Venus feeling fresh for doubles
NEWZealand’s top doubles player Michael Venus insists he’s not going into Wimbledon underdone despite playing just one match in the past two weeks.
Venus and his regular Croatian partner Mate Pavic won the tournament in s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, three weeks ago, but since then there’s been little match action.
Venus was to team up with Kei Nishikori in Halle, Germany, but a rib injury ruled out the Japanese star. Venus and Pavic lost in the first round in Nottingham last week.
However, Venus says despite this he’s still been able to prepare well for the third grand slam of the year.
‘‘We had quite a few matches in s-Hertogenbosch, and Mate and I know each other really well and have obviously played together a lot,’’ Venus said. ‘‘Points-wise, we’re comfortable on the court with each other and know what the other is doing.
‘‘It’s more a matter of having time on the grass, but over the last week or so, even in Halle, I didn’t get to play, but I was still practising every day on grass and I feel comfortable out there.
‘‘We’ll both be a bit fresher and hopefully it will be a good thing.’’
As Wimbledon’s men’s doubles remains the best of five sets, it puts some singles specialists off entering because the matches can go on for longer. But Venus says he enjoys the longer battles.
‘‘The longer you play, the more likely it is that the better team will come out on top. If you look at how we’ve done this year, that’s a positive.
‘‘If things aren’t going right, you’ve got time to work things out and turn it around. So it will be different, but we’ll be up to it.’’
Venus and Pavic are the 16th seeds in the doubles draw and they’ve had a great year, winning titles in Auckland, Montpellier, Marseille and s-Hertogenbosch.
They are 15th in the ATP Points Race for the lucrative World Tour Masters in London at the end of the year, but Venus says they have only committed to playing together until the US Open in late August.
‘‘We’ll see how things are going after that,’’ Venus said.
‘‘Mate is a bit younger [22, compared with the 28-year-old Venus] and he does want to play singles at some point, but with how we’re knocking on the door of tournaments at the next level, he wants to keep going to see if we can break through.’’