Lost in Transit

Hi guys. This morning, while doing my usual perusal of the tennis news, I saw that Rafa and Nole lost their first match in Toronto last night as a doubles team. I guess it was exciting while it lasted. Anyway, I vaguely remembered writing something about Nadal/Djokovic doubles so I did a little rifling through my purse and found my notebook. I write all of my posts long hand so sometimes I forget about one or two and they end up slipping through the cracks. It turns out that I wrote a post about the dynamic duo while I was en route to Toronto on Friday. It may be a little outdated, considering they've already lost, but I wanted to share it with you. I've changed absolutely nothing since the plane ride. Here goes...

I've mentioned this before, but I see doubles as a truly underappreciated facet of the tennis world. Doubles matches often include incredibly talented players and entertaining, fast paced rallies. More and more often now, we're seeing prominent singles players teaming up to play doubles. It may not be their main purpose, but they can be pretty damn good. The Olympic gold for singles has always eluded Roger Federer, but he and Stanislas Wawrinka teamed up tow in a gold medal for Switzerland at Beijing in 2008, proving Roger could share the glory. My point...doubles can be just as interesting as singles...and this week things just got a lot for interesting.

Last week we saw the Bryan brothers claim their 62nd title as a team (which is the new record,) but this week, we will see world number 1, Rafael Nadal, and world number 2, Novak Djokovic, attempt to take home their first title. No, I don't expect this partnership to last past Tornot, but it should be pretty entertaining while it does last. the only team I thinhk fans would be more interested to see would be Federer/Nadal, but I don't see that ever happening outside of an exhibition or charity match. As it is, I am extremely curious to know what brought Novak Djokovic to this idea. Neither Rafa or Nole needs the money, neither needs points in the doubles rankings, and neither really needs the publicity. However, that's what it will be, excellent publicity. Somehow I think agents and tournament directors played a key role in developing this partnership. I'm sure the idea didn't just come to Nole in a dream. This is a huge coup for doubles. I would love to see two of the best players int he world team up to beat down some unsuspecting doubles specialists. Although I'm not too sure this will be the case. Some extraordinary singles players transission effortlessly to doubles, like Fed at the Olympic or the Williams sisters pretty much everywhere. We also saw singles players Philipp Petzschner and Jurgen Melzer team up this year to beat some very serious doubles teams and take the Wimbledon title. However, some singles players find it hard to share, and they fail miserably when it comes down to the teamwork. Honestly, I'm not seeing either of these scenarios being the case for Djokovic/Nadal. Both guys have successfully played doubles in the past, but at a Master event singles will be the top priority. thse guys might win a match or two, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of them pulled out to protect his chances in the singles. The weeks leading up to the US Open are packed with important tournaments and it's not a time to take risks. Like I said, look for a couple of victories before going out to a mroe seasoned doubles team or having Rafa or Nole pull the plug. I would be shocked if these guys won the whole thing. On the singles side, the prospects are looking good for either of them to take home the trophy.

Ahh, the ramblings of someone who's been sitting in the airport for several hours. Anyway, clearly I was a bit off about the whole winning part. I'm generally not much of a conspiracy theorist, but I'm calling this one a simple publicity stunt. The fact that they were playing a rookie Canadian team in Toronto and lost, was way too lucky for the tournament.