Inside the major shift to the doubles landscape in 2024

As is normal at the start of the new season, there are some new doubles partnerships that form. This year is no different, and one of the most notable duos stemmed from a conversation on Instagram.

Santiago Gonzalez found out in Basel that Edouard Roger-Vasselin would play in 2024 with fellow Frenchman Nicolas Mahut. Neal Skupski was told in Paris that Wesley Koolhof would rekindle his partnership with Nikola Mektic.

“We spoke a little bit, joking on Instagram,” Gonzalez said, cracking a smile.

The Mexican had played with Neal’s older brother Ken Skupski, who is now retired and coaches Neal. They reached the Australian Open quarter-finals in 2020.

“He was speaking to Ken, but not really anything thinking about playing together,” Neal said. “And then it kind of happened in Turin. We were joking a little bit. And then we kind of thought, ‘Yeah, why not?' We started to get a bit more serious with it.’”

Both men were set to compete in the Nitto ATP Finals with their previous partners and over text, they confirmed they would play together in 2024 just before the start of the season finale.

“We know we've won big tournaments in the past with different partners. So the expectation is there that we can get over the line in big events,” Skupski said. “We're still learning how to play with each other. But I think we had a great understanding at the start of the year on how each other plays and what our strengths and weaknesses are, how we can kind of hide our weaknesses.

“But we want to go out there and play to our strengths as much as possible and not worry too much about the opponents. And if we bring a good level and good communication and intensity day in day out, then I think we'll go far.”

They lost their first match of the year in Adelaide but have continued gelling at the Australian Open, where they are into the third round.

“For me it's quite similar,” Gonzalez said, comparing playing with Skupski to with Roger-Vasselin. “Maybe for him it's a bit different. I'm trying to play a similar style [to how] I was playing with Eddie... But it's good. It's very good energy. So I guess for me it's not so much different from before.”

^{Nikola Mektic and Wesley Koolhof at the Australian Open. Photo: Peter Staples/ATP Tour}
Koolhof and Mektic are also off to a quick start at Melbourne Park, advancing to the third round. Koolhof finished as Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 presented by Pepperstone with Skupski in 2022 and the pair qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals again in 2023. But the Dutchman elected to compete alongside Mektic, with whom he lifted the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals trophy.

“We know each other very well. We obviously played in 2020,” Koolhof said. “We made the semis at Roland Garros, final of the US Open and obviously won the title in London at the end, so we did very well.”

Mektic had formed a dynamic partnership with fellow Croatian Mate Pavic in 2021. They won nine titles together that year, including victories at Wimbledon, three ATP Masters 1000 events and the Tokyo Olympics.

"He did unbelievable when he went with Pavic in 2021. They won almost everything,” Koolhof said. “So that was a very good change, a good option and a good choice. So I couldn't really be mad about it because he did unbelievably well. So looking forward to playing with him again, fun guy. He has a great team around him as well. [We are] kind of a new, old team.”

New doubles teams for 2024 include...

The player Mektic is no longer with, Pavic, is playing with Marcelo Arevalo, who had enjoyed success with Jean-Julien Rojer. The pair won Roland Garros in 2022 and qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals that year. They also triumphed at the Masters 1000 event in Toronto last year, but split at the end of the season.

“I'm pretty excited actually to partner with Mate. He's one of the best doubles players in the last five years,” Arevalo said. “It's a big challenge for me to play with someone that has achieved so many great things in our sport in doubles. So it's a big motivation as well to become better, to work harder, to achieve many more wins, many more tournaments.”

The Salvadoran explained how much he enjoys a big challenge, which he considers this to be. One challenging aspect of playing with Pavic is that the Croatian is a lefty — he has never competed with one before.

“We're still a new partnership and we need to play more matches in order to become more comfortable on court, both of us. At some point I feel like everything is going to feel like it's just automatic,” Arevalo said. “Now I've got to be super focussed on doing things right and taking care of some things on the court because me being righty and him being lefty and from my side I've never played with a lefty before so I've got to adjust a few things.”