Oliver Marach and his partner Mate Pavic take first place in a Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon. The goal is simple: to win one more match than last year.
After the French Open final, which the Styrian lost to Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut at the side of Mate Pavic, Oliver Marach concluded by saying that grass is his favourite surface. No wonder: Marach and Pavic had succeeded in making a great exclamation on grass in Wimbledon in 2017 with their entry into the final.
Starting as number 16 in the tournament, the first Grand Slam title for the two was in the air until 11:13 in the fifth set. Meanwhile this burden has fallen from Marach/Pavic – with the success at the Australian Open at the beginning of this year.
However, the pressure has also increased: the pairing for this year’s edition in Wimbledon is exactly 15 ranks higher than it was a year ago, with Pavic leading the Doubles Race to London and Marcah leading the ATP world rankings just behind.
The draw is not fundamentally bad, it starts for the Styrian-Croatian combo against Deblbonis/Reyes-Varela. In round two, Fernando Verdasco could wait with partner David Marrero, in the quarter-finals Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares. For the latter, Marach/Pavic also made a final stop at London’s Queen´s Club.
Alexander Peya, the second Austrian with glorious prospects, has been assigned a task with legendary quality by partner Nikola Mektic: Daniel Nestor, the indestructible Canadian. And the great Jürgen Melzer, who missed the qualification for the single main field by a hair’s breadth.
Melzer and Nestor, former champions, were rewarded with a wildcard by the organizers, Peya/Mektic have worked their way up to eight with the season so far.
Listed at 16 this year, by the way: Philipp Oswald with Max Mirnyi. If this is not a good sign for the Vorarlberger, what then? Oswald/Mirnyi start against Peralta/Zeballos.
Philipp Petzschner and Tim Pütz form a purely German double. Actually, Petzschner had promised Jürgen Melzer for ever, Pütz on the other hand Jan-Lennard Struff, but if cheating is rewarded with the tournament victory like in Stuttgart, then the natural partners also have an understanding.
Especially since Struff and Ben Mclachlan have not yet lost sight of the goal of the ATP final. Pütz/Petzschner open against Ryan Harrison and Vasek Pospisil, Struff/McLachlan against Nicholas Monroe and John-Paul Smith.
From a German perspective, Maximilian Marterer with Matteo Berrettini and Peter Gojowczyk still try their hand at Benoit Paire’s side. Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies made it into the tableau as did André Begemann, who tries his luck with the Japanese Yasutaka Uchiyama.
Eastbourne champion Mischa Zverev remains: The 30-year-old has chosen marton Fucsovics as a partner, the first-round task with Franco Skugor and Dominic Inglot has been a solid one.
Here the double tableau in Wimbledon