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3/22/08 1:35 AM | James Munoz
In today’s game of big serves and heavy ground strokes, one of the most overlooked events is Men’s Doubles. Relegated to second class citizen status on the television networks and the minds of some fans, a few teams are fighting and earning the respect for their beloved event.
The team of Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic and the Israeli team of Jonathan Elrich and Andy Ram have dominated their opponents in a way not seen in quite some time. The level these teams have attained in Indian Wells is reminiscent of the great Woodies (Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde) or John McEnroe and Peter Fleming.
While the game has absolutely changed in terms of rules, technology and speed of the game, the fundamentals of great volleys, communication and more importantly an understanding of angles has not. The teams that understand and incorporate powerful serving, court positioning, rifle return of serves and attacking volleys are the ones making their mark this year.
The ATP instituted new rules to try and encourage more top singles players to compete in doubles. Among the rules are no advantage (no ad) serving with the receiving team choosing the side to return and a ten point super tiebreaker. The hope of this would be for the Roger Federer’s, Rafael Nadal’s and other elite top ten players to compete. Basically by shortening the game, the powers that be felt some top singles players could emerge and dominate doubles as well.
It was thought the great singles returners would have a new niche and could dominate the other teams. Among the top 10 singles players in the world, only Richard Gasquet has won a doubles title this year (with Jo-Wilfred Tsonga beating the Bryan Brothers in Sydney). Although Gasquet made the semifinals in Indian Wells, his partnership with Robert Lindstedt player profile" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #000;">Robert Lindstedt player profile" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #000;">Robert Lindstedt player profile" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #000;">Robert Lindstedt was no match for the team of Zimonjic and Nestor as they were thoroughly outclassed 7-5, 6-2. One particular game of note was on Richard Gasquet’s serve where he was broken at love despite getting 2 first serves in (Gasquet wins about 61% of his first serves in singles) as both Zimonjic and Nestor fired return winners much to Gasquet and Lindstedt’s disbelief.
Daniel Nestor is a former world’s number one doubles player and dumped his former partner (Mark Knowles) to team up with the big hitting and bigger serving Nenad Zimonjic late last year. Prior to this event, they had not acted as a cohesive team and failed to reach the results both had expected. Indian Wells has reinvigorated their competitive spirits though as they have been nothing short of brilliant. In the quarterfinals they met another doubles specialists team of Leander Paes and Paul Hanley (seeded 8) and trounced them 6-2, 6-1, winning 56 of the 90 total points (62%).
When asked of Wimbledon and his goals of retaking the #1 ranking Daniel Nestor had this to “Well, yeah, the goal is to win as many Grand Slams as we can. You know, Wimbledon's my first choice, but I'll take any of them. And No. 1, that comes with winning big tournaments.
I think right now we're happy we're playing well. We were struggling a little bit, but, you know, now we're feeling good about our partnership and the decision we made. You know, I think as long as we're playing well and playing a certain way and being aggressive, I think everything will come together”.
Perhaps an even stronger team, the 2008 Australian Open team of Ram and Elrich have been even more dominant. In the second round they annihilated the great returning team of Paul-Henri Mathieu (ranked #14 in singles) and Radek Stepanek (ranked #29 in singles) 6-2, 6-1, winning 53 of the 81 points (65%). In the quarterfinals they would meet doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles. This would be a closer match in score 6-3, 6-4, but the total points won was still a decisively in favor of the Israelis. The final match of Thursday night featured the number four seeded Israeli team defeating their semifinal opponents Max Mirnyi and Jamie Murray by winning over 59% of the total points in a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win.
Tonight, the Men’s Doubles final will pit the Israeli team of Elrich and Ram versus the big hitting Nestor and Zimonjic with the winner being all those in attendance. These teams are the hottest and most dominant teams in years and neither is even close to overtaking the number one ranking (at the moment). They may not be number one yet, but if they maintain their current levels these teams will make everyone forget about the Bryan Brothers.
With all the talk of Roger Federer and Justine Henin on the decline, not much is being made of the fact that the Bryan Brothers do not have a grand slam title in their current ranking. In fact the Bryans have yet to win a title this year, having lost for the second consecutive time to the pairing of veteran doubles specialist Max Mirnyi and his partner Jamie Murray. The Bryans have been the most consistent team for the past three years, but even their best pales in comparison to the teams competing for the finals. This new challenge to their ranking may help push them to reach a similar level and create an even stronger field of doubles.
One final team worth mentioning are the 2007 Wimbledon Championship winners Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra. This team competes in far less events that their competitors but an Aussie Open final and Wimbledon Championship demonstrate what they are capable of. Whether this team can further push the Zimonjic-Nestor, Elrich-Ram or even the Bryan teams remain to be seen, but they have had success on grass and will always be dangerous.
The last few years may not have produced great doubles action, but the current group of Nestor-Zimonjic and Elrich-Ram are working hard to make you forget about the recent past and focus on the future. The future is them and they are here now, so sit back and enjoy what very well could be a reemerging golden age of doubles.
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