December Q&A

01 January, 2010 | 19:01

continued from yesterday....

Hmmm...best player.....welll....In terms of the serve, Bob Bryan has  got a great serve. Wes Moody’s got a really good serve too, and Dick Norman; those guys can all serve down some aces, so I wouldn’t mind playing with any of them. Volleys would be Leander Paes for his reactions; everyone’s aware of what he can do on the court, and no volley seems to be dead because he can get so much back.

Do you think the scoring system works – for example, does the best team win in MTBs as an average?

Well I think you still see the top doubles teams winning the tournaments. I think certainly the first couple of rounds, when you have all the singles guys, then things are tough and you can win matches that should lose and vice versa. Ultimately most matches are only coming down to one or two points either way. One week it can be for you, the next it’s against you. Doubles matches rarely go over an hour and a quarter. It goes too fast for my liking, and things can get away from you pretty quick. But that’s just the way it goes; they’ve tried to make it more entertaining and get more top singles guys playing.

Do you think doubles is stronger than before the various changes?

Well it’s always going to be second fiddle on the Tour. Doubles guys are trying to do more promotions and stuff, so they add more value to the tournaments. The tournament directors don’t see that they get much value, which I can understand. But at the same time, where’s the value of having a singles guy with a low ranking? The tournament directors are all about their ‘big names.’ One problem right now is maybe that the top guys are so protected with the way the ranking system works.

Who is your favourite doubles player of all time?

Well I’ve really only been watching doubles for the last five to ten years, but obviously the Woodies were a different league to anyone else with the amount of titles they won, although I think the Bryan’s are going to overtake them soon. They’ll leave their own legacy, they’ve done so much for doubles. There’s plenty of guys who’ve been around for a long time too: Mark Knowles, Mahesh Bhupathi, Max Mirnyi. Those guys are all great players. There’s lots.

Back to you - you’ve been enjoying your tennis a lot more recently.

Yeah. In the middle part of the year I wasn’t playing very well, and I wasn’t enjoying it. I was getting frustrated on the court. I didn’t feel like I knew how to make things better. But in the last few months It’s been better. Starting to work on my strengths and not worry about weaknesses so much. And that gets the enjoyment back; you’re happy to be out on court. And that’s why we do it, it’s great fun.

What are you hoping for this Christmas?

Well I asked for a video camera. And a golf club - a three wood. Hopefully Santa will think I’ve been a good boy this year and reward me!

Any messages for your fans?

Well, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope everyone has a good one. And thanks for the support and all the messages too, of course. That goes without saying. I hope we'll be able to give everyone something to get ecxited about next year.