Dusko Tosan popularized the swing forehand. Nick Bollettieri started it. And now Nadal is finishing it.
Following the final of the Hopman Cup, Michael Kvitova, Wozniacki and Bryan will play doubles Wednesday in Melbourne, Australia, to determine the winner of the inaugural Billie Jean King Cup. The USA got to the final with a 3-1 win over the Czech Republic and is also trying to win a second Hopman Cup title in a row to cap off a dominant week in mixed doubles.
“As far as mixed doubles was concerned, we were very, very comfortable with what we were doing,” said Bryan, who teamed with Kvitova to win the first two sets before his team was ousted by world No. 3-ranked Czech Barbora Strycova and partner Lukas Rosol. “There were a few mistakes in sets three and four, but we were within a match of going to a fourth set.”
The Americans were even taller in the doubles when Jack Sock beat Strycova, 6-4, 6-1, but it was too little, too late for the Americans. “We’ve had great success the last few years in doubles, but this was probably our toughest partnership as far as chemistry goes,” Bryan said. “We’ll have to look at things individually and see how it goes as we move forward.”
Nadal will play doubles Wednesday with McEnroe for the first time since beating Michael Chang in the first round at the Open in 2000. The two-time defending champion is bidding to win a fifth singles title at the event for the 30th time in his career, one behind Pete Sampras and Stefan Edberg.
Nadal hasn’t played since beating Marin Cilic in the Australian Open final in January, which is a break because of his dedication to the grass-court season. The Spaniard lost his only match against Bartoli in the opening round of the French Open in 2013. Bartoli, another former French Open champion, won’t be in the All England Club field as she recovers from a severe concussion.
Bertens won her fifth singles on Tuesday to give the Netherlands an insurmountable 3-0 lead over Belgium. The last time the Dutch won a Hopman Cup was in 1978. Bartoli played doubles on Tuesday with Elise Mertens to become the first teammates from the same country to win singles and doubles in the Hopman Cup.
In her singles match Tuesday, Bartoli defeated Julia Goerges 6-2, 6-2, and Mertens defeated Ana Konjuh 6-2, 6-3.
Alexander Zverev beat Karen Khachanov 6-4, 7-6 (2) to give Germany a 1-0 lead over Australia.
The other two singles matches go Wednesday. In doubles, Maximilian Marterer plays Australia’s Alex de Minaur and Marterer’s countryman Denis Shapovalov faces Kyrgios.
The final takes place Friday.