| Saturday, 5 July 2008 Written by Beci Wood Nenad Zimonjic overcame a broken bone in his wrist to partner Daniel Nestor to victory in the men's doubles final. The big-serving Serb, who injured himself after clattering into a line-judge in the semi-final against Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy, was undoubtedly the player of the match as the No. 2 seeds beat veterans Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett 7-6 (14-12), 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-3 in 2 hours and 39 minutes. The Wimbledon title, the first for both players, hands Yugoslavian-born Canadian Nestor a place in history as the eighth man in the Open era to win a career Grand Slam of doubles - the others being Bjorkman, Bob and Mike Bryan, Mark Woodforde, Todd Woodbridge, Paul Haarhuis and Jacco Eltingh..
The Canadian won the Australian Open in 2002, Roland Garros in 2007 and the US Open in 2004, all with former long-time partner Mark Knowles. It also tops a great year for the partnership, who reformed as a pair in October 2007 after a six-year hiatus. They have been on a roll in recent months winning 21 of 23 matches, including the Wimbledon warm-up title at Queen's and reaching the final at Roland Garros.
The pair were deserving champions, producing an almost faultless display of serving with 19 aces in total and just one double fault and superb reaction skills on blustery conditions on Centre Court.
The first two sets could have gone either way. There were no breaks of serve and it came down to two tight tie-breaks and a test of nerves. The first went to the Serb/Canadian partnership, after the longest tie-break in Wimbledon men's doubles history, 14-12 when Bjorkman netted a forehand volley after a frantic rally.
Zimonjic, 32, and Nestor, 35, slapped hands in delight, but their one-set advantage was soon cancelled out after Bjorkman and Ullyett, in their swansong at Wimbledon, took the second set tie-break in much easier fashion, 7-3 after the Swede punched a volley winner home.
With so few points separating the pairs it seemed impossible to pick a winner as the match went into a third set. However after fifteen consecutive games had gone with serve, Zimonjic fizzed a forehand return to bring up a break point for the No.2 pairing.
They quickly seized the opportunity and moved 3-1 ahead after the Swede pushed a volley long. Bjorkman and Ullyett, who joined forces this year, had a chance to break Nestor back as he served for the set at 5-3, however the Canadian wiped out the opportunity with a fantastic serve out wide and held his nerve to seal the set.
The No.2 seeds then went on to carve out a 3-2 lead in the fourth set after breaking the Ullyett serve when a volley error by his 36-year-old Swedish partner was followed by a brilliant forehand into the tramlines by Nestor.
By now Zimonjic and Nestor could do no wrong, mesmerising their opponents with scintillating net play. With the score at 5-3 in their favour, Ullyett, 36, stepped up to serve to stay in the match. However Zimonjic and Nestor pounced again, a superb jumped smashed forehand from the Serb from behind the baseline, a neat volley from Nestor and an Ullyett error bringing up two Championship points at 15-40. One was all they would need as the classy Zimonjic finished off the match with an unreturnable backhand winner.
Speaking after the match, Nestor said: "It's very exciting and I thought we played a great match. "We focused really hard. It's one of those matches where you don't want to give an inch. Every game and point is tough. You feel like you have to focus really hard because you're playing against one of the best competitors over the years, singles and doubles, Bjorkman. Ullyett is playing great doubles, too. They beat the Bryans and they're confident." He continued: "Just like that first set. It was a little bit of nerves out there, and finally we broke through. They kept up their level in the second, and, you know, we were fortunate to get a break. I thought we started playing better in the third and fourth, especially returning. The whole match we served well."
Zimonjic added: "This is my first Grand Slam title and it's special that it's Wimbledon as well. It is my 21st title and the biggest one for sure. "There are not too many tennis players that can say they won Grand Slams in doubles. I'm really happy. Last year Jelena Jankovic won here in mixed doubles. Before that we never had any (Serbs) as a champion, so this makes to really big for me. Slobodan Zivojinovic was the only one to win a Grand Slam. It was at the US Open." Bjorkman, who announced he will retire from tennis at the end of year, was attempting to win his 10th career Grand Slam title, the fourth at Wimbledon after winning three straight with Todd Woodbridge from 2002-04. It was the first appearance in a Wimbledon final for Zimbabwe native Ullyett, a three-times Grand Slam doubles champion.
| Centre Court - Gentlemen's Doubles - Finals | |
|
|
Match Statistics
Mens 2nd Seeds Secure Doubles
Subscription Video (Live)
