It's been a while since I have done one of these, so let's see if there is any magic left in these old fingers.

Like many others, I have followed the progress of 'The Tennis Brothers' online over several years and so today, I decided to take a short road trip to Xativa where older brother Felix and his doubles partner Rafa were taking on the Nº2 seeds in the semi final. I am so glad that I did, as despite the result, the pairing put up an excellent effort and the scoreline of 4&3 to the Nº2 seeds was not a true reflection of the closeness of the match.

Doubles is always a game of fine margins and today and I think about 75% of the games went to deciding point. In the end, it was probably just to extra experience of the Spanish pairing in those key moments that swung the match in their favour.

Felix was nursing a sore elbow throughout the match which hampered his serving. It was clear that he focused on placement rather than power, although that big booming serve did come out a couple of times, so I know he has it 'in his locker'. He told me later that the soreness restricted him from serving out wide at all, and he had to focus solely on T and body serves. Rafa hits the ball with excellent timing and there is definitely more power to come as he develops physically.

At 2-2 in the first set, I was thinking - how on earth are we not 4-0 up. The British pairing chose to receive and quickly had 15-40 on the Garcia serve but couldn't press home the early advantage. In game three, on deciding point, Rafa hit a terrific backhand cross court return of serve with the ball bouncing about a foot inside the angle of the baseline and outer tram-line. Somehow and with no foot movement, Mansilla manage to block a double handed backhand half volley down the line with such accuracy that Felix couldn't get enough racket on the ball to get it back. Credit to the Spaniard for that improvisation.

In game 5, however, Rafa and Felix got the break that there early domination deserved. Felix then served in a game 6 that saw the best shot of the match. No surprise that this came on deciding point - again. Felix serving from the deuce court, followed in and played a solid volley. The Spanish found an excellent lob into the forehand corner. Felix scampered back however, and rather than throw up a defensive lob, he pivoted and hit a superb cross court forehand at an outrageously tight angle. The ball hit plum on the outer tram-line well short of where the service line would reach. Clean winner. 4-2* ahead. The lead was fully deserved.

But from there, and I still don't know how, the Spanish won 7 games in a row to take the first set 6-4 and lead 3-0* in the second. Of those 7 games, at least 5 went to deciding point, but try as they might, the British pair couldn't convert any of them. At times, the body language began to betray the sense of frustration, but to their credit, the guys started to mount a comeback. A hold and a break and we were back on serve at 3-2* but that was as close as they got. Despite fighting to the very end, the Spanish made it through to the final.

I had the opportunity to speak to the guys afterwards and they were naturally disappointed. This was a match that could easily have gone in their favour and they knew it. But despite the fact that they were playing two experienced pros, they were certainly not outclassed.

As for the future, Felix will be giving the tour a real go for the next couple of seasons. He is aiming for Frankfurt next before heading back for a British Tour event. Rafa, on the other hand, is off to the USA at the end of the summer where he will attend university in Denver.

Regardless of today's defeat, this has still been a landmark week for these two young British tennis players. When the Xativa results get added to the system, they will both join the ATP rankings for the first time in their lives - a point not lost on Felix's proud father who was there filming the next 'Tennis Brothers' video. It is a just reward, one may say, for a parent's dedication to his sons' ambitions.

And while these 4 ATP ranking points are the first for each of these young men, on today's showing, they will not be the last - not by a long shot.


SF: Felix Mischker & Rafaello Papajcik UNR lost to (2) Alejandro García & Mario Mansilla (ESP/ESP) CR 1523 (870+653) 6-4 6-3

Coup Droit wrote:

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Bob, the roving reporter is back !!!!

A brilliant report, Bob - thanks

I had the pleasure of watching both lads a few weeks ago at the Tour event at Paddington (in singles, not dubs)

Felix only played a few games and then had to retire (I didn't know what it was but - presumably - must have been the sore elbow).

I wasn't really sure he was quite ready to go pro but it was only a couple of games so not much to base it on and good luck to him if he's going to give it a go

However, I was impressed with Rafa - partly because it was a completely new name to me and there are very few juniors that I've never even heard of, not even in passing - AND on top of that, he played really well, great acceleration, really nice game - and I thoughy, if we've got players like this, hiding in the wings, that's really encouraging. As you say, he's off to college and that seems a very sensible choice

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Clearly I can only judge on a doubles performance, but there was one game near the end when Felix was serving at *2-5 when he obviously decided to 'go for it'.  The big serve came out and he hit a couple of excellent deep low volleys on the move.  It was that aggressive game that showed me what he is capable of, more than any other.  But clearly I haven't seen him play singles yet.

As for Rafa, his ability to time the ball was amazing.  When he got it right, he generated amazing power despite needing to fill out a bit - that will come.  It was also notable to me that when things started to go against them, he was the more affected of the two and his body language showed it. He was more erratic at key moments.

The biggest difference to me between them and the Spanish pair was the ability at the net. I thought they were 'a bit too safe' on occasions with the first volley which invited the counter attack.  Had they been a bit more proactive on that first volley, they may have been able to force a few more errors but I am being a bit hyper critical here. Overall, I was impressed.

Surprised Rafa hasn't hit your radar previously though.  They are not a scratch pairing and if I understood them correctly, they previously won the National U18 doubles title playing together. So he can't have come completely out of left field.