Doubles future - a more hopeful perspective

Hardball Doubles is Thriving

by Gaetano Cipriano

July 22, 2021

Mr. Nick-At-Will’s opinion piece about the hardball doubles game’s current condition,  published in DSR on  Weds. 21 July, deserves a response.

The SDA Pro Tour’s schedule for 2021-22 has seventeen sanctioned pro tournaments to be played around the country.

It is anticipated that this season’s total prize money will exceed $440,000 which was the amount of the total purses in the 2019-2020 season.

The SDA also lists the National Doubles, run by US Squash, which will be played in Philadelphia. It will contain  competitions in an Open division for both  men and women, in all age groups, and several skill levels for both sexes. The annual  Intercollegiate Doubles will also be played in Philadelphia.

The two largest and most prestigious invitational (primarily amateur) events, the William White in Philadelphia and the Gold Racquets at the Rockaway Hunting Club, will also resume competition this season.

Local SRA’s in NY, Philadelphia and Massachusetts will also resume  tournament competition this season in multiple divisions.

Pro tournaments also contain pro-am events which are enthusiastically supported and hotly contested. They provide additional prize money for the pros.

To my knowledge there have been five  doubles courts shuttered in the past ten  years: the court at Jadwin Gym in Princeton was converted to office use.

The court at Bowdoin College in Maine was located  in an old gym that was demolished and replaced with a new fitness Center.  

Fairmount (which had two courts) is defunct, and CityView converted its court to singles. How many singles courts have been demolished, re-purposed or taken out of service? The answer is a lot.

The vast majority of doubles courts are located in private clubs. The mission of private clubs  is to provide sporting and social facilities to their members, not to make a profit.

And the adult squash members of private clubs with doubles courts love doubles, not singles.

The  clubs which have doubles courts and pros who organize matches and promote the game are going strong.

If one visits clubs like Merion or Apawamis one will see the singles courts populated almost exclusively  by juniors and college players, and the doubles courts  are packed with adults morning to night.

And it’s the adults that have the money and they use their money to promote and participate in doubles.

If the San Diego urban squash program organizers are smart they’ll use their doubles court to involve  adults who have money and live locally  in doubles play; hopefully they will become involved in the program and will  donate  to the program in a meaningful way.

Hardball doubles is thriving  and its successes should be celebrated.

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