Daniel Nestor of Canada, left, and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia hold their trophies after defeating Bob and Mike Bryan of the U.S. in their Men's Doubles finals match at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, July 4, 2009Reuters
Daniel Nestor will go back to the future in 2014.
The doubles king from Toronto will team with former partner Nenad Zimonjic next season in hopes of erasing memories of a poor 2013 campaign.
"I'm playing next season with Zimonjic," Nestor told The Canadian Press at his last tournament stop in Vienna. "We'll see how it goes.
"Of course there's nothing permanent in doubles these days," he joked. "But we feel it would be a great injustice if we never played again considering how well we played over three years together.
"We both want to see if we still have an magic."
Nestor, the only man with more than 900 career doubles wins, achieved some of his best career results with the big-hitting Serb at his side. The pairing accounted for three of the eight Grand Slam titles held by the record-setting Nestor.
He and Zimonjic claimed back-to-back Wimbledon crowns during a golden run on the grass in 2008-09, with the pair also combining for the French Open trophy in 2010.
Nestor and Zimonjic parted company at the end of 2012, capping their time together with a title at the year-end World Tour Finals in London.
Nestor then teamed Max Mirnyi of Belarus, winning eight titles together — including two French Opens — over two seasons.
Nestor has had a variety of partners this season and has won only a single title, teaming with Leander Paes at Winston-Salem the week before the U.S. Open.
As a result, there will be no appearance at the year-end final for Nestor this year. The veteran's season will end after next week's Paris Masters.
Nestor is teaming this week in Basel with Davis Cup teammate Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C., after losing last week's Vienna final with Austrian partner Julian Knowle.
"The season has certainly been frustrating for sure," Nestor said. "But there have been good times also. We've played good Davis Cup matches and the past two months have not been so bad for me, just some poor luck.
Nestor and Pospisil were up a set and a break against the Bryan brothers in the third round of the U.S. Open before losing. In Shanghai, Nestor and Paes had two match points against former partner Robert Lindstedt and Pospisil but couldn't capitalize.
"If you can win these kind of matches you get on a roll. It's very frustrating to lose them but it's nothing tragic, "Nestor said. "I had years when my teams were winning them."
The Canadian is hoping to make the next two weeks count for him on court.
"My ranking (18th in doubles) is where it is because of my play," he said. "There have been times I've played well and times when I've not been good enough.
"I'll be finished (with this season) soon, there's no London for me. I just want to play well and then enjoy life (until next season)."