert. It turned out that I didn’t know a lot at the time,” McEnroe wrote in his book You Cannot Be Serious.

9 – BECKER / GRAF, HOPMAN CUP 1992

When two former world No 1s team up to play a team competition, there’s a lot of noise! During the 1992 Hopman Cup, Germany presented a dream team with Boris Becker and Steffi Graf, two immense tennis stars.

After winning the quarter-final against France, without playing the doubles, the two Germans lost in the semi-final against the Czech Republic. At 1-1 after the singles, the two nations were decided in the only doubles contested together by Boris Becker and Steffi Graf. The latter lost 6-4, 6-4 against the Novacek/Sukova pair.

“We played mixed doubles at the Hopman Cup in Australia a looooong time ago. Steffi was great and I was terrible!” Becker had also commented in an Instagram story.

10 – AGASSI / GRAF, WIMBLEDON 2009 (EXHIBITION)

Nothing better than one of the most popular couples in tennis history to inaugurate the new roof of the Center Court at Wimbledon. Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf therefore teamed up on the London turf in 2009, 10 years after their meeting, against the pair Kim Clijsters / Tim Henman. This is one of the couple’s rare appearances on a tennis court.

11 – FEDERER / BORG, KUALA LUMPUR 2008

Then-world No 2 Roger Federer and tennis legend Björn Borg played a single doubles match together in an exhibition in Kuala Lumpur. The Basel-native and Swede were beaten 7-5 by the McEnroe/Blake pair.

12 – BORG / MCENROE, OPTIMA OPEN 2012

After playing against each other 14 times on the ATP Tour (7-7), John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg teamed up for an exceptional doubles match at the 2012 Optima Open in Belgium.

13 – BORG / LAVER, US OPEN 1975

Yes, The Rocket and Ice Borg were paired in doubles at the US Open in 1975. Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg made it to the third round, where they lost to the Dent/Lloyd pair. History will also remember that the 1975 US Open was the scene of the only Grand Slam clash between Borg and Laver, with a victory for the Swede.