Venus ready for crack at the Paris Masters

New Zealand’s top ranked doubles player Michael Venus and his German partner Tim Puetz are ready for a tricky first round assignment at the Paris Masters tomorrow night.

They play Italian’s Fabio Fognini and Lorenzo Sonego in the first round with the winners to meet second seeds Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram.  While they will potentially finish their season at next week’s ATP tournament in Stockholm, Venus says this week is a big one for them.

“Anytime you're playing a Master’s 1000 You know, it's a big opportunity. So, yeah, we're just preparing and hopefully we can get off to a good start, we have a tough draw.” Venus said.

“We are going to have to be able to change and adapt throughout the match. These guys are both top singles guys, and they can do everything from both sides of the court. They are both shot makers and hit the ball very cleanly. So, we are going to have to get ourselves in as many positions as we can and try and shorten some of the points and try and take control the match that way.”

“The more rhythm these guys get, and the more comfortable they feel out there, they can make the court feel huge for what you're trying to cover.”

It’s been along build-up in Paris for Venus and Puetz who lost first round last week in Vienna.

“Yeah, you know, it can be an extremely long week, sometimes, you know, I actually got a little bit sick last week after that, so I had a few days off. Having family here we were able to go out and do some different things. So, you know, in that aspect, it was great to kind of reset, and then we've had a few really good days of practice here. We’ve been playing well” Venus said.

Venus and his family were luckily enough to secure MIQ spots in the last ‘lottery’ and will head home to New Zealand on November the 20^th.

“When we come out of MIQ we will be able to have a few weeks at home in Auckland before I have to head to Australia towards the end of December.”