“You get idiots like Andy Roddick saying, ‘Oh, just do it yourself'" - Doubles coach slams Roddick and ATP after celebratory Instagram post was taken down

Former US Open champion Andy Roddick has been labelled as an 'idiot' by doubles coach Calvin Betton as he tries to grow this part of the sport, with it firmly trailing singles in popularity.

Doubles are normally overlooked in tennis compared to the star-studded lineups you get in singles matches. Whether it is Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner trading blows in a Grand Slam final or Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek fighting for the number one spot, along with many more examples. This leaves doubles matches normally less populated in the stands, seats aplenty.

There have been some efforts to grow the popularity in this category, but it took the use of some of the best singles players for this. It was done ahead of the US Open, where these competitors were partnered up to compete in a mixed doubles tournament. It produced a platform for doubles to be built on but also received a lot of stick for the format and overlooking double pairs for the more recognisable singles athletes. In the end, the reigning champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori came out on top over Casper Rudd and Swiatek in the final at Flushing Meadows.

A big factor for doubles lack of demand is due to marketing and promotion not occurring to the level possibly expected. “It annoys me that there is zero marketing for this (doubles). Zero marketing. Like, if you go on Tennis TV, try and find me a doubles post on Tennis TV, and there isn’t one," Betton stated on the Chip n Charge Tennis Podcast. “This year, I’ve seen them have clips of tennis players playing golf, tennis players skateboarding, and tennis players shaking hands."

He offered his thoughts on why this is. “They’re obsessed with whenever Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner cross each other in a corridor, they’ll stick a camera there and go like ‘two legends meeting’, like this happens every week. There’s no reason for you to get it on camera all the time. It’s pathetic," he admitted.

And when they tried to get their own account, the ATP had other ideas. “But try and get them to put a doubles point on is like pulling teeth. The doubles players have specifically asked the ATP if they can run their own Instagram account. Like a doubles-only Instagram account. The ATP turned it down; they wouldn’t let them do it. For no reason. The doubles players said they would finance it." All the doubles players had an agreement among themselves, where they said the top 100 will stick in two grand each, and they would pay someone to run it, and pay for the marketing, and they wouldn’t let them do it. Tennis TV owns the rights to all of the ATP events, so they won’t let them use the clips on their own Instagram."

Betton is currently coaching British doubles player Henry Patten, who recently lifted his maiden Masters 1000 title in the Paris Masters. It was a triumphant week for the team but the mood would be dampened after the consequences occurred when it was posted on Instagram. “When the lads won in Paris, Harri put an Instagram post up and tagged me in it, and I reposted it, and three days later, I got an email saying it had been taken down for copyright infringement. It’s just wild. It is absolutely wild," a bewildered Betton said.

“You get idiots like Andy Roddick saying, ‘Oh, just do it yourself.’ They can’t. They would do it, and they would pay for it, and they would do it all themselves, but they can’t. The ATP will not let them do it, and they will not let them have even the clips to market themselves.”