Nestor and Zimonjic to walk their separate paths
At a time of the professional tennis season during which most doubles players begin cementing their partnerships with the “other halfs” whom they play with, the current World Number 2 team of Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic have decided to call it quits.
For the doubles side of tennis, this is probably the biggest news to come out of Shanghai, where the Masters 1000 event was held this week.
Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic from Serbia have been playing together for the past three years. They have won 21 career titles together, including Wimbledon Championships in 2008 and 2009. The team has had a very successful run, scoring themselves
five titles in the first six months of 2010, including one at the French Open in Roland Garros. They also bagged a win at the 2007 French Open, after Nestor split with long-time partner Mark Knowles from the Bahamas, in a bitter parting.
When asked about the reasons behind this split, Daniel Nestor said, “We’ve been battling some inconsistency this year. In years past, we’d struggle to get through the first round, but when we did we’d start rolling. But for the last few tournaments it’s
been a different trend. We’ve gotten through but then lost the next matches.”
The three-year long partnership will end at the same time as the ATP World Tour Finals in London, at the end of November. The split came about after the duo has been unable to reach a final at their last eight events. The team plans to participate in the
end of year showcase tournament before going their separate ways. The move is initiated by Zimonjic, though Nestor has admitted that he too was contemplating the same decision, so the parting itself is an amicable procedure, as compared to the Nestor-Knowles
split. The Canadian half of the duo commented, saying, “I think it’s a good move. It came from him [Zimonjic] but it’s something I’ve definitely thought about, too. Unfortunately, I never acted on it because I didn’t see better options.”
However, it seems as if the two pro tennis players, co-ranked World Number 3 on the ATP Individual Doubles rankings behind first place holders Bob and Mike Bryan of the Unites States, have found themselves some superior options after all. Zimonjic will be
teaming up with left hander Michael Llodra of France, who has been coached by Amelie Mauresmo. He has made great progress in both singles and doubles play due to his advancement in the forecourt.
Nestor commented on Zimonjic’s choice of partner, saying, “Nenad wanted to play with Llodra for obvious reasons. He’s a very good player. He’s a little bit younger [30] and has a little more firepower and a big serve.”
Meanwhile, Nestor plans to join forces with Max “The Beast” Mirnyi, who is similar to Zimonjic in build and stature, which was a big factor in his selection. The Canadian stated, “It’s not necessarily always doubles [skills] the way the game is played these
days,” he said. “It’s more about who hits harder and who serves bigger.”
He said, about finding a new partner like Mirnyi, who is 6 foot 5 inches, “It’s not like there’s a whole lot of guys sitting there waiting, guys you can win a Grand Slam with. Max has always been someone that I’ve thought about playing with. He’s very level-headed.
On the court he’s got a good personality, nothing fazes him. Even if he’s in the right and there’s a bad call, you’re not going to see him breaking racquets.”
Nestor and Zimonjic plan to play out the rest of this year together at Vienna, Basel, Switzerland, Paris and London.
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