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LONDON — Exactly 12 months ago, it was all confusion for Daniel Nestor of Toronto as he anguished, trying to sort out whether he would stick to his plan to change partners or remain with long-time doubles sidekick Mark Knowles of the Bahamas.
Nestor had announced in May 2007, that he would switch after Wimbledon to Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia, but subsequently winning the French Open title with Knowles made him have second thoughts.
It got so complicated and confusing that he told Knowles and Zimonjic at Wimbledon last year to get together and sort it out between themselves. A compromise was reached, with Nestor staying with Knowles until after the U.S. Open last September.
In their first six months together last fall and this spring, Nestor and Zimonjic had distinctly unimpressive results. But they caught fire in May with a runner-up finish at the Italian Open and reached their pinnacle together on Saturday with an historic victory at Wimbledon. Seeded No. 2, Nestor and Zimonjic defeated No. 8 seeds Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe 7-6 (12), 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3 in a match played on Centre Court right after Venus Williams defeated her sister Serena for the women's singles title.
Daniel Nestor celebrates with Nenad Zimonjic after winning the men's doubles final match against Kevin Ullyett and Jonas Bjorkman at Wimbledon on Saturday. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
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It was Nestor and Zimonjic's fifth consecutive final and a third win to go with Queen's Club in London last month and the Masters Series — Hamburg in May. They were also runners-up at the French Open four weeks ago.
The first ever Wimbledon title for a Canadian gives Nestor a career Grand Slam of doubles titles. He won the 2002 Australian Open, the 2004 US Open and the 2007 French Open, all with Knowles. Add the gold medal he and Sebastien Lareau of Montreal brought home from the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and he has what is referred to in tennis terms as a career doubles "Golden Slam." The only other men to accomplish that feat are Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde of Australia.
"When you go back a year ago, it was a terrible time for both of us," Nestor said Saturday as he sat beside Zimonjic in the champions' media conference. "We were switching partners and there was a lot of indecision with our other partners. To come back here one year later and be able to win, it makes it that much better."
Nestor and Zimonjic were presented with their winners cups by the Duke of Kent (President of the All England Club) in the Royal Box, something Nestor said he had pictured in his head the night before the match.
"It's a great feeling," he said. "Wimbledon has the most history and tradition of any tournament. Being the only Canadian to win it is very special."
Ironically, five Canadians — Greg Rusedski, Lareau, Sebastien LeBlanc, Jocelyn Robichaud and Frank Dancevic — have won the boys (under-18) doubles title at Wimbledon dating back to 1991. Nestor, however, never played the event as a junior.
Saturday's match presented an additional challenge because the right-handed Zimonjic had fractured his left wrist in a fall during the quarter-finals on Thursday evening. He had to wear a soft cast/brace on it that went from his knuckles halfway up his forearm. Fortunately, he does not have a two-handed backhand and was able to maintain a high level.
"It was all right for everything except returning high balls on the backhand where I couldn't bring the racquet up," Zimonjic said. "That was a bit frustrating but then again it helped. I made a joke with Danny about my ball toss. Sometimes it goes off. With this thing (the soft cast/brace), it doesn't allow you to use the wrist. So I had a perfect ball toss the whole time and thought I served really well." Neither player lost his serve during the match.
Saturday's 14-12 first set tiebreak was the longest in the history of Wimbledon doubles finals. It ended when there was a rapid exchange at the net, with Bjorkman hitting an awkward backhand volley into the net. (The 36-year-old Swede, who was hoping to win his tenth Grand Slam doubles title and his fourth at the All England Club, was playing his final Wimbledon before retiring.)
In the second-set tiebreak, Bjorkman-Ullyett got a mini-break to lead 2-0 and another to go ahead 5-2, winning it 7-3.
At one set apiece, it looked as if the match would last a while. But Nestor and Zimonjic were a perfect (3 for 3) on break points in the third and fourth sets, breaking Bjorkman for a 3-1 lead in the third set and then Ullyett twice in the final set, including in the last game, which was memorable.
It started when Bjorkman got lackadaisical putting away an easy smash at the net and the athletic Zimonjic chased it down and hit a leaping overhead at extension from far behind the baseline. He sent the ball screaming down the doubles sideline and it landed just inside the baseline. A shot that is a shoo-in for the Wimbledon '08 highlight reel.
Four points later on Nestor-Zimonjic's first championship point, Zimonjic hit a cold backhand service return winner that streaked past a helpless Ullyett. Zimonjic let out a victory roar and then both he and Nestor dropped their racquets before embracing.
"I thought we started playing better in the third and fourth sets, especially returning serve," Nestor said. "The whole match we served really well."
Zimonjic was playing in his third Wimbledon final, having lost with Julian Knowle of Austria in 2004 and with Fabrice Santoro of France in 2006. He does have three mixed doubles Grand Slam victories on his record.
"For me, it's my first Grand Slam title," said Zimonjic, 32. "Danny has now won everything that you can in tennis and been No. 1 (in the individual doubles rankings). This is a great achievement for me. It's special that it's Wimbledon as well. Last year, (Serbian compatriot) Jelena Jankovic won here in the mixed doubles. Before that, we never had anyone champion here. Slobodan Zivojinovic was the only one to win a Grand Slam. It was at the US Open (in 1986 in doubles). This is my 21st title and the biggest for sure."
Nestor and Zimonjic share a Serbian heritage and were both born in Belgrade, with Nestor immigrating to Canada at age four.
Their next event together will be the Rogers Cup in Toronto beginning on July 21, where Zimonjic will still be playing with that soft cast/brace on his left wrist.
Nestor, 35, plans to play doubles in Indianapolis in two weeks with Frederic Niemeyer of Deauville, Que., his partner for the Olympic Games in Beijing.
A runner-up with Knowles at Wimbledon in 2002 to Bjorkman and Woobridge, Nestor is now 4-7 in Grand Slam finals.
After Saturday's memorable triumph, Nestor took time to mention Knowles, with whom he won 40 out of his now 53 career doubles titles. "I don't know how he will react to this," he said about the Bahamian after Saturday's triumph. "He's a great guy. Hopefully, he'll have this kind of chance. It would be nice if he won the only tournament missing in his career."
Reflecting on the Wimbledon win and the recognition he has received in a professional career that dates back 17 years to 1991, Nestor said, "There are times when I feel some of my achievements go unnoticed. But tennis is not the most popular sport in Canada and other athletes also do great things and don't get noticed. So I can't complain.
"This is definitely good for Canadian tennis and I hope it inspires more kids to take up the game. But we have to have people doing this in singles because that's where the spotlight and the attention is. We need champions in singles.
"We have kids playing well but not enough to choose from. The competition isn't there — just a couple in each age group. We need a guy like Frank Dancevic (from Niagara Falls, N.Y.) to do something in singles at a Grand Slam event."
Nestor earned approximately $230,000 for the win, the biggest payday of his career.
He also has something else to celebrate. He announced Saturday that he and his wife Natasha are expecting their first child in December.
