Neal Skupski believes the early collapse of his mixed doubles title defence may have been key to him winning the men’s title with playing partner Wesley Koolhof.
In the mixed, Skupski had been bidding to become the first British man to win a hat-trick of consecutive Wimbledon titles since Fred Perry but lost in the opening round.
However, he managed to match the tennis legend with his first Grand Slam title in the men’s, following a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers.
“Maybe losing the mixed first round helped me,” said Skupski. “If I’d gone through in the mixed, I might have been more tired here. With the rain, it my schedule would have been more congested. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise.”
His brother and coach, Ken, looked set to miss the final, having got his dates muddled and booked a family holiday to Ibiza. But after less than 24 hours out in the Balearics, he jetted back in the early hours of Saturday morning in time for the final.
The younger Skupski joked how Ken would now be asking for a pay rise. “I knew for a long time he was going to Ibiza,” he said. “He always said, ‘if you make the final, I’m coming back’. I don’t know if he ever believed that I’d make the final.
“But yeah, amazing from him. I said to him after the match, I couldn’t thank him enough for coming back.”
Skupski had received good luck messages from his brother’s children on the morning of the final, which he said had made him emotional.
And the result cemented the 33-year-old’s position as part of the world No1 doubles pairing with Koolhof, having come together in January of last year and having lost out in the final of last year’s US Open.
“The goal this year was to win a Grand Slam,” he said. “We’d done well in previous Grand Slams but now to call ourselves champions in the men’s doubles, it’s amazing.”
