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Unheralded Aussie John Peers makes Wimbledon doubles final

John Peers lines up alongside Sam Groth to take on the Bryan brothers in the Davis Cup. (Photo: Twitter)
Roar Guru
10th July, 2015
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While the bigger names in Australian men’s tennis have felt the heat of an unrelenting media spotlight this Wimbledon, Melbournian John Peers has slipped largely under the radar, making his way to the Wimbledon doubles final with Scot Jamie Murray – older brother of Andy.

The result comes after Peers, 26, entered the tournament under an injury cloud, tearing his groin in the lead up event at Queens. “I knew I was always going to get up,” he said. “It was just a matter of how well I was going to get up.”

There were no such concerns for him on Thursday; despite stumbling out of the blocks in their semifinal against qualifiers Jonathan Erlich of Israel and German Philipp Petzschner, the 13th seeds found their mojo and breezed through the last three, taking the match 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-2 in just over two hours.

A Grand Slam final berth is a fitting result in what has been an exciting two weeks for the duo, who took out reigning Wimbledon champions Jack Sock (US) and Vasek Pospisil (CAN) in a third-round five-set marathon.

On Saturday, Peers and Murray will take on the fourth seeds in Frenchman Jean-Julien Rojer and Romanian Horatio Tecau – who earlier ended the run of Lleyton Hewitt and Thanasi Kokkinakis – for the title.

With a local favourite by his side, Peers is certainly enjoying the home crowd support of SW19 as well, made even more frenetic by the fact that the younger Murray is still in line to take the singles crown, meeting Roger Federer in a blockbuster semi-final – also on Saturday’s dance card.

Peers himself is no stranger to having a sibling on tour either, with younger sister Sally playing on the WTA Tour. Back in 2009, Sally won the girls’ doubles at Wimbledon and has been ranked as high as world No. 153.

For John, his professional tennis odyssey began in 2011, plying his trade largely on the ATP Challenger tour and reaching a career-high ranking of No.456 in mid-2012.

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In 2013, he made the decision to solely focus on doubles, at first pairing with fellow Aussie John-Patrick Smith. After receiving a wildcard into the Australian Open that year, they won their opening match, upsetting highly experienced Polish pair Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.

The win was the first at Grand Slam level for either player.

Immediately following the tournament, Peers began his partnership with doubles specialist Murray, a move that proved instantly successful when they reached the semifinals of the Open Sud de France, their first tournament together. Not long afterwards – in only their fourth outing – they won their first title, beating the world’s No.1 pair, Bob and Mike Bryan, in the final of the US Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston.

The duo has since won another four ATP Tour titles, including a win in Brisbane this year where they toppled their upcoming Wimbledon opponents Rojer and Tecau in the first round.

Murray summed up their journey after their most recent victory: “This is our third year together which is quite a long time for a doubles team. A lot of the guys fall out and split up but we stuck at it and we got our reward: we are in the Wimbledon final.”

Now ranked a very respectful world No.27 in doubles, Peers stands on the precipice of his greatest triumph, an opportunity to join the ranks of Australian greats such as the Woodies, the Super Macs, Newcombe and Roche, among many others.

While doubles doesn’t have the cache of it’s solo counterpart, there can be doubt Australia has quite the knack of turning out legends in the endeavour.

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But of course, the compelling storyline currently brewing is more obvious: Could it be that the Murray boys both take titles at their home Grand Slam in 2015?

Even if Andy only manages to get past Federer, it would still equal a feat last achieved in 1906 when two brothers respectively reached the Wimbledon men’s singles and doubles finals. Going a step further would be something truly special.

As Jamie put it, “Andy’s got to beat Federer and maybe Djokovic. We have to beat Rojer and Tecau. I’d probably rather be us than him.”

Such a result will no doubt leave Peers somewhat behind the scenes once again, but frankly, it appears he almost prefers it that way – and with the confidence and teamwork the duo are currently displaying on court, they are every chance of getting the job done.

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