Paes and Klaasen among a throng of new doubles pairings for 2015
By Ricky Dimon
One of the many reasons why Bob and Mike Bryan have been so dominant as a doubles duo is, of course, that they never split up. As their partnership remains a constant, other doubles players are consistently changing up their partners year in and year out. Next season will be no exception.
The Bryan Brothers will remain intact, obviously, as will fellow World Tour Finals participants Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares, Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, and Jean-Julien Roger and Horia Tecau.
As usual, however, there will be plenty of changes.
Leander Paes, who struggled with various partners (mainly Radek Stepanek) in 2014, will team up with Raven Klaasen at least for the beginning of next season. Klaasen will be Paes’ 99th partner and the legendary Indian player is already thinking about No. 100.
“Many players have expressed interest in being my 100th partner,” Paes said. “I’ve spoken to Novak Djokovic, also. He’s very keen. Let’s see who ultimately becomes my 100th partner.”
Klaasen is coming off a successful year with Eric Butorac, with whom the South African finished runner-up at the Australian Open to Lukasz Kubot and Robert Lindstedt. Butorac, who is head of the ATP Player Council, is linking with Sam Groth for 2015. Kubot will likely focus on singles, so Lindstedt is now partnering Marcin Matkowski.
That means the struggling Polish duo of Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg is no more. Fyrstenberg’s new teammate will be Santiago Gonzalez.
Other new pairings for 2015 are Rohan Bopanna and Daniel Nestor, Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi and Nenad Zimonjic, Pablo Cuevas and David Marrero, Dominic Inglot and Florian Mergea, and Marin Draganja and Henri Kontinen. Zimonjic had been planning on playing with Michael Llodra, but Llodra is injured and expected to miss at least the first few months of next season.
On the women’s side, Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova are back together after trying out new partners in 2014. The Czech duo has won two Grand Slam titles and also earned the silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.
Topics: Atp, Bob Bryan, Bryan Brothers, Leander Paes, Mike Bryan, Raven Klaasen, Ricky Dimon, Tennis, tennis doubles
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