|
John Peers is humbled to have taken a special place in tennis history with the successful defence of the doubles crown at the ATP World Tour Finals in London. Peers and Henri Kontinen, from Finland, capped a memorable year with a dominant 6-4 6-2 victory over No. 1 seeds Marcelo Melo and Lukasz Kubot in the final at the O2 Arena. The reigning Australian Open champions are the first duo to retain the year-end crown since American greats Mike and Bob Bryan 13 years ago. The only other pairings to go back-to-back in the tournament's 47-year history are Swedes Stefan Edberg and Anders Jarryd, in 1985 and 1986, and John McEnroe and Peter Fleming, who won seven straight titles from 1978 to 1984. Edberg was courtside 31 years on as Peers' second title also matched the two that Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde won together in 1992 and 1996. "I looked up to those guys growing up," Peers said. "What they were doing not only in doubles but for Australian tennis was unbelievable. "To be able to match them with two is just something I hadn't really thought of doing. "To be able to say I've done it, it's pretty cool. Yeah, amazing." Peers was part of the Australia team that made the Davis Cup semifinals earlier this season, but with Nick Kyrgios' injury plagued season and Bernard Tomic struggling badly it had not been a successful year for the men's game Down Under. "I think we've got a good group of guys coming through in terms of getting depth in not only the Davis Cup team but guys playing on tour. It's been great to have more guys around, which has certainly happened this year," Peers said. "Hopefully we can keep getting more numbers up at the top of the game moving forward, encouraging each other, pushing each other. It's a lot more fun having more Aussies around."
|
