By Chris Oddo | August 5, 2014
Once Novak Djokovic got off the couch he helped his partner Stan Wawrinka to a first-round doubles triumph over David Marrero and Juan Sebastian Cabal.
Photo Source: David Martinez/ Getty
Any true tennis fan knows the beauty of the doubles game: ricochet rallies, poaching, improv lobs and wide-angled passes. But true tennis fans don’t see a lot of media coverage of the doubles -- and it’s rarely on TV.
Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka are doing their part to bring doubles love to the mainstream this week, as the two have enlisted one another to form a doubles dream team in Toronto.
On Monday, after a long rain delay, Djokovic and Wawrinka took to the court to take out Juan Sebastian Cabal and David Marrero, 6-3, 7-5.
It took a little prodding from Wawrinka to make sure that his partner woke up in time for the match:
Did you know that Wawrinka and Djokovic have never lost as a team? They partnered last year in Beijing and reached the semis before retiring.
Djokovic has played a lot of doubles in his day, but most of the time has paired with someone from Serbia (Janko Tipsarevic, Viktor Troicki, Nenad Zimonjic, Dejan Petrovic, Dusan Vemic and his brother Marko have been his typical choice), so this is a bit of a rarity for Djokovic.
Wawrinka has bounced around a bit more—he likes to play with Frenchman Benoit Paire, but he also pairs with Roger Federer fairly regularly (the two won an Olympic gold medal together and have their sights set on winning this year's Davis Cup).
One thing’s for certain: when the tour has two players of Djokovic and Wawrinka’s stature pairing for the tournament, it certainly creates a buzz around the doubles game:
Despite the late start, Djokovic and Wawrinka were in good spirits after their victory. They’ll face third-seeded Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in the second round. Expect another big crowd, and maybe, a few more people falling in love with doubles…