The season is only three months old, but there has been plenty of excitement on the doubles court with one team dominating early and a pair of legends showing that they may have another No. 1 push in them.

Marach/Pavic Begin Year With Tremendous Winning Streak
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic just missed out on a spot in last year’s Nitto ATP Finals, serving as alternates in the event before stepping in to win their only match against Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, denying the twins a spot in the semi-finals.

But Marach/Pavic showed early on this year that they have no intentions of serving as alternates at The O2 again — they want to qualify out right. The Austrian-Croatian duo began their 2018 campaign on a 17-match winning streak, winning their first three tournaments of the season (Doha, Auckland, Australian Open) before falling in the championship match at Rotterdam.

And while the 24-4 Marach/Pavic have not won an event since losing that final against Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, semi-final and quarter-final appearances in Indian Wells and Miami, respectively, show that they are a force to be reckoned with on the ATP World Tour this year.

Could The Bryans Make Another No. 1 Run?
It is no secret that Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have set the standard for doubles success on the ATP World Tour throughout their careers, finishing atop the year-end ATP Doubles Rankings on 10 occasions. But last season, they finished with only two tour-level titles, their lowest mark since 2000, they year before they lifted their first trophy.

But the twins are back in form again, and appear ready to make another push for the top. They finished the opening quarter of the season with their record 115th title, claiming their fifth Miami Open presented by Itau trophy. It was their record 37th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 triumph.

The brothers had also advanced to the final at their previous two events (Acapulco, Indian Wells), and have now won 12 of 14 matches as the ATP World Tour shifts to the European red clay. The Bryans are second in the ATP Doubles Race To London, trailing only Marach/Pavic.

Early-Season Results Set Up Exciting Clay Swing
Believe it or not, just three of the teams that qualified for the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals are currently in position to do so again. Henri Kontinen and John Peers, who won the season finale in 2016 and 2017, will look to bounce back after faltering in five of their past six matches, including a first-round loss at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Irving, Texas, last month.

But they are not the only ones searching for form. Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, the top-ranked doubles players in the world, are currently ninth in the Race. Those two teams making a push to put their names back in the conversation will surely make for an exciting journey on the red clay.

Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah (third), Ben McLachlan/Jan-Lennard Struff (fifth) and others will look to defend their positions.

David Macpherson had a successful playing career on the ATP World Tour, claiming 16 tour-level doubles titles and climbing as high as No. 11 in the ATP Doubles Rankings. But perhaps the Australian has been even more impressive since as a coach. 

Macpherson worked with doubles legends Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan for more than a decade (2005-2016) before accepting the job as head coach of the men’s tennis team at George Washington University. However, Macpherson still gets to some tournaments to work with the Bryans and John Isner, who on Sunday became the oldest first-time winner at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. 

ATPWorldTour.com caught up with Macpherson to find out how he balanced working with Isner and the Bryans, as they both made incredible runs in Miami, how differently they prepare for matches and what the key was for all of them to triumph. 

How does it feel to have coached both the singles and doubles winners at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event?
Just so proud of all three of them. So happy for all three of them. For Mike and Bob it had been a little while. Despite winning 114 titles it had been a little while since they’d won one. For John it was his first-ever Masters 1000 shield, so that was extra special. It was just a weekend, a great two weeks of magical times.

How were you able to balance working with all three guys during such a big event?
The schedule worked out really well. [Tournament Director] James Blake was terrific with the schedule. He did his best to work with the ATP to see that the Bryans and John weren’t playing at the same time. My coaching partner, Dave Marshall, who has been doing most of the traveling with the Bryans all year, really, he was there with me in Miami. So when we occasionally had a practice conflict, he was able to help me. I certainly had a partner down there making life easier for me.

How careful were you to make sure you had individual time with all of them?
Oh yes, definitely. John needed to work on his things for singles and his next opponent. The Bryans had to work on doubles things and for their next opponent. So we did two practice sessions every day, getting different sparring partners to try to provide the best, most productive practice. It all fell into place. But like I said, my partner Dave Marshall has been doing most of the traveling with the Bryans and he was key to making it all run smoothly.

It must be tricky to work with both a singles player and a doubles team at the same event, so how do you approach your time with each when they can be quite different skill sets?
With the doubles practice, many times, you get two good sparring partners or doubles players and we do doubles drills, play doubles points and work on the shots that you need for doubles. And then with John, you get a different sparring partner and do singles drills and the things you need to play well in singles. It’s just a little bit of a different type of practice with the drills we do, depending on who it is. They’re different, but they’re the same, too. So much of it is the mental side of the game and in singles and doubles the same principles apply. Relaxation, confidence, trust and all of those things, one translates to the other (singles to doubles) pretty much the same way.

Speaking of the mental side, the Bryans had won 36 Masters 1000 titles and John was going for his first. So how differently did you approach speaking to them ahead of the finals?
It’s like two completely different situations. Mike and Bob had won so many, that winning Miami was something they knew they had done before. But when you haven’t done it for a while and you’re almost 40 years old, you want to grasp the opportunity while you can, so it’s a difficult mental challenge. For John, he’s won a lot of titles, but he hadn’t won a Masters 1000, so that was a difficult mental thing for him. The key was for both to focus on the task at hand, just focusing on playing the best match that they could, trying to play the smartest match they could based on the opponent they were playing and not to think about the result. Thinking about the result could get in the way sometimes.

Speaking of results, John hadn’t had the best of starts to the year before arriving in Miami, and he credited some dinners with you for the turnaround. What do you think helped him turn his year around?
He hadn’t been playing badly, but he hadn’t been playing as freely and having as much fun on the court as you need to to play well in the big moments. That was something we really worked hard on mentally before the tournament, just trying to talk through that and understanding what he needed to be thinking about on the court to help him relax. So, I think we really did a good job. We talked through it together as a team and when he was out there this was the calmest that he’s played and the most aggressively that he’s played in the big moments. He handled adversity really well this week. When he was in trouble, he didn’t panic or let the frustration get the better of him. So that was really the big difference. Now he knows what could be accomplished if mentally he’s right and now he has the confidence [to win the big events] and hopefully there will be more big results like that in the future.

Just how big of a difference can it make to play relaxed and freely?
It’s a cliche and it sounds so simple, but it’s true. We all know that when we’re relaxed, the talent flows through our body, even recreationally. If you’re out there having fun playing golf and the expectations are down, it’s amazing how well even a hack like me can play. If you’re tense and you care too much and you’re thinking about the result, if you think about losing too much and you freeze up, your footwork goes, your timing goes, your thinking goes. Really, you can’t overstress the importance of being relaxed. I think you have to look at Roger [Federer]’s renaissance in tennis to his No. 1 recovery to see how he’s been able to master those emotions. We’re trying to follow, emulate, copy or at least learn from how he’s done it.

Read: Bryan Brothers Capture 37th Masters 1000 Title

How different were your pep talks with the Bryans and with John before their respective finals?
Everyone’s different. John and I do most of our preparation the night before, just talking and going through the possibilities and everything, the scenarios and tactics. And then on match day we really just focus on being relaxed and keeping that relaxation factor high. Mike and Bob, we do a little bit more the day of. We talk about the strategy a bit more before the match. Like, the hour before, we go over what the tactics are and what the mission is so they like a bit more right before the match, they like to go over it and delve into it, get themselves psyched up. If you watch them play, you know Mike and Bob are just a bundle of energy out there, bouncing around, whereas John’s more about just being relaxed, methodical and in rhythm. So it’s just two different styles of going about it.

Now you’re going back to George Washington University where you’re a second-year head coach. With everything you’ve done in the sport over the years, how do you go from working to a college team to going to one of the biggest events on the Tour and helping those guys win a title and how much does the college coaching help?
I appreciate how great a job college coaches around America do. It’s obviously so much more than just coaching tennis. I have a great appreciation and respect for college coaches, because you really have to multi-task and you’re in charge of a lot of different things and players and there’s so much that goes into it. I feel very fortunate to be the head coach at one of America’s most prestigious universities. I love coaching college tennis and have an amazing bond with my players and fellow coaches at George Washington University.

In the pros, you just have one or sometimes two clients, so it’s certainly different. I have a great assistant at GW, Damian Farinola, who held down the fort for a couple of weeks while I was away, managing practice… It gives you a little bit more of a freshness, I suppose. I really appreciated getting down to Miami to work with Mike, Bob and John. It’s challenging when you do it week after week after week, to keep being inspirational and keep coming up with new ideas. John has two other awesome coaches, Justin Gimelstob and Rene Moller, so we’re all just combining to try to do the best job we can for John. And like I said, Dave Marshall is with the Bryan Brothers, so it’s really working well. I really get extra fired up when I get back out there on the pro Tour and hopefully it bodes well for the college guys as well.

Baseball has long dominated the sporting landscape in the Dominican Republic. But that is slowly changing.

Long represented by 36-year-old and three-time ATP World Tour titlist Victor Estrella Burgos, tennis in the Caribbean island is steadily becoming a significant presence in the nation’s culture. And, as the 2018 season kicks into high gear, the Dominicans have a new star to cheer for: Santo Domingo native Roberto Cid Subervi.

Last week at the San Luis Open, 24-year-old Cid Subervi made great strides in just his fifth ATP Challenger Tour appearance. The recent University of South Florida graduate, who was the school’s first-ever All-American, had largely been a presence on the Futures circuit since turning pro in 2016. But the Dominican reached his first Challenger final in San Luis Potosi, losing in a tight three-set match to Marcelo Arevalo, and skyrocketed nearly 100 spots in the ATP Rankings to a career-high of No. 329.

He joins Estrella Burgos as the only players from the island nation to reach a final on the circuit.

“It’s great, really,” said Cid Subervi on making the quick and successful transition to the ATP Challenger Tour. “I haven’t played many Challengers since I graduated from school a year and a couple months ago, so I’ve been mostly on Futures. So I’m really excited to be playing Challengers and to have been doing good right away. That’s huge for me early in my career. I hope I can continue to play at that level and hopefully I can move forward.”

The camaraderie that Cid Subervi has formed with his countryman has been a key to his transition from American collegiate competition to the pros.

“Obviously Victor, with his amazing career, has been giving me advice since a long time ago and I always speak to him,” said the Dominican. “Jose also, ever since I graduated from school, he has always been there and he has also given me [advice] and I travel with him a lot lately.

“It’s huge to get out of college and have two guys [who are] already pretty good in the rankings and with a lot of experience that can guide me a little bit. It’s been big for me,” he added.

At the 32-year-old’s ATP Challenger Tour stop in San Luis Potosi – the second-longest running tournament at the level – Cid Subervi has made an improbable run, winning seven matches in seven days to make the final as a qualifier. He defeated compatriot Jose Hernandez-Fernandez en route, which proved to be his trickiest encounter of the week. 

“It was good and bad. It was good because one Dominican would reach the semis, but also you’re playing against your best friend and your countryman,” said Cid Subervi. “It’s challenging, because you want to win but at the same time you don’t want to beat him. I was happy I got that match … and I wish him the very best.”

Like many players looking to make it to the highest level of the sport, the Dominican maintains that he isn’t focused on ATP Rankings goals; rather, he intends to spend most of the season looking to improve his game and gain valuable experience on the ATP Challenger Tour.

However, he does have one goal: to ascend to the ATP World Tour and then qualify for a Grand Slam.

“I really try not to think about [rankings] too much, because it can be a distraction and it can put a lot of pressure on you,” said Cid Subervi. “But my goal is to play the Slams – hopefully the US Open, if I can have a chance. If not, then my goal is to play the Australian Open in 2019. That’s really what my goal has been since last year. 

“Like I said, I’m not really thinking about it too much, I’m just focused on getting my game better and that will come.” 

Did You Know?
Roberto was a two-time All-American at the University of South Florida and finished his senior season in 2016 with a 25-3 singles record. 

“Going to college was key for me. There were so many things that I improved on in college with my coach Matt Hill. I did really well there and I’m happy to translate that to the pros.”

Tennis fans have heard of their potential for years. #NextGenATP players such as Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz and Andrey Rublev have been touted by coaches and analysts frequently during recent times.

But thus far in 2018, fans have also had many opportunities to see the Next Generation in action as the 21-and-under contenders continue to steal headlines on the ATP World Tour.

Tiafoe, Fritz and Rublev lead the ATP Race To Milan after the first quarter of the season. The Race will determine seven of the eight 21-and-under players (born 1997 or later) who compete at the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 6-10 November in Milan. The eighth player will be determined by wild card.

Tiafoe’s breakthrough early in 2018 has put him on top of the Race. The 20-year-old American won his maiden ATP World Tour title in February at the Delray Beach Open, beating Juan Martin del Potro, Hyeon Chung and fellow #NextGenATP player Denis Shapovalov along the way.

Tiafoe also matched his best result at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, making the Round of 16 at the Miami Open presented by Itau last week (l. to Anderson).

“Delray taught me a lot. I beat some quality players back-to-back-to-back, which I’ve never done. I’ve played so many matches in my career so far where I played unbelievable, came up just short. Now I’m feeling really comfortable when it gets tight. I actually embrace it, I want it,” Tiafoe said.

Read More: How Tiafoe Learned To Embrace The ‘Little Things’

Fritz also experienced his best run at a Masters 1000 tournament last month. The 20-year-old reached the fourth round at his favourite tournament, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. He saved a match point in his opener against friend and fellow #NextGenATP player Reilly Opelka, then beat Rublev and Spain’s Fernando Verdasco before losing in three sets to eventual semi-finalist Borna Coric.

Before Indian Wells, Fritz won the ATP Challenger Tour event in Newport Beach (d. Klahn) and made the quarter-finals at the Delray Beach Open (l. to Shapovalov).

“This year for me has been very consistent. I have had a lot of strong results… I think I can build on this and make this more of a regular thing. I feel confident that I’m not playing, like, out of my mind or anything,” he said.

It speaks to how well Tiafoe and Fritz have been playing that Rublev, last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals runner-up (l. to Chung), is currently in third place in the Race. The 20-year-old Russian has had deep runs this year as well. He made his second ATP World Tour final in Doha (l. to Monfils) and the quarter-finals in Montpellier (l. to Tsonga) and Rotterdam (l. to Dimitrov).

“To be more consistent is the goal,” Rublev said.

Aussie Alex de Minaur, Shapovalov, Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas and Aussie Marc Polmans all would also qualify if the Race ended today.

De Minaur (Brisbane SF, Sydney F, Indian Wells R2) Shapovalov (Delray SF, Miami R4) and Tsitsipas (Doha QF, Dubai QF, Indian Wells R2) have all made their gains in tour-level action, while Polmans has excelled on the ATP Challenger Tour and at Futures tournaments.