One of the all-time greats in doubles returned to the court this week in Irving as he shared the experience with his family.
Mark Knowles won an astounding 55 ATP World Tour doubles titles during his 20-year career and held the No. 1 doubles ranking on numerous occasions. The Bahamian lifted up three Grand Slam men’s doubles titles with Daniel Nestor (2002 Australian Open, 2004 US Open and 2007 French Open) and even won a Grand Slam mixed doubles title with Anna-Lena Groenefeld (2009 Wimbledon). He also represented the Bahamas in the Olympics on five different occasions before eventually concluding his illustrious career at the 2012 US Open.
But while he has no plans to return to the ATP World Tour, Knowles has made an annual tournament appearance each year in Texas. He played doubles each February at the $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Dallas from 2013-2015 and teamed up with Benjamin Becker this week at the $125,000+H event in Irving.
“My wife is from the area, so we have a house here. And this tournament is at the Four Seasons (Resort and Club at Dallas Las Colinas), where I’m the touring pro. It’s basically my home club here in Dallas,” said Knowles. “Two of my good friends are running the tournament (Brent Haygarth and Zoltan Popp) and they’re guys that I hang out with a lot here. All the pieces were in place for a fun week.”
Since retiring from the tour, the one-time globetrotter has opted for a more quiet life in the Bahamas with his wife and three children. In addition to getting his license as a real estate agent, Knowles has worked on creating tennis initiatives in the Bahamas and has even found time to coach his son’s baseball and football teams.
“My youngest son, Brody (age seven), is starting to get into tennis now. This tournament is a nice opportunity because he was a little too young to have memories of when I was playing professionally, so it’s nice to give him a taste of being around other great players,” said Knowles. “It’s an opportunity for him to relate because he’s starting to get the tennis bug a little bit.”
Knowles praised the depth of the doubles field in Irving, which also includes two other Grand Slam men’s doubles champions in Leander Paes and Philipp Petzschner. Although he acknowledged not hitting the court as frequently as he’d like, the former world No. 1 said he still intended to put in a good showing this week.
“I still go out there and practise sometimes, but it’s mostly with my seven-year-old,” jokes Knowles. “I don’t practise frequently enough to realistically be where I was once was, so it’s basically for fun now. But at the end of the day, we’re all competitors. Once I walk onto the court, I’m not expecting to lose.”
Becker and Knowles ultimately lost their opening round match on Wednesday to Jason Jung and Jakob Sude, 6-3, 6-4. But if history is any indication, we’ll likely see Knowles competing again in the Dallas area next year.
