AO Rewind: Bryans, Navratilova highlight doubles success

In the final installment of USTA.com's "Australian Open Rewind," we review Team USA's doubles success in Melbourne across the women's, men's and mixed doubles competitions. The long list of American champions Down Under is headed by eight-time tournament champion Martina Navratilova, four-time winners Serena and Venus Williams, and six-time men's doubles champs Bob and Mike Bryan.

Women's Doubles

Americans have had a rich history of women's doubles success Down Under, winning at least one title in every decade to date. 

Team USA dominated the tournament in the 1980s, with Martina Navratilova being a part of the winning pair all but once. All-American teams captured the title every year the tournament was held (omitting 1986, when the AO was not played), as Navratilova and longtime partner Pam Shriver won the event seven times. She also partnerd with Betsy Nagelsen to win the crown in 1980, while Kathy Jordan and Anne Smith were champions in 1981.

Navratilova's dominance gave way to more American parity in the 1990s, as four different Americans players won titles. In 1991, Patty Fendick and Mary Joe Fernandez were doubles winners, before Gigi Fernandez and longtime partner Natasha Zvereva partnered to win back-to-back titles in 1993-94. Chanda Rubin followed suit in 1996, winning the title alongside Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, before Lisa Raymond's win in 2000 gave way to the Williams sisters' dominance on the doubles court. Serena and Venus were victorious in 2001, 2003, 2009 and 2010, while later in the last decade, Bethanie Mattek-Sands won alongside Czech Lucie Safarova in 2015 and 2017.

Prior to the Open era, Althea Gibson was among the U.S. champions in doubles, as she partnered Shirley Fry Irvin to win the title in 1957.

Men's Doubles

On 16 occasions in the Open era, the Australian Open men's doubles tournament ended with at least one American as part of the trophy-winning team. Ten times, all-American teams were the last men standing.

As is often the case when talking about men's doubles, the Bryan brothers start the conversation. Bob and Mike Bryan claimed men's doubles glory Down Under six times, including a run of three straight titles from 2009-11. They were also champions in 2006, 2007 and 2013. The only other American duo to win more than one AO title is Rick Leach and Kim Pugh, who won consecutive titles in 1988 and 1989. Leach again triumphed in 2000, alongside Ellis Ferreira of South Africa. 

The other all-American champions are Bob Lutz and Stan Smith (1970), Scott Davis and David Pate (1991), and Jared Palmer and Richey Reneberg (1995). The list of Americans to win with foreign partners includes: Arthur Ashe (1977, with Tony Roche), Sherwood Stewart (1984, Mark Edmondson), Paul Annacone (1985, Christo van Rensburg), Rick Leach (2000, Ferreira) and Rajeev Ram (2020, Joe Salisbury).

Mixed Doubles

Two all-American teams have won the mixed doubles title in Melbourne: Zina Garrison and Sherwood Stewart (1987), and Venus Williams and Justin Gimelstob (1998).  The list of American mixed doubles champs also includes Marty Riessen, who was the first mixed champion in the Open era. In 1969, the American, alongside Margaret Smith Court, shared the title with no final played.

Jim Pugh and Rick Leach were both crowned as repeat winners in mixed, with the former winning in 1989 and 1990, and the latter winning in 1995 and 1997. The common thread in these teams was the aforementioned Zvereva, who won with Pugh in 1990 and Leach in 1995.

Since 2000, six Americans have hoisted the mixed title, including two in the last four years. Jared Palmer (2000, Rennae Stubbs), Corina Morariu (2001, Ellis Ferreira) and Navratilova (2003, Leander Paes) flew the flag in the early aughts, while Mattek-Sands (2012, Horia Tecau), Abigail Spears (2017, Juan Sebastian Cabal) and Ram (2019, Barbora Krejcikova) rounded out the last decade.

More from USTA.com's Australian Open retrospective:

Australian Open "On This Day"

Nick Taylor, David Wagner anchor U.S. quad history

Andy Roddick, Lindsay Davenport among former junior champions