Michael Venus splits with doubles partner John Peers
New Zealand’s top ranked doubles player Michael Venus has decided to end his partnership with Australian John Peers after the French Open.
The world number 15 will play with Germany’s Tim Puetz from the start of the grass court season at tournaments in Stuttgart and Halle before Wimbledon.
“It’s never an easy decision to figure out especially when we have had some good results like John and I have had. But at the end of the day we play very similar, we are both very aggressive which can be effective with the sudden death deuces at ATP tournaments.” Venus told the NZ Herald.
“But with the slams you need to return well together in order to break serve and we haven’t quite had the success in the slams that we were hoping for. So it was a gut feeling that we needed someone who complimented our games better so we can stay true to ourselves.”
Venus and Peers had enjoyed some good success since joining forces for the ASB Classic in January last year. They won four titles together including last week on clay in Geneva. But the Kiwi revealed he told Peers of his decision after the Rome Masters earlier this month where they reached the semi-finals.
The bold call makes it extremely difficult for Venus to qualify for the season ending ATP World Tour Finals in Turin. The 33 year old Kiwi has played in the tournament when it was held in London every year since winning the French Open in 2017.
Venus and Peers are 13th in the race to qualify for the elite eight team field and now Venus and Puetz will be starting from scratch.
Venus who made the decision to split and told Peers at the recent Rome Masters, believes it’s the right time to make the change.
“At the end of the day I am not getting any younger and I want to put myself in a position to achieve as much as my goals as I can while I am playing. Tim and I were in college together at the same time in the US. He’s been moving up the doubles rankings quite quickly and I am excited to team up with him starting with the grass.” Venus told the Herald.
Puetz is ranked 38th and is on the way up in the doubles rankings having won titles in Lyon and Estoril in the past month.
“He returns really well and is very good off the back of the court, has a good serve and is very athletic. He does everything really well. That will allow me to be quite free and loose out there and try some things.” Venus said.
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