MARCELO MELO TENNIS NEWEST NUMBER ONE IN DOUBLES

Written by: Staff on 2nd November 2015

Winner of the Doubles Lukasz Kubot (L) of Poland Marcelo Melo of Brazil celebrate with their trophies during the Final Doubles Match of the Erste Bank Open ATP tennis tournament in Vienna, Austria, 25 October 2015. EPA/EXPA / THOMAS HAUMER

epa04994808 Winner of the Doubles Lukasz Kubot (L) of Poland Marcelo Melo of Brazil celebrate with their trophies during the Final Doubles Match of the Erste Bank Open ATP tennis tournament in Vienna, Austria, 25 October 2015. EPA/EXPA / THOMAS HAUMER no restriction apply |

There’s a new No. 1 atop the Emirates #ATP #Doubles Rankings… Congratulations @marcelomelo83, the new individual World No. 1! – Photo by @atpworldtour via Instagram.

Living the Dream, Melo Climbs To No. 1

The Brazilian Supplants Bryan Brothers Atop Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings

Today, Brazil’s Marcelo Melo is the new individual No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings. You’d have to turn the clock back more than three years to September 3, 2012 to find the last time someone not named Bryan held down the top spot. That’s when Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor closed out an 18-week run atop the doubles charts.

The man they call “Girafa” (he’s 6-foot-8, 192 lbs.) has found success in 2015 regardless of whom he’s teamed up with, including Mirnyi, Ivan Dodig, Julian Knowle, Bruno Soares, Raven Klaasen and Lukasz Kubot. We’re talking five titles with three different partners.

“I think for Brazil it’s going to be huge,” said countryman Soares. “It’s very important for us, for everything that myself, he and Andre [Sa] have been doing for doubles and tennis in Brazil for the past seven or eight years. We’ve been representing Brazil worldwide for such a long time at the biggest events. For him now to achieve No. 1 in the world is something really special for him and for us.”

“It’s amazing for Brazil,” echoed Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic, himself a former No. 1. “Guga [Gustavo Kuerten] was No. 1 in singles, and now Marcelo is going to be No. 1 in doubles. It’s a great achievement for him. Now with a couple of different partners he’s shown how well he can play. This is a reflection of the whole season. It’s one thing that nobody can take away from you. I’m really happy for him. It’s also good for our sport to have more No. 1s.”

With Dodig, Melo reached semi-finals at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Monte-Carlo, and the duo captured its second ATP World Tour team title in Acapulco. Then came Roland Garros, where, cheered on by Kuerten, Melo would team with Dodig to capture his first Grand Slam title, beating the two-time former champions and No. 1-ranked pairing of Mike Bryan/Bob Bryan 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-5 in a thrilling final. Melo/Dodig had fallen to the Bryans in the 2013 Wimbledon final 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

While Dodig honed his singles game on the Challenger circuit, Melo didn’t miss a beat. Teaming with Klaasen, the first-time pairing reeled off back-to-back titles in Tokyo and Shanghai, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. But he wasn’t done yet. In Vienna, he took the court for the first time with Kubot, and the tandem went all the way to the Erste Bank Open title, coming back from a set and 2-4 down to beat second seeds Jamie Murray/John Peers 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-6. Melo, 32, is now 18-18 overall in career finals.

“I’m living the dream, playing three tournaments — winning 500, 1000 and 500 [Emirates ATP Rankings] points again,” said Melo, who’s already qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, along with Dodig. “There was a lot of pressure on my shoulders to become No. 1. This is a tough achievement. I am a really lucky guy to be No. 1 with the Bryans still around.”

In 2009, the former 16s and 18s Brazilian champion reached the Roland Garros mixed doubles final with American Vania King, becoming the first Brazilian to reach a Grand Slam final since his compatriot Kuerten. He is coached by his older brother and former touring pro Daniel Melo, who won the Brasil Open doubles title with Enzo Artoni in 2001, the year he rose to a career-high No. 151 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

“Marcelo and I go back a long way,” said Soares. “We’ve known each other since we were six, seven years old. We grew up together. We’re from the same city [Belo Horizonte], we’re from the same club. It’s a boy’s dream. Once you start playing tennis and start understanding, you have a couple of dreams: winning big tournaments, winning a Slam and maybe one day getting to No. 1. It feels like such a faraway dream and it’s just amazing that a guy I know, who is so close to me, achieved that this year. I feel very happy for him and I think he’s going to keep doing amazing things in tennis and for Brazil.”

“The Bryans are still around — the best team in history,” said fellow doubles specialist Marcin Matkowski. “For Marcelo to be ranked No. 1 ahead of them is a great accomplishment.”

“For anyone to overcome the Bryans is incredible,” echoed Britain’s Murray.” He’s been playing really well for a long time now. I think he fully deserves to get to No. 1. It’s definitely a very difficult thing to do. Not many people have overcome the Bryans since I’ve been on tour the last eight, nine years.”

As a pair, the Bryans remain the No. 1 team in the calendar-year Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, although that hold is also under threat from Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, who have 6,220 points, a mere 65 fewer than the Bryans heading into this week’s BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, where the winning team will collect 1000 points.

( Courtesy Of the ATP and Original Link -http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/melo-climbs-to-number-1 )

Topics: Atp World Tour, Bruno Soares, Bryan Brothers, Daniel Nestor, Doubles tennis, Ivan Dodig, Julian Knowle, Lukasz Kubot, Marcelo Melo, Max Mirnyi, Raven Klaasen, Sports, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

November 2, 2015 at 8:50 am

Marcelo Melo Tennis Newest Number One In Doubles- https://t.co/fEPHB84vet @marcelomelo83 #Tennis #Doubles #Melo #ATPWorldTour