Under-the-radar Klaasen eyes more Wimbledon glory
While Kevin Anderson has been enjoying the bulk of the attention back home for his glorious run at Wimbledon which included the big scalp of Roger Federer, Raven Klaasen (right, at left) has been quietly going along his business piecing together a slice of history for himself too.
Klaasen managed to reach only the second Grand Slam doubles final of his career and will alongside his New Zealand partner Michael Venus take on American seventh-seeded pair Mike Bryan and Jack Sock today.
Klaasen can become the first South African in 11 years to win a Wimbledon title after Liezel Huber won the women’s doubles with Zimbabwean Cara Black in 2007, and the first South African man in 13 years after Wesley Moodie and Australian Stephen Huss defied the odds in 2005.
Moodie and Huss made history that day because it was the first time that a qualifier pairing had been crowned Wimbledon doubles champions. That record still stands today.
“It’s incredible to have reached the final,” said Klaasen after beating Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen and Briton Joe Salisbury in the semifinals.
“You come to Wimbledon every year and hope to do well and prepare yourself to get to this stage in the tournament and then to go a step better than my last semifinal (in 2016) showing here is fabulous.
“I don’t want to get too excited, I need to regroup and recover and come out on Saturday with Michael and give ourselves the best chance of the title.”
Klaasen and American partner Eric Butorac reached the final of the 2014 Australian Open where they lost to Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Swede Robert Lindstedt.
The 40-year-old Bryan, a former world No 1 doubles player, is the most decorated player in today’s final.
He has won Wimbledon three times and during his career, he has a total of 16 major doubles titles. He has played in 30 major doubles finals.
Interestingly, Bryan finished runner-up four times at Wimbledon and in one of those four defeats, there was a South African (Moodie) on the opposite side of the net in 2005.