New Zealand's top tennis player Michael Venus says he is done with playing singles tennis after a successful doubles season.
Michael Venus during the ASB Classic ATP Men's Tournament Day 1 Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2018 www.photosport.nz
Michael Venus has returned to New Zealand to once again feature at Auckland's annual tennis tournament with South African partner Raven Klaasen.
Venus and Raven won their first ATP title together in Marseille, reached another three finals including their best result of the season, advancing to the final of Wimbledon.
The pair went down in a five-set thriller against world number one pairing Mike Bryan and Jack Sock. The big hitting kiwi sits comfortably ranked at number 16, while Raven is just ahead on 15 in the world.
"Starting a new partnership this year, you never know how it's going to go but we had great consistency but just lacked some of the bigger results," says Venus
"Wimbledon came around and we kept working on things and it just seemed to click from there and we had a great rest of the season."
The pair are set to compete at their second ASB Classic together, they first competed this year in January in their first showing as an official pairing.
Michael Venus and Raven Klaasen during the ASB Classic ATP Men's Tournament Day 5 Semi Finals. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2018 www.photosport.nz
While on tour Venus likens his partnership with Klaasen to a relationship identifying that the connection and balance off the court is sometimes just as important as the one on it.
"You spend a lot of time together, we'll eat dinner together most nights and breakfast and lunch then we are on court practising - it is great to have the friendship it helps us on the court also," says Venus
"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."
Venus' annual homecoming is something he looks forward to every year - this time though a little more special than usual returning as a first-time father.
At this year's January event Venus also competed in the singles draw after receiving a wildcard, the 31-year-old confirms that this time around he has no interest in playing singles again.
"The singles dream is definitely over because the body can't take the singles anymore, so it will just be doubles for me."
- RNZ