Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic have clinched the year-end No. 1 FedEx ATP Doubles Team Ranking after a season full of historic achievements. Pavic has finished in top spot twice before, partnering Oliver Marach in 2018 and Bruno Soares last year. This is the first time Mektic has been part of the year-end No. 1 tandem.
The Croatians are the only men from their country to claim year-end No. 1 in singles or doubles. They began the year in top form and never looked back, tallying an impressive nine tour-level titles, including victories at Wimbledon, the Tokyo Olympics and three ATP Masters 1000 events.
"I think it’s a really good achievement, especially after the year we had. I was really looking forward to this happening,” Mektic said. “That was definitely one of the goals when I saw how things were going. I think it’s a pretty good achievement to crown the whole year of really nice wins and great tournament titles with the No. 1 ranking."
“I’m extremely happy. Obviously it’s been the third time for me in the past four years with three different partners. It is the first time I’ve done it with my fellow Croatian, so I think it’s definitely a big achievement for us personally, but also in general for Croatian tennis to have a year-end No. 1 team coming from Croatia,” Pavic said. “I think it’s a big achievement. Obviously we had a great year and we’re looking forward to playing in Turin this year at the Finals and trying to finish the year the same as we started.”
Mektic, 32, and Pavic, 28, began their partnership this year with titles at the Antalya Open (d. Dodig/Polasek) and the Murray River Open (d. Chardy/Martin) before advancing to the Australian Open semi-finals. Their season-opening 12-match winning streak was a sign of things to come.
The Croatians won 56 of their first 61 matches in 2021, including Masters 1000 triumphs at the Miami Open presented by Itau, the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (d. Evans/N. Skupski both times) and the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (d. Ram/Salisbury). Mektic and Pavic made history at Wimbledon, where they became the first all-Croatian team to win a men’s doubles Grand Slam title (d. Granollers/Zeballos).
The countrymen did not suffer a let-down at the Tokyo Olympics, where they defeated fellow Croatians Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig for the gold medal. Mektic and Pavic have also lifted trophies at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam (d. Krawietz/Tecau) and the Viking International Eastbourne (d. Ram/Salisbury) this year.
Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Chairman said: “Congratulations to Nikola and Mate on an outstanding season and finishing the year as No.1. To start so strongly and have such success in their first season as a team is impressive and they should be truly proud of their achievements. We look forward to seeing them in action in Turin at the Nitto ATP Finals.”
Mektic and Pavic will be the top seeds at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at the Pala Alpitour in Turin from 14-21 November. Mektic emerged victorious alongside Dutchman Wesley Koolhof at the season finale last year, when it was held at The O2 in London.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/3o1lopz
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