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Home , 2011 Serbia Open, Andy Ram, Daniel Nestor, Fabrice Santoro, Jonathan Erlich, Leander Paes

Zimonjic and Llodra Battle in , Then Team Up in Australia - N... http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/sports/tennis/15doubles.html?ref=te...

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January 14, 2011 Battling in Davis Cup, and Then Teaming Up By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY MELBOURNE, Australia — It has been more than six years since Nenad Zimonjic and Michael Llodra played a doubles match on the same side of the net, and yet they should be among the favorites for the title when they rejoin forces at the .

But that is only if they can move on from events in , , last month, when the ebbs and flows of the Davis Cup final between Serbia and reduced these big hitters to tears on consecutive days.

Llodra made Zimonjic cry first, teaming with Arnaud Clément to beat Zimonjic and in a five-set epic and give France a 2-1 lead that Zimonjic feared would be decisive. But when the final ended, Llodra was the one sobbing in his chair with the captain and his teammates gathered around him after he had been overwhelmed by Troicki in the last singles match.

“I was definitely sorry for him,” Zimonjic said in Melbourne, where the Open begins Monday. “I could imagine just what he was going through, but then again you try to support your own team, and we had been waiting and working for this for a long time in Serbia.”

Zimonjic, 34, had been working for it longer than any of his teammates and was once a player captain when Serbia was still working its way from outcast status. But success has changed the equation, and Serbia’s first Davis Cup title was celebrated by the elite and the masses alike with a celebration in front of Belgrade’s city hall and the release of a postage stamp featuring the likenesses of the players.

At least Llodra got to keep his hair. Zimonjic, like and the other members of the Serbian team, had agreed to have his head shaved in the team won. He kept his word, right there on the court in Belgrade Arena.

“That was kind of a shock to some of us, because we’ve never been like this, without hair, especially me and Novak,” Zimonjic said, laughing. “It’s growing quite slowly, but it’s a different look and everything is O.K.”

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The question is whether Llodra, 30, who skipped official warm-up events in favor of an exhibition in Adelaide, feels the same way after faltering in the biggest match of his life. A flashy, left-handed Frenchman, he had the best year of his career in singles last year and is ranked a career-high 22nd. But Llodra, who made his name as a doubles player — winning three event titles, one with Clément and two with — has stuck by his decision to play doubles regularly with Zimonjic this while trying to maintain his new status in singles.

It will be a huge challenge for Llodra, whose exceedingly rare net-rushing style in singles is easy on the eyes — particularly when he is creating minor miracles with his backhand — but demanding on the body. His new partner will not have the same workload. Zimonjic, whose slightly menacing appearance does not jibe with his thoughtful manner, has long been a pure doubles specialist, one who has won seven Grand Slam titles (four in mixed doubles) and split up with his partner of three years, the Canadian , in order to work with Llodra.

“Michael asked me at the U.S. Open if I would be interested, and it was kind of a joke, the way he asked me,” Zimonjic said. “And I told him, ‘When you get serious, and you say you want to really try to be the best team in the world or best two or three teams in the world, I’ll be more than happy to play with you, because I believe we can do well.’ So that’s how it started.”

It ended with Zimonjic asking Llodra in earnest a few weeks later, feeling that he and Nestor had completed a cycle even though their wives are friends and Zimonjic’s twins and Nestor’s daughter were born within two weeks of one another in 2008.

Zimonjic and Nestor, 38, did not part ways without a final flourish, beating the Bryan twins, Bob and Mike, long the team to beat, in the semifinals of the ATP World Tour finals in November and then winning the title and finishing the year as the world’s No. 2 team.

Nestor’s age was a factor in Zimonjic’s switch to the younger Llodra. But there are clearly similarities, and not only because Llodra has young children of his own. Like Nestor, Llodra is a left-hander who plays the ad court and is a streaky, ultra-aggressive returner.

It will be a year of changes and revivals on the men’s doubles circuit as the Bryans try to remain No. 1. Nestor has teamed with , and has reunited with just as is reuniting with his longtime partner, . But with Ram and Erlich representing and Paes and Bhupathi stars at home in , there is no risk of finding each other on opposite sides of the net at a Davis Cup final.

“I think it would have more impact on a team if I had been playing, for example, against Daniel, who I’ve played with for three years,” Zimonjic said of the Davis Cup. “That would make maybe a little bigger difference, but this was before my partnership with Michael, so I see it as a professional.”

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Considering the final result, it would be no surprise if Llodra saw it rather differently.

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