Tennis: Michael Venus with high hopes for the French Open

Kiwi tennis player Michael Venus has high hopes for the French Open. Photo / Nick Reed

A maiden ATP doubles title and biggest pay cheque of his career has come at the perfect time for New Zealand tennis player Michael Venus.

For once the focus is not solely on New Zealand's only singles player of any note Marina Erakovic heading into a Grand Slam.

There are three Kiwi doubles players in Paris for the French Open at Roland Garros for the first time since 1985, with Venus joined by Artem Sitak and Marcus Daniell who is making his first appearance at a Grand Slam.

Venus and his Croatian partner Mate Pavic stunned the top seeds Horia Tecau and Jean Julien Rojer overnight to win the doubles title at the ATP tournament in Nice overnight.
The 63rd ranked Venus and 67th ranked Pavic clinched a 7-6, 2-6, 10-8 victory over opponents ranked 11th and 12th in the world respectively.

Venus is understandably elated with his achievement.

"We are pretty excited, Mate had been in a couple of ATP finals before but hadn't won one and that was my first final so to get the win is great. We played well and made some little changes throughout the week and everything worked well." Venus said.

For Venus who has spent most of his career in the tennis backwaters of the world, surviving on a smell of an oily rag, the 24 thousand dollars picked up for qualifying for the main draw and winning the singles, raises hopes he can make a decent living from the sport.

"It's great and certainly makes things easier but it's more about using the confidence generated to take into Paris. We played four or five weeks together and then took two weeks off practicing in Spain so it was good to get a few matches together. We will be ready to go on Tuesday or Wednesday, whenever we are scheduled."

The doubles draw is out early Monday morning [NZ time] with Venus only hoping they avoid one of the top seeded pairings first up.

It's a far cry from last year when Venus struggled to forge a steady partnership with anyone on tour, despite qualifying for all four Grand Slams.

"Last year I had to chop and change partners quite a bit and managed to find Mate this year and we blend well together, and it's a matter of working on things and seeing where we are at."

His victory this morning should see him close in on the top 50 in the Emirates ATP doubles rankings tomorrow.

"Once again it's just a reflection of the things we have been working on and the ranking should hopefully take care of itself."

Meanwhile New Zealand's Marina Erakovic won't play her opening round singles match against Czech Petra Kvitova until Tuesday night at the earliest New Zealand time.

Matt Brown travelled to the French Open with Emirates Airline.