Why aren't there doubles ratings?
In recent weeks, more and more people have been requesting that the ratings site extend its ratings to doubles play. Unfortuantely, at this time we are unable to do this. The simple reasoning behind this is: We can't create fair doubles ratings.
Determining the strength of a singles player is trivial: it is there rating. How, then, do we determine the strength of a doubles team. Arithmetic mean? Geometric mean? Twice the higher rating plus the lower rating? Which team is better, (.7,.3) or (.6,.4)? Even if an answer could be found, consider the idea of synergy. Sometimes, two strong players have contrasting styles, and do not work well together. Sometimes, two weaker players work well together and become stronger. The important point of this paragraph is is: There is no mathematical formula to determine the strength of a doubles pairing!.
We are just as interested in doubles ratings as anybody is. The problem is, in order to create doubles ratings in any fair way, we need some method for evaluating the strength of a team. Until a mathematically pure, fair method for this can be found, doubles ratings will remain unfeasible.
If you have any ideas on how to implement such a doubles rating, please tell me.
