September is usually a time of partner swapping for the ever-fickle doubles players as texts and messages fly between them, trying to tie up future combinations and discard unwanted attachments.
But for Scotland’s Jamie Murray, it’s a safe bet that should he and Australian John Peers beat France’s Nicolas Mahut and Pierre Hugues-Herbert to win the title at the US Open today, then their partnership will be locked in stone for a good while yet.
As the first British player ever to reach back-to-back grand slam doubles finals, Murray has already made history but he would dearly love to add a doubles crown to his lone grand slam title, the mixed doubles he won with Jelena Jankovic at Wimbledon in 2007.
It seems almost unreal to recall that until Murray teamed up with Peers just after the Australian Open in 2013, he was pretty close to calling it quits, disillusioned at a career that seemed to be going nowhere.
Earlier in his career, Murray had also been guilty of jumping ship too soon, only to find, as he said this week “that the grass is not usually greener on the other side”.
His partnership with Peers gelled almost immediately and the affable Australian, with his outstanding returns, have complimented his own improved serving and ever-brilliant volleying, lifting his confidence to new heights.
This fortnight, Murray in particular has been in outstanding form and as he showed in the quarter-final and semi-final, finding a way to produce his best at the biggest moments.
As a result of their run here and at Wimbledon, Murray and Peers are guaranteed a place in the ATP World Tour Finals, a superb effort in an era when there are so many top doubles pairings.
Now, the 29-year-old is desperate to go one better than at Wimbledon and says he and Peers will give it everything they have against a pair who beat them in the Netherlands earlier this summer.
“I don’t know if I’d take confidence from the Wimbledon final appearance because we lost but after coming so close and returning to the final of the very next major is a pretty amazing achievement.
“Both teams are playing well, I’ve watched them and they’ve been playing really well but we’ve been playing a lot of good tennis too and it’s two good doubles teams going up against each other. It’s a 50-50 match, there are no favourites really and we’ll be doing our best to win.”
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