(Tennis news) Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic dominated the doubles season with nine titles this season. They played together for the first time from january and found success right from the start.

They played 74 matches this year while winning 61 of them and also are the current world number one. They last played at the Nitto ATP Finals and lost in the semifinals to Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury. They are currently playing at the Davis Cup for Croatia and will play a crucial factor in the semifinal as they will be up against higher ranked teams in the singles tie.

Mektic and Pavic won 56 of their first 61 matches in 2021, including titles at Wimbledon, the Tokyo Olympics and three Masters 1000 events. Mektic has won 17 ATP doubles titles with seven different partners including six Masters 1000s and last year's ATP Finals with Wesley Koolhof. Pavic won the Australian Open with Oliver Marach three years back and the United States Open with Bruno Soares last year. 

“I think it would have been just a matter of time if it didn’t happen at the beginning of this year. In the future, I’m pretty sure one day we would have eventually played together,” Pavic said. “It happened at the end of last year and now we’re here.”

“We are ready for it. We are ready to lose,” Mektic said. “We just keep playing our games and try to keep our heads down and do what we do. If somebody’s better, if somebody deserves to win that day, we say ‘well done’ and we keep on going.”

Doubles requires extreme hand eye coordination, quick reflexes and volley skills as rallies are usually short. A good one necessitates regular dialogue, flexibility, awareness, and the ability to work under crisis. Magic happens when it works, Mektic and Pavic started their partnership by winning the first 12 matches before losing in the Australian Open semifinals. From June to August, they went on an 18 match winning streak.

Only Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have won at least ten tour-level titles in a single season over the past two decades. They did it four times, with their best season coming in 2010 where they won 12 titles. Apart from Mektic and Pavic, Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in 2009 were the only other team to win nine trophies as they had nine in 2009. Mektic and Pavic will now look to go beyond the Bryan brothers next season as there are 50 more days for the Australian Open to begin.

Also read: Germany into the semifinals after beating 10 time champion Britain at Davis Cup