Grand Slam titles, especially at the All England Club, are always worth a fight.
But few are quite as hard-fought as the Wimbledon men’s doubles title that Dutch-Romanian duo Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau claimed by defeating Jamie Murray and John Peers 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-4.
For Tecau, it was a case of fourth time lucky, the Romanian finishing runner-up in the 2010-2012 Wimbledon finals alongside Robert Lindstedt. “I'm extremely happy,” said Tecau. "It's very emotional to lose those finals because this is one of my favorite tournaments. I won it here as a junior twice. I wanted to come back and win it as a professional.”
Lindstedt was one of the first to offer his congratulations, contacting the 30-year-old soon after their win. “I can't reproduce the words, but he was very happy,” Tecau said. “He told me, ‘this is how you should play the finals.’”
An opportunity to contest a fourth doubles final almost didn’t happen. The No.4 seeds survived the first test of their title chase by the narrowest of margins, taking three hours and 36 minutes to defeat Andre Begemnan and Julian Knowle 15-13 in the second round.
The semi-final against Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea was just as tight, the pair only securing progress by 13-11 in the fifth. Surviving those matches, said Tecau, pointed to the special nature of their partnership.
“When you have a friend on the court with you, you know those tough moments, like we usually have super tie-breaks in finals, you have someone that's always there by your side. You know, he's not there to get down on you or the team. It's always support from his side,” the Romanian explained.
To have my whole family there, I get emotional now to talk about it...
“Having that positive energy and positive thoughts and his fight that he brings to the court helps me a lot. I think it was a key in our partnership, the way we complement each other, the way we approach the matches, the attitude that we have, the support we have on each other.”
That synergy was most evident in the final, as Rojer and Tecau took an hour and 52 minutes to dismantle Peers and Murray. After saving break points early in the first set, the more experienced combination gradually became more influential.
Securing the first set tie-break with a spectacular rally, Rojer and Tecau struck a more decisive blow by securing a break on Peers’ serve in the third game of the second set. With the Scottish-Australian pairing unable to convert any of their own three break points during the afternoon, Rojer and Tecau were clearly sensing their opportunity.
“I think they started really well,” Tecau said. “They were playing well at the start of the match. We had to hang in there and fight to stay in the first set. But once we got to that tie-break and once we won that tie-break, the momentum of the match changed and it was in our favour.”
Tecau in particular was devastating with his power from the back of the court and touch at the net, helping secure the advantage as the third set followed a similar pattern to the second. Rojer was equally aggressive at just the right moments.
With another break in the ninth game came a chance for Rojer to serve for the Championships – he did so decisively, holding to love to secure their first Grand Slam title.
“It's one of the biggest, if not the biggest, match that I played,” said Rojer, explaining his exuberance as they celebrated match point. “Just to have my whole family there, I get emotional now to talk about it, but to have my family there, I think Horia can say the same – we've worked so hard to get this.
For Peers and Murray, it was a bittersweet ending, the No.13 seeds having upset defending champions Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-7(6), 3-6, 8-6 en route to the final. “We got to the final of Wimbledon, which is not so easy to do. I mean, my best result in a Grand Slam by quite some distance, I guess,” said Murray.
“Sad to lose. But I guess overall it was a positive tournament.”
Significantly, Andy Murray took time to acknowledge the new champions, encouraging them to enjoy their title celebrations. “It's tough to watch it because you're watching his brother,” Rojer related. “But he said, ‘Congratulations, you guys deserve it.’ He made sure to tell me, ‘Make sure you enjoy it.’”
Rojer and Tecau couldn’t say how that might play out, the former laughingly said: “I don't know how to do that. We don't really drink or party that much.”
Even so, there was no doubt that the new champions had earned their victory celebrations.
