Skupski savours maiden Queen's title with Venus

By Abi Curran at the Queen's Club

Neal Skupski savoured a glory-grabbing run at the LTA’s cinch Championships as he teamed up with Michael Venus to triumph in the men’s doubles final.

The 34-year-old and New Zealander Venus put on a determined performance to push past Taylor Fritz and Karen Khachanov through a scintillating match tie-break, coming out on top 4-6 7-6(5) 10-8.

Skupski is the first Brit to capture the Queen’s Club doubles title since Andy Murray and Feliciano Lopez in 2019.

And the Liverpool player relished the occasion as the pair soared to a maiden title together in front of a home crowd.

He said: “It’s been very special, first time winning at Queen’s, first title with Mike.

“We went to university together so we go back a long way but we’ve never got to play on the Tour together that much. It was nice to play with him.

“It hasn’t been the best of years for me so far, I’ve been chopping and changing partners.

“I always knew that playing with Mike, I’d have someone who had my back and also who I knew so well, his game, his strengths and weaknesses.

“It’s good to put a Brit’s name on the board, it’s very special and hopefully we can do some damage in the next couple of weeks.

“It’s nice to get some confidence on the grass and play in front of all these guys and girls.”

In just their third ATP Tour event, the duo advanced their 6-2 team record following a loss in the first round in Stuttgart last week.

En route to the showpiece, they fought hard in the semi-finals against No.2 seeds Rajeev Ram and fellow Brit Joe Salisbury, who Skupski will partner at the Olympics for Team GB this summer.

The 2023 Wimbledon men’s doubles champion has now secured his second Tour-level title on home soil following his triumph with Wesley Koolhof last year.

And Skupski, who grew up in Childwall playing on artificial grass at Palmerston Tennis Club, believes the sky is the limit as the pair target the LTA’s Eastbourne International next week ahead of his Wimbledon title defence in SW19.

He added: “It’s been an amazing atmosphere all week, it’s great to play in front of so many people, the doubles doesn’t get that very often.

“Hopefully we can carry on the form at Eastbourne next week.

“We’ve put a lot of hard work in this year, it just hasn’t clicked, I feel like I’ve been playing well, in big matches and made finals.

“This is 500 points for my ranking going forward because there’s quite a few ranking points to defend in a couple of week’s time.”

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