FINALS AT THE YEAR END ATP TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS AT THE 02 ARENA IN LONDON DOES NOT DISAPPOINT

Written by: Staff on 18th November 2018

FINALS AT THE YEAR END ATP TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS AT THE 02 ARENA IN LONDON DOES NOT DISAPPOINT

epa07175952 Germany's Alexander Zverev (L) and Serbia's Novak Djokovicc (R) with their trophies after their final match at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 18 November 2018. EPA-EFE/WILL OLIVER |

Germany’s Alexander Zverev (L) and Serbia’s Novak Djokovicc (R) with their trophies after their final match at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 18 November 2018. EPA-EFE/WILL OLIVER

Djokovic vs. Zverev another straight-setter, but doubles thrills as Jack Sock and Mike Bryan win ATP Finals

By J. Fred Sidhu

As is often the case, there were a whole lot of straight-set singles matches at the Nitto ATP Finals, but doubles consistently provided plenty of drama. That continued on Sunday, as the doubles final that preceded Alexander Zverev’s upset of Novak Djokovic went the distance–and then some.

Jack Sock and Mike Bryan, playing in their last match together, won their third doubles title of the year as they narrowly defeated the French pair of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 5-7, 6-1, 13-11 to win the Nitto ATP Finals at the O2 Arena.

Two days ago, Sock and Bryan fell to Herbert and Mahut 6-2, 6-2 in only 52 minutes in their final round-robin match of the tournament, but in the final, they picked up the level of their game and played aggressively, winning the big points when they needed to.

After exchanging service breaks in the middle of the opening set, the Frenchmen broke Bryan’s serve to take a 6-5 lead. Mahut then fought off a break point in the next game with an ace and eventually served out the first set.

Sock and Bryan came right back and dominated the second set as Sock opened with an impressive love service hold. The Americans took advantage of three doubles faults by Herbert and broke his serve twice to build a commanding 5-1 lead.

In the seventh game, Bryan smashed an ace on set point to wrap up the set and even the match.

In the match tie-break, Sock and Bryan continued the momentum they gained in the second set and won eight of the first 11 points for an 8-3 lead. They later reached championship point at 9-4, but Herbert and Mahut caught fire and rallied to not only tie the match tie-break, but earn a championship point of their own at 11-10 in their favor.

With the crowd at the O2 Area on the edge of seats, Bryan fought off the championship point and leveled the match tie-break at 11-11 with a thundering overhead winner. Sock and Bryan earned their sixth match point on the 23rd point when Mahut’s lob off a service return landed just past the baseline.

Herbert served to stay in the match at 11-12, but committed his second double fault of the match tie-break as Sock and Bryan celebrated their championship.

“You need a little bit of luck to win these matches. The margins in doubles are so fine when you’re playing against the best teams in the world,” Bryan said. “We played some of our best tennis today. We saved the best for last.”

The doubles title at the Nitto ATP Finals will be the last for the Sock / Bryan partnership for the foreseeable future as Bob Bryan will return from a right hip injury he suffered earlier this year and will rejoin his twin brother back on the ATP World Tour in January.

USA’s Jack Sock (L) and Mike Bryan (R) celebrate with their trophy after beating France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the doubles final at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 18 November 2018. EPA-EFE/WILL OLIVER

After winning the doubles championship at the O2 Arena, Sock expressed gratitude for the opportunity to fill-in for Bob Bryan as he paid tribute to both Bryan bothers.

“The experience is second to none. They’ve been through everything. They’ve been to every tournament, traveled everywhere, done it all. Just trying to take away as much as I can, as much as possible,” he said. “They’re consummate professionals. I can definitely take a lot from that moving forward. It will probably help my career a lot.”

After winning Wimbledon and the US Open with Sock this year, it was time for the 40-year-old Bryan to enjoy an unexpected championship to finish the year at the Nitto ATP Finals, along with the No. 1 doubles ranking

“At 40 you really kind of appreciate these moments a lot more. You’re looking around trying to soak in as much of these great feelings as possible because you don’t really know if you’re every going to feel that feeling again,” he said.

“To win two Slams, finish the year like this, is totally a thrill. Just had the dream matchup with Jack,” Bryan added. “Our games kind of really meshed together. We compliment each other so well out there.”