Neal Skupski and older brother Ken Skupski lost a heartbreaker in the second round at Wimbledon against eventual finalists Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos. But Neal’s tournament was not over yet.
The home favourite partnered Desirae Krawczyk past all-British duo Harriet Dart and Joe Salisbury 6-2, 7-6(1) on Sunday for the mixed doubles title at The Championships.
“I still can’t really believe we won Wimbledon. It’s crazy,” Skupski said. “Once we finished we did the trophy ceremony and walked in the back and our names were already on the honours board, which I couldn’t quite believe. It’s surreal. But I think we deserved it.”
Krawczyk and Skupski lost just one set in the tournament. That came in the semi-finals, in which the American-British duo beat John Peers and Zhang Shuai.3-6, 7-6(4), 7-5.
“It’s my favourite tournament. [It is] something I never thought would happen, but obviously you dream about playing on Centre Court, and that was my first feeling of that,” Krawczyk said. “Then to win a mixed doubles [title] with Neal was even better.”
In the championship match, Krawczyk and Skupski did not face a break point. They won more than 81 per cent of their service points against the all-British team to emerge victorious after one hour and 21 minutes.
“I think it was our best match of the tournament. It was a good time to produce it,” Skupski said. “[It is] never easy to play against fellow Brits, especially for Desirae, playing her partner Joe.”
Krawczyk, who won the Roland Garros mixed doubles title with Salisbury, said that she is set to play with him again at the US Open.
“Desirae is on fire in mixed doubles now, and hopefully it doesn’t continue for the US Open,” Skupski said, cracking the laugh. “But [it was an] amazing week with Desirae. Unbelievable feeling.”
Source Tennis – ATP World Tour
