Issue link: http://itf.uberflip.com/i/366594
26 ITFWORLD SUMMER 2014 WORLD ChAMPIONS DINNER S ince its inception in 1996 the Philippe Chatrier Award has gone to a host of great singles players, but as it proved — not for the first time — last year, when the ITF presented its prestigious award to the All England Lawn Tennis Club, it places no constraints upon itself when it comes to deciding who should be honoured. The great French administrator and visionary after whom the award is named would have heartily endorsed those sentiments and no doubt the decision to give the award this year, for the first time, to a doubles duo. And who better to receive it than the incomparable Australian pairing of Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge. During their ten-year partnership — a longevity unheard of in the game nowadays outside of the Bryan twins — 'the Woodies' won just about every conceivable prize that the game had to offer: 11 Grand Slam titles (spread across all four majors), Olympic gold and silver medals and last but not least the Davis Cup, which in 1999 they helped put back into Australian hands after an absence of 13 years. They won a total of 61 titles, which Woodbridge worked out was a title every five tournaments. "Bravo to the ITF for keeping moving forward," said Woodforde, beaming with pride after he and Woodbridge received the award in front of their peers at the Pavilllon d'Armenonville in the Bois de Boulogne, close to Roland Garros. It may be hard to imagine given that they were ITF Doubles World Champions for the tenth time, but Bob and Mike Bryan really did find themselves upstaged by another doubles pairing at the ITF World Champions Dinner in Paris in June. Clive White was there. "There have been some phenomenal doubles teams in the history of tennis and we're thrilled to be one of them. We set the bar high but little did we know that another pair would surpass it so soon — Mike and Bob Bryan fully deserve all the accolades given them." The Woodies were traditionalists, perhaps the last of their breed. They played singles, doubles, even mixed doubles. "Todd and I just saw it all as part and parcel of being a tennis player," said Woodforde. "That was our job description — to play. It's kind of sad now that doubles isn't receiving the recognition it deserves." That is probably because in the '90s more of the top singles players still played doubles. Woodforde and Woodbridge were singles players in their own right. They just happened to play doubles too, if rather better than most; in fact both were Grand Slam singles semifinalists. "We were better singles players because of doubles and better doubles players because of singles," said Woodforde. "We didn't need to practise because we were often playing in three competitions. I remember during the last six months of my career when my singles ranking dropped outside the top 100 (and he no longer automatically qualified for singles draws), I was at a loss just playing doubles, I had no idea what I was doing." A TOAST TO DOUBLES Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge were the fi rst doubles team to receive the Philippe Chatrier Award