(CP) – Toronto’s Daniel Nestor and Bahamian partner Mark Knowles are already guaranteed finishing the year as the top-ranked doubles team in the world. But a win at the season-ending Masters Cup in Houston would be especially satisfying for the veteran tennis duo.
“Being on top for the year is exciting,” Nestor said during a conference call Thursday. “But being No. 1, you want to finish the year strong by beating the best teams in the last tournament of the year. We’ve never won this event.”
Total purse for the event, which offers both singles and doubles, is $3.7 million US. The tournament opens Saturday and runs through Nov. 21.
Nestor and Knowles have won five titles this season, including the U.S. Open (news – web sites). Nestor, a doubles specialist, is 37th on the ATP money list with $576,610 in winnings this season. Over his career, which has also included an Australian Open (news – web sites) title, he has pocketed more than $4.8 million.
The first half of their season was, in Nestor’s words, mediocre.
But a win at the Masters event in Cincinnati at the beginning of August was a major turning point for the pair, who have won three times and have made the semifinals in seven of their last eight tournaments.
“The first half was pretty consistent but consistently mediocre, as I like to put it,” said Nestor. “But the second half, after we won Cincinnati, that kind of got us going. We won the U.S. Open after and then Madrid.”
But the slow start was discouraging, especially since Nestor and Knowles had high hopes after finishing first in the world in 2002 and third last year.
“Before Cincinnati, we were a little bit down on ourselves but it’s turned out for the best,” said Nestor. “We’re pretty happy with the way we’ve been playing of late.”
The Houston tournament is unlike any other on the ATP circuit. The top seven teams in the ATP rankings qualify for the event with the eighth spot going to the highest-placed Grand Slam winners who aren’t among the top seven.
Teams are divided into two pools and play a round robin with the top two finishers in each group advancing to a semifinal round.
The same system applies to singles players.
Nestor, 32, was pleased with his pool.
“If you look at the two groups on paper, I’d say we have the easier group,” said Nestor.
Joining top-seeded Nestor and Knowles in the Red Group are No. 4 Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe, No. 6 Martin Damm and Cyril Suk of the Czech Republic and No. seeds Xavier Malisse and Olivier Rochus of Belgium.
Nestor and Knowles open the tournament Sunday against Malisse and Rochus, who qualified for the tournament by winning the French Open (news – web sites). They’ve only played together in a handful of tournaments this season but Nestor isn’t taking them lightly.
“We don’t know what to expect from these guys,” he said. “We figure they’re either going to be really hot or pretty nervous about being here. They probably feel like they don’t really belong considering it was a little bit of a fluke that they won the French Open.
“We’re hoping it’s the second of the two, that they’re nervous to be here.”
The Blue Group features No. 2-ranked brothers Bob and Mike Bryan of the U.S., last year’s final tournament, No. 3 Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Todd Woodbridge of Australia, No. 5 Mahesh Bhupathi of India and Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Argentina’s Gaston Etlis and Martin Rodriguez, who are seeded seventh.
Frenchmen Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro qualified for the event but had to withdraw due to Santoro’s wrist injury.
Nestor says the round-robin format makes the tournament less pressure-packed than the usual single-knockout events on the ATP tour.
“Even if you lose your first match, you’re still in there,” said Nestor. “You can rebound and hopefully win the next two. We don’t get that on tour.”
Another plus about the Houston tournament, says Nestor, is the attention doubles receives there.
“Obviously the state of doubles can be better,” he said. “In places like Houston, it’s the best it can be.”
As the long season winds down, Nestor is looking forward to spending a few weeks at his home in the Bahamas, catching up with family and friends and watching his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers (news), who are off to a surprising 7-1 start behind rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
“You’re going to think I’m jumping on the wagon but I’ve been a Steeler fan for 25 years,” he said. “I’m very happy.”
JULIE SCOTT, The Canadian Press
