From a big breakthrough to a blood clot, it has been a whirlwind of a year for Great Britain’s Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski. The brothers — Ken is seven years older than Neal — went through an earthquake in March in Acapulco, but that was only the beginning of an eventful stretch.
It started with the biggest victory of their career as a team. They lifted their first ATP 500 trophy together at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC, where they beat three of the top four seeds, all of whom have competed at the Nitto ATP Finals.
The Saturday after triumphing in Acapulco, Ken began experiencing pain in his right leg back home. He later discovered it was a blood clot.
“I am really disappointed but have to accept my situation and take the time necessary to recover,” Ken wrote on Instagram at the time. “I’m looking forward to getting back playing with Neal as soon as possible.”
Photo Credit: Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC
Meanwhile, Neal was in Miami playing the season’s first ATP Masters 1000 event alongside countryman Daniel Evans. It was their first time competing together.
“I was obviously worried and I was making sure I knew the latest updates on Ken’s health issues, but it was also a good thing that I was doing well because it was maybe giving the family something else to think about rather than thinking about Ken’s health issue,” Neal said. “I just wanted to keep my mind off what Ken was going through, because I could have dwelled on it a little bit and then the results might have been more disappointing.”
Evans and Skupski won three Match Tie-breaks to advance to the championship match in Miami, and then they made the final at the next Masters 1000 event in Monte-Carlo. On both occasions, they lost against Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, who have been the best team on the ATP Tour this year.
“It’s crazy, because obviously we did well in Acapulco and I knew I was going to play with Evans… But winning Acapulco, Ken’s first ATP 500 [title], was a massive thing for my confidence. It took me to a different level,” Neal said. “There was a bit of a whirlwind going to the final there as well and losing to the same team. But I was just basically riding a wave that I was on with confidence and just playing really freely with Evans.”
Neal’s hot stretch helped him climb to a career-high No. 16 in the FedEx ATP Doubles Rankings. Although he was very happy for his brother and following keenly from afar, Ken was stuck at home trying to get healthy.
“I think the difficulty was having such a good week in Acapulco, which was great for us as a team, but also for me personally. To then have to deal with the medical situation that I went through, it became less about tennis and more about personal health,” Ken said. “But then once I was able to get over the health problems I basically had to start again because I had to have four weeks of no tennis, no real activity.”
Ken returned in May in Lyon, and the Skupski brothers have lost all four matches they have played together since, although Ken won an ATP Challenger Tour event in the middle of that stretch with Matt Reid. The nature of the doubles tour is that even if you don’t play badly, it is tough to win with many talented teams competing.
“[Going from] no sporting activity to then try and play against the best players in the world, it’s unrealistic to think that you can start off playing great from the start. So that was a bit of a disappointment, that I wasn’t able to use the victory in Acapulco to sort of push on,” Ken said. “In the doubles world, you try to ride the wave, which Neal was able to do with Dan, and mine sort of came to an abrupt stop. But at the time, it was obviously not really about tennis, it was about making sure my health was okay.”
Ken was fairly certain he would be back, but the lefty initially did not think he would be ready for Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The lefty will be able to say he played both.
Wimbledon is even more special for British players in front of their home crowd. Twenty years ago, Ken made the quarter-finals in the boys’ singles event here as a qualifier, with 11-year-old Neal in tow cheering him on. Now, the 2017 quarter-finalists are set to play the prestigious tournament as a pair for the sixth time, and they are hoping for their best result yet.
“Hopefully we can prove to ourselves that we are good enough to be at the top of the game and hopefully be in the second week at Wimbledon to start with,” Neal said. “And then we’ll see what happens after that.”
It started with the biggest victory of their career as a team. They lifted their first ATP 500 trophy together at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC, where they beat three of the top four seeds, all of whom have competed at the Nitto ATP Finals.
The Saturday after triumphing in Acapulco, Ken began experiencing pain in his right leg back home. He later discovered it was a blood clot.
“I am really disappointed but have to accept my situation and take the time necessary to recover,” Ken wrote on Instagram at the time. “I’m looking forward to getting back playing with Neal as soon as possible.”
Photo Credit: Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC
Meanwhile, Neal was in Miami playing the season’s first ATP Masters 1000 event alongside countryman Daniel Evans. It was their first time competing together.
“I was obviously worried and I was making sure I knew the latest updates on Ken’s health issues, but it was also a good thing that I was doing well because it was maybe giving the family something else to think about rather than thinking about Ken’s health issue,” Neal said. “I just wanted to keep my mind off what Ken was going through, because I could have dwelled on it a little bit and then the results might have been more disappointing.”
Evans and Skupski won three Match Tie-breaks to advance to the championship match in Miami, and then they made the final at the next Masters 1000 event in Monte-Carlo. On both occasions, they lost against Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, who have been the best team on the ATP Tour this year.
“It’s crazy, because obviously we did well in Acapulco and I knew I was going to play with Evans… But winning Acapulco, Ken’s first ATP 500 [title], was a massive thing for my confidence. It took me to a different level,” Neal said. “There was a bit of a whirlwind going to the final there as well and losing to the same team. But I was just basically riding a wave that I was on with confidence and just playing really freely with Evans.”
Neal’s hot stretch helped him climb to a career-high No. 16 in the FedEx ATP Doubles Rankings. Although he was very happy for his brother and following keenly from afar, Ken was stuck at home trying to get healthy.
“I think the difficulty was having such a good week in Acapulco, which was great for us as a team, but also for me personally. To then have to deal with the medical situation that I went through, it became less about tennis and more about personal health,” Ken said. “But then once I was able to get over the health problems I basically had to start again because I had to have four weeks of no tennis, no real activity.”
Ken returned in May in Lyon, and the Skupski brothers have lost all four matches they have played together since, although Ken won an ATP Challenger Tour event in the middle of that stretch with Matt Reid. The nature of the doubles tour is that even if you don’t play badly, it is tough to win with many talented teams competing.
“[Going from] no sporting activity to then try and play against the best players in the world, it’s unrealistic to think that you can start off playing great from the start. So that was a bit of a disappointment, that I wasn’t able to use the victory in Acapulco to sort of push on,” Ken said. “In the doubles world, you try to ride the wave, which Neal was able to do with Dan, and mine sort of came to an abrupt stop. But at the time, it was obviously not really about tennis, it was about making sure my health was okay.”
Ken was fairly certain he would be back, but the lefty initially did not think he would be ready for Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The lefty will be able to say he played both.
Wimbledon is even more special for British players in front of their home crowd. Twenty years ago, Ken made the quarter-finals in the boys’ singles event here as a qualifier, with 11-year-old Neal in tow cheering him on. Now, the 2017 quarter-finalists are set to play the prestigious tournament as a pair for the sixth time, and they are hoping for their best result yet.
“Hopefully we can prove to ourselves that we are good enough to be at the top of the game and hopefully be in the second week at Wimbledon to start with,” Neal said. “And then we’ll see what happens after that.”