Eight defeats in eight matches. Dating back to 2018. And yet Maria Sakkari and Donna Vekic keep coming back, nearly every season: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025, 2026. I was told doubles was about instincts and chemistry. I look at the numbers and I wonder what else they have found.
Their first partnership goes back to Wimbledon 2018, lost 6-0, 6-0 against Xinyun Han and Luksika Kumkhum. Then they lost in Abu Dhabi to Sofia Kenin and Ajla Tomljanovic, then at the Yarra Valley Classic to Ons Jabeur and Christina McHale. Then Nottingham in 2022 and 2023, Wuhan in 2025, Toronto and Singapore in 2026. The record: 0-4 on hard, 0-1 indoors, 0-3 on grass. No surface works for them, but none deters them either. That is where I get stuck.
Silly question, but why reform a pair that has never won a single match? I asked around. People told me \”friendship\”, \”routine\”, \”the urge to play together again\”. Nobody mentioned the result. I checked, and actually nobody really understands. I’m told it’s tradition, fine, but what does that mean?
Eight out of eight, that’s not even a streak any more, it’s a tradition. I think I’m starting to respect it. They know they’re going to lose, they show up anyway, and in Singapore they even paused before the match to look at Miyu Kato’s nails. Anyway, I still have a lot to learn.
The WTA 500 organisers had still highlighted the pair’s presence at the draw. Proof that consistency gets media coverage too.
It’s true, we checked: Tennis Actu.
