Michael Venus and Raven Klaasen to chase Grand Slam glory in 2019
The 31-year-old Auckland native Michael Venus had another successful season behind him, finishing in the top-20 for the second year in a row after a string of good results with Raven Klaasen, winning 40 matches and playing in five ATP finals. They claimed the title in Marseille and played on a high level in the second part of the year as well, losing finals in s-Hertogenbosch, Wimbledon, Toronto and Tokyo. Michael and Raven scored five wins at Wimbledon to reach the final, losing a thrilling title match to Jack Sock and Mike Bryan in five sets.
Kontinen and Peers defeated them in the final of Toronto and they finished runner-up in Tokyo as well, cementing the place inside the top-20 and setting their eyes on even better results in 2019. With the ambition to become no. 1 doubles team in the world and lift Grand Slam title, Michael and Raven will kick off the season at the ASB Classic in Auckland where they lost in the semi-final in two tie breaks against Mirnyi and Oswald this January. Klaasen will join Venus in Auckland on January 2 and they will train for five days before the start of the tournament, hoping to gain early momentum and fight for the big titles and the top ranking positions.
"Playing center court here with all the Kiwis out watching, you look in the stands, you see friends and family - it's the highlight of the year," Venus said. "To be back here, and be able to start the year, it's very exciting. There was no question, once the schedule came around, beginning of the year what we're going to play. Definitely, we'd love to play here and get a good boost of confidence heading into the Australian Open. We're very consistent, but kind of lack those bigger results that we'd hoped.
Then Wimbledon rolled around, we made finals there and things just seemed to click, and we had a good rest of the season to follow. New partnerships take time sometimes, we knew it was going to come, we both work hard. It was really pleasing to have that result, and hopefully, we can have some more in the future. We spoke about quite a few things before we started playing and everything seemed to match up well and the good communication, it's helped us as a team to grow and get better. The singles dream is definitely over because the body can't take the singles anymore, so it will just be doubles for me."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2RfPYxm
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