THE CANADIAN PRESS
LONDON -- Daniel Nestor may have to carry more of the doubles load for his Wimbledon-winning team at the Rogers Cup this month, as partner Nenad Zimonjic heals from a left wrist injury.
But whatever it takes during the event in Nestor's hometown of Toronto, it won't be much to ask for the world No. 1 after completing his career Grand Slam sweep Saturday at the All England Club.
"I feel very fortunate to have always had good partners, and now is no exception," said the 35-year-old Nestor, who has now won all four major doubles honours - the 2002 Australian Open, 2004 U.S. Open and 2007 French Open with previous partner Mark Knowles.
"I have no plans of stopping. I think now it's more incentive to keep playing, the fact that I'm playing great, we're playing great."
Zimonjic fell on his wrist in the Wimbledon semifinals but played on with the help of a brace, anti-inflammatories and painkillers straight through Saturday's final triumph in four sets over Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe.
Doctors tell the newly-married Zimonjic that he might need up to four weeks to fully heal. But don't expect the injury to keep Nestor and his partner away from the Toronto ATP date starting in two weeks (July 19 - 27).
"Hopefully this (title) will allow us to relax and enjoy, especially for me, tennis more," said Nestor after lifting his 53rd career trophy. "Nenad seems to enjoy it more already. Hopefully I can get to his level."
The trophy was the first at a Grand Slam for Zimonjic, who came up short at Wimbledon in 2004 and 2006. Nestor and Zimonjic have lifted three trophies this season, the first two Hamburg and Queen's. They placed runners-up at Indian Wells, Rome and Roland Garros.
Nestor, meanwhile, has buried any bitter memories from a year ago when he announced he wanted to split from longtime partner Knowles after a decade together on court.
Winning the 2007 French Open made parting even more difficult for the veteran pair with 40 trophies together. But after playing the U.S. Open and then winning the year-end Masters Cup in Shanghai, China the team went their separate ways for good.
"Just to come back here one year later and be able to win, it makes it that much more special," said Nestor, who played in one other Wimbledon final, losing to Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge of Australia in 2002.
"I've had some success in Grand Slams, but if you look at my record in finals, it's not great compared to my record in other finals. It's always something that's lingering around. I feel like I've played great in certain finals, and times I feel like I've been very unlucky, too... Feels like a lot of ups and downs. But that's what makes this (Wimbledon championship) special.
"I think now that we got a big one under the belt it's for sure going to make things easier for us."
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