FORT WORTH, Texas—Demi Schuurs is quickly making a case for herself as one of her generation’s best individual doubles players, and while the category sounds paradoxical, it bears statistical weight: the flying Dutchwoman is at the WTA Finals for the fourth time in as many years with her fourth different partner.
“It’s never easy because you’re never quite sure whether you’ll click or how it goes with injuries,” she told me before the tournament began, “and of course, you have to play with the same partner a lot to make the Finals together.”
After bursting onto the doubles scene with Elise Mertens in 2018, Schuurs and her all-court game continued to prove a unique versatility as she returned to the next two WTA Finals with Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Nicole Melichar-Martinez, respectively. Her most recent berth came with Desirae Krawczyk, who fell two matches short of a mixed doubles Grand Slam in 2021, but proved the toughest as injuries kept Schuurs off court for the first six weeks of the season.
“I think that makes us even more proud to be here,” Schuurs said. “We started in Indian Wells because I wasn’t sure with whom I was going to play yet. Desirae had no partner and was changing partners every week, so we decided we’d try to play and see what happens.
“And at the end it was pretty close with No. 7-9 in the Race. We played a lot of tournaments just to be sure to make it, and even then, it took until the last tournament in Mexico. It was very stressful.”
A strong summer saw the two reach the quarterfinals or better at five straight tournaments—including the US Open—encouraging Schuurs and Krawczyk to continue their partnership into 2023.