Michael Venus (born 16 October 1987), is a New Zealander professional
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...
player. He has a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 6, achieved on 29 August 2022. Venus won the
2017 French Open men's doubles partnering
Ryan Harrison, and followed with a runner-up finish in the
2017 US Open mixed doubles partnering
Chan Hao-ching. Venus and Harrison qualified for the year-end championships
ATP Finals, where they reached the semifinals.
In 2018 Venus made the men's doubles final at
Wimbledon with
Raven Klaasen, losing to
Mike Bryan and
Jack Sock, and was a semifinalist in the mixed doubles
there
There may refer to:
* ''There'' (film), a 2009 Turkish film (Turkish title: ''Orada'')
* ''There'' (virtual world)
*''there'', a deictic adverb in English
*''there'', an English pronoun used in phrases such as ''there is
English grammar is the se ...
as well with
Katarina Srebotnik. He and Klaasen qualified for the
ATP Finals, but won only one round-robin match. They also qualified in
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, finishing runners-up. In the meantime Venus and Chan Hao-ching again finished runners-up in the
US Open mixed doubles. Venus and
John Peers qualified for the
2020 ATP Finals
The 2020 ATP Finals (also known as the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals for sponsorship reasons) was a men's tennis tournament played at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom, from 15 to 22 November 2020. It was the season-ending event for the highest-r ...
, but lost very close contests in all three of their round-robin matches.
Venus won a bronze medal in the
men's doubles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics alongside
Marcus Daniell.
Early years
Venus's family moved to the United States, where he won the Boys’ 18 National Clay Courts in 2006. His idols were
Andre Agassi and
Pete Sampras
Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...
. He vacillated between going to college or turning professional and trying the senior tour, but decided to go for the College Conference.
Having represented the U.S. through college, he switched nationalities in June 2010 to the country of his birth, and began playing for the
New Zealand Davis Cup team.
College years to professional career
Venus transferred to
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...
from the
University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
after his freshman year and sat out the 2006–2007 season, following
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...
guidelines. In his first year at LSU, Venus became the first LSU player to win the ITA Men’s All-American Championship at the national tournament in
Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
,
Oklahoma in January 2008. He is one of only two Louisianan college players to finish in the top ten of the Campbell's
ITA
Ita or ITA may refer to :
Places and jurisdictions
* ITA, ISO 3166-1 country code for Italy
* Ita (Africa), an ancient city and former bishopric in Roman Mauretania, presently a Latin Catholic titular see
* Itá, Paraguay
People
* Ita (prin ...
College Tennis Rankings in both singles and doubles in the same year (No. 7 in singles and No. 4 in doubles, respectively), which he accomplished in his final season in 2008–2009. He was a representative of the United States team in the
BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. The full name of the gro ...
International University Challenge of Tennis in
Poitiers
Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglome ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
in December 2009.
2007
Venus finished the season winning the USA F26 Futures in doubles, partnering with Danny Bryan, losing only in the final of Thailand F3 Futures
thus peaking at 866 in singles on the
ATP world tour.
2008
Despite playing the final of Baton Rouge Challenger with partner
Ryan Harrison,
due to his singles performance Venus closed the year at the 1752nd position on the South African Airways
ATP rankings
The Pepperstone ATP rankings are the merit-based method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for determining the qualification for entry as well as the seeding of players in all singles and doubles tournaments. The first rankings ...
.
2009
In July Venus clinched the title of USA F17 Futures beating
Vasek Pospisil
Vasek Pospisil ( ; cs, Vašek Pospíšil, ; known in born June 23, 1990) is a Canadian professional tennis player. Pospisil has a career-high world singles ranking of No. 25, and No. 4 in doubles. Along with partner Jack Sock, he won the 2014 ...
in the final. He reached the doubles final of the USA F19 Futures in August teaming with Colt Gaston losing in two straight sets. At the end of the month, Venus earned a wild card to the qualifying draw of the
US Open in which he advanced to the second round overcoming Uruguay's
Marcel Felder
Marcel Felder (; ; born 9 July 1984) is a Uruguayan professional tennis player. His highest ranking in singles was No. 227 on 28 December 2009. His highest ranking in doubles was 82 on 11 June 2012. Felder won a gold medal in singles in me ...
in two sets but failing to qualify by losing to
Giovanni Lapentti
Giovanni Lapentti Gómez (; born 25 January 1983) is retired Ecuadorian tennis player. His brother is Nicolás Lapentti, another professional tennis player, while a third brother, Leonardo, has also been active at the lower levels of professiona ...
of Ecuador. In October The Venus-Harrison pair won the USA F24 Futures against fellow Kudla-Sarmiento and in November playing with Gaston they lost in the championship match in the USA F27 Futures against the Armenian-Russian duo Martirosyan-Sitak.
He reached his career year-end high of 587.
2010: Top 350 in singles
Venus won another futures the USA F13 Futures tournament but lost in his first ever challenger series final in Qarshi against
Blaž Kavčič in two tie-breaker sets. In the same year he won his first Davis Cup match representing New Zealand.
He advanced to 328 at year-end.
2017: French Open doubles champion, US Open mixed doubles finalist, ATP Tour Finals semifinalist
The standout year in Venus's career began when he teamed up with
Ryan Harrison to play doubles together for the first time in several years. Not only did they win titles at the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...
and in
Estoril
Estoril () is a town in the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a tourist destination, with luxury hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numerous royal families and celebrities, and has ...
but they also qualified for the end of season
2017 ATP World Tour Finals, where they lost in the semifinals. At the end of the year Venus was ranked number 15 in the world, with Harrison one place below.
Venus's mixed doubles campaigns at Grand Slam events also improved through the year, losing in the first round in Melbourne, in the second in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
, and in the third at
Wimbledon , before going all the way to the final in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
.
2018: Wimbledon doubles finalist and mixed doubles semifinalist
Venus began the new year in Brisbane, where he teamed up with
Marcelo Demoliner to win the first round but lose the second. Back to his home event in Auckland, Venus was given a wildcard into the singles, but was unfortunate enough to draw world No. 20 (and eventual winner)
Roberto Bautista-Agut
Roberto Bautista Agut (; born 14 April 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in singles, which he first achieved on 4 November 2019.
Bautista A ...
in the first round, being beaten 6–2, 6–1. In the doubles, he and new partner
Raven Klaasen won their first two matches before being beaten 7–6
(7), 7–6
(6) in their semi-final by
Max Mirnyi and
Philipp Oswald.
Seeded 8th in the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...
, Venus and Klaasen lost in the first round a titanic first set tie-break 14–16, and a more straightforward one in the second set, to go down 7–6
(14), 7–6
(4) to
Scott Lipsky and
David Marrero. Venus and
Chan won their first mixed doubles match comfortably, but were well-beaten in the second round by eventual semifinalists,
Marcelo Demoliner and
María José Martínez Sánchez.
The first round of the Asia/Pacific Group I
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the orga ...
took place in
Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
, China, at the start of February. Venus played the second singles rubber for New Zealand after
Rubin Statham had won the first, but he lost to
Zhang Ze after winning the first set. New Zealand lost the doubles, and then the first reverse singles, so the dead fifth rubber was not played. His next ATP tournament was in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
, where he and Klaasen lost in the first round.
They then went to Marseille, where they won the
Open 13 Provence
The Open 13 is an annual men's tennis tournament played in Marseille, France. The tournament is an ATP World Tour 250 series event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. It is held for one week in February. The number 13 is the INSEE co ...
. It was special for Venus on two counts – he was winning the tournament for the second time, having been successful with
Mate Pavić in 2016, and it was also the first time that two New Zealanders had contested an
ATP World Tour doubles final on opposite sides of the net, the runners-up being
Marcus Daniell (New Zealand) and
Dominic Inglot. This had previously happened only in one Challenger (Daniell and
Rubin Statham in Adelaide in 2014) and several ITF Futures events. A week later they were in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...
, where they lost in the second round.
Next stop on tour was the first Masters 1000 tournament for the year, in
Indian Wells. Venus and Klaasen beat Colombians
Juan Sebastian Cabal and
Robert Farah in the first round, but were then well-beaten by eighth seeds
Ivan Dodig and
Rajeev Ram
Rajeev Ram ( ; born March 18, 1984) is an American professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
Ram is a five-time major champion, having won the 2020 Australian Open, the 2021 US Open, and the 2022 US Open in men's ...
. Ram and Klaasen had combined to win the tournament the previous year, but Dodig and Ram went out in the next round to the eventual champions,
John Isner
John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
Considered one of the best servers ...
and
Jack Sock. Venus and Klaasen had immediate revenge over Dodig and Ram, beating them in the first round at
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
, before beating Isner and
Donald Young in the second round. They lost a titanic quarter-final battle to the
Bryan brothers, going down 8–10 in the match tie-break.
Venus and Klaasen started the European clay-court season at the
Monte-Carlo Masters
The Monte-Carlo Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, a commune that borders on Monaco. The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association of Tennis Professio ...
. After an easy win in the first round, and a walkover in the second, they lost 7–6
(8), 6–3 to
Simone Bolelli and
Fabio Fognini
Fabio Fognini (; born 24 May 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ranking of world No. 9 achieved on 15 July 2019. He is currently ranked (July 2022) in 64th place by the Association of Tennis Professionals (AT ...
in the quarterfinals. Looking to defend the title he had won at
Estoril
Estoril () is a town in the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a tourist destination, with luxury hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numerous royal families and celebrities, and has ...
the previous year, Venus and Klaasen were beaten in the first round. In
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...
they made it through to the quarterfinals, losing to
Nikola Mektic and
Alexander Peya, while in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
they lost in the second round to
Jamie Murray and
Bruno Soares.
Moving on to Roland-Garros to defend his title in the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...
, Venus and Klaasen were seeded tenth, and disposed of French teams in the first two rounds, before meeting eighth seeds
Mektic and
Peya in the third round. The higher-ranked pair were again their nemesis, but the win was not without a struggle, as the final score of 7–6
(2), 7–6
(4) would indicate. Venus and
Chan Hao-ching teamed up again for the mixed doubles, but were well-beaten in the first round by
Matwe Middelkoop and
Demi Schuurs.
Venus and Klaasen started their grass-court season at 's-Hertogenbosch, where Venus had won the title two years earlier with Mate Pavić. Ironically, it had been Klaasen who was on the losing end that day, and his then partner,
Dominic Inglot, faced the pair in the final, this time alongside Croatian
Franko Škugor
Franko Škugor (; born 20 September 1987) is a Croatian professional tennis player who mainly competes on the ATP Challenger Tour and specialized in doubles. He has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of World No. 17 achieved on 22 April 2019. He ...
. In a very tight match, it was the European pair who prevailed 7–6
(3), 7–5. They then moved on to
Halle Halle may refer to:
Places Germany
* Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt
** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt
** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany
** Hall ...
where, as seeds, it was a surprise that they were beaten in the first round by
Tim Puetz and
Jan-Lennard Struff. Their last tournament before Wimbledon was at Eastbourne where, again slightly surprisingly, they lost in the second round to
Ken and
Neal Skupski
Neal Skupski (born 1 December 1989) is a British professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 1 on 14 November 2022.
He is a two-time Grand Slam champion in mixed doubles, hav ...
.
Wimbledon would be another milestone in Venus's career, as he came so close to winning his second major title, and was only one step further back in pursuit of a mixed doubles crown as well. In the men's doubles, Venus and Klaasen had straightforward wins in the first two rounds, followed by marathon five set encounters in the next two over
Leonardo Mayer and
Joao Sousa and then
Jamie Murray and
Bruno Soares, the latter a nice revenge for the loss in Rome. The semifinal win over
Frederik Nielsen and
Joe Salisbury
Joe Salisbury ( ; born 20 April 1992) is a British professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a five-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2020 Australian Open, the 2021 US Open and the 2022 US Open in men's ...
took four sets, but the final against
Mike Bryan and
Jack Sock was a classic encounter: another five-set match in which all four players demonstrated moments of absolute magic, but it was the American pair who eventually prevailed, the final score being 6–3, 6–7
(7), 6–3, 5–7, 7–5.
Venus had a new partner in
Katarina Srebotnik for the mixed doubles. Seeded ninth, they had a bye in the first round, then took three sets to beat
Andrei Vasilevski and
Anastasia Rodionova, and three more to beat the fifth seeds
Nikola Mektic and Venus's former doubles partner
Chan Hao-ching in a gripping encounter. In the quarterfinals they had an easy finish over
Ivan Dodig and Chan's sister
Latisha after splitting the first two sets, but Srebotnik losing her serve in both sets spelt the end of their run when they reached the semifinal, going down 6–4, 6–4, to
Nicole Melichar and
Alexander Peya.
After a short break, Venus and Klaasen headed to Washington DC, where they went down in the semifinals of the
Washington Open to
Murray and
Soares Soares is a common surname in the Portuguese language and Galician, namely in the Portuguese speaking world, as well as other places. It was originally a patronymic, meaning ''Son of Soeiro''. It is equivalent to the Spanish surname Suárez. Notabl ...
in straight sets, 7–5, 7–6
(2). From there they went to the
Rogers Cup in Toronto, where they beat
Artem Sitak and
Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round, before defeating the seeded pairs of
Lukasz Kubot and
Marcelo Melo, their Wimbledon conquerors
Mike Bryan and
Jack Sock, and finally the top seeds
Oliver Marach and
Mate Pavic
Mate may refer to:
Science
* Mate, one of a pair of animals involved in:
** Mate choice, intersexual selection
** Mating
* Multi-antimicrobial extrusion protein, or MATE, an efflux transporter family of proteins
Person or title
* Friendship ...
to reach the final against second seeds Henri Kontinen and
John Peers. They lost the first set when Klaasen lost both his service games, but saved three match points in the second set tie-break before eventually succumbing 10–6 in the match tie-break. They followed that up with the next Masters 1000 event, in 2018 Western & Southern Open – Men's doubles, Cincinnati, where they lost in the second round to Kubot and Melo.
In the US Open, Venus played both 2018 US Open – Men's doubles, men's and 2018 US Open – Mixed doubles, mixed doubles, losing in the second round in both. In the men's event he and Klaasen were seeded eighth, but lost to Maximo Gonzalez and Nicolás Jarry in straight sets after beating singles specialists Lukas Lacko and John Millman. In the mixed doubles, he again played with Srebotnik, and they were the seventh seeds. They defeated former Grand Slam champions Laura Siegemund and Rohan Bopanna in the first round, before falling to Raluca Olaru and Franko Skugor in the second, beaten 16–14 in a monumental match tie-break which lasted 22 minutes.
From there Venus travelled to Korea, where he joined the New Zealand team in their
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the orga ...
Asia/Oceania Group I relegation playoff tie against the hosts. Playing only singles, Venus lost to Lee Duck-hee and Hong Seong-chan. Losing the tie 2–3, New Zealand returned to the Asia/Oceania Group II for the first time in five years.
Next stop on the tournament circuit was the 2018 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships – Doubles, Japan Open in Tokyo, where Venus and Klaasen went all the way to the final, where they were beaten by Ben McLachlan and
Jan-Lennard Struff. They got their revenge on that pair just days later, when beating them in the second round of the 2018 Shanghai Rolex Masters – Doubles, Shanghai Masters, before losing yet another close match with
Lukasz Kubot and
Marcelo Melo. Venus then raced back to London to be with his fiancée, Sally Trafford, for the birth of their first child on October 14.
A couple of weeks later it was time for the 2018 Rolex Paris Masters – Doubles, Paris Masters, where they lost in the quarterfinals to Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau. Having qualified for the 2018 ATP Finals, Nitto ATP Finals, they disappointingly opened their round-robin with a loss in a match tie-break against Murray and Soares, before beating Mektic and a still-recovering Peya in two tie-break sets, but lost the final round-robin match to Cabal and Farah in straight sets.
2019: Australian Open quarterfinal, Top 10, Wimbledon semifinal, ATP Finals runner-up
Venus and Klaasen started the year in Auckland at the 2019 ASB Classic – Men's doubles, ASB Classic, where they had revenge for their loss in Miami to the Bryan brothers by beating them comfortably in the semifinal, before once again finding Ben McLachlan and
Jan-Lennard Struff too strong in a final, being beaten 6–3, 6–4.
Seeded sixth, Venus and Klaasen lost the first set in their first round match at the 2019 Australian Open – Men's doubles, Australian Open, but took the next two to beat Bradley Klahn and Mikhail Kukushkin. They then had straight sets wins over
Marcus Daniell and Wesley Koolhof in the second round, and
Marcelo Demoliner and
Frederik Nielsen in the third, before surprisingly being beaten in the quarterfinals by
Leonardo Mayer and João Sousa, 6–4, 7–6
(6). Venus had another new partner in the mixed doubles, rising American star Danielle Collins, but they were beaten in the first round by
Chan Hao-ching and Jean-Julien Rojer.
After consecutive first-round losses in 2019 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, 2019 Open 13 – Doubles, Marseille and 2019 Dubai Tennis Championships, Dubai, Venus and Klaasen turned the corner at the first ATP Masters 1000 event of the year, in 2019 BNP Paribas Open – Men's doubles, Indian Wells. Seeded seventh, they gained revenge over McLachlan and Struff when beating them in the second round, before losing in a match tie-break in the quarter-finals to third seeds
Oliver Marach and
Mate Pavić. They had saved two match points in the second set at 4–5, 30–40, but were eventually beaten 6–4, 6–7
(5), 10–5.
Another first round loss followed when they went to 2019 Miami Open – Men's doubles, Miami, this time to
Matwe Middelkoop and Diego Schwartzman, before disaster struck when Venus took in an extra tournament for clay court practice before the next Masters 1000 tournament in 2019 Monte-Carlo Masters, Monte Carlo. He teamed up with Tim Pütz in 2019 Grand Prix Hassan II, Marrakech, but they had to retire from their first round match when Venus rolled his left ankle. What was initially thought to be a sprain at worst turned out to involve enough damage to the ankle ligaments to put his whole European clay court campaign in jeopardy, but he recovered so well that he was fit enough to return for the 2019 Italian Open – Men's doubles, Italian Open a month later. He and Klaasen went all the way to the final, where they were beaten by
Juan Sebastian Cabal and
Robert Farah.
The French Open was a very disappointing tournament for Venus, beaten in the first round of both the 2019 French Open – Men's doubles, men's doubles and 2019 French Open – Mixed doubles, mixed doubles, the latter with a new partner in Galina Voskoboeva. From there it was on to grass for the first time this year, in 2019 Libéma Open – Men's doubles, 's-Hertogenbosch, where Venus and Klaasen lost to
Marcus Daniell and Wesley Koolhof in the second round. They followed that up with their first title of the year, in 2019 Noventi Open – Doubles, Halle, beating
Lukasz Kubot and
Marcelo Melo in the final for a perfect lead-up to 2019 Wimbledon Championships – Men's doubles, Wimbledon. As a result he reached the top 10 on 24 June 2019. The home of grass court tennis proved almost as good to them as it had a year earlier, this time getting as far as the semifinals. Seeded third, they had three straight sets victories to start, before a marathon five set win over Henri Kontinen and
John Peers in their quarterfinal. The semifinal saw them come up against Cabal and Farah yet again, the Colombians prevailing in four sets. They would go on to win the title and become joint world number one in the doubles rankings. Venus teamed up again with
Katarina Srebotnik for the mixed doubles, where they were seeded 10th and received a bye to the second round, where they lost a really tight match to the French Open semi-finalists Nadiia Kichenok and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.
The first stop in preparing for the US Open was in 2019 Citi Open – Men's doubles, Washington, where Venus and Klaasen took out their second ATP 500 title for the year, beating Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecău in the final. Venus said afterwards that the decider to win the title was possibly the best match tie-break they had ever played.
At the 2019 US Open (tennis), Venus again teamed with Klaasen as No. 3 seed in the 2019 US Open – Men's doubles, men's doubles, and with Chan Hao-ching as No. 1 seed in the 2019 US Open – Mixed doubles, mixed doubles, the first time ever that a New Zealand player had been top seed in a Grand Slam event. In the men's doubles, Venus and Klaasen had an easy first round win against Adrian Mannarino and Gilles Simon, the latter being badly hampered by an injury which he had picked up in his previous singles match. In the second round, though, they were beaten in a major upset by Miomir Kecmanović and Casper Ruud, in a match where their percentage of first serves in play was way below their opponents' level.
In contrast to the men's doubles, Venus and Chan progressed majestically through their first four matches without dropping a set, beating Latisha Chan and
Ivan Dodig, 7–6, 7–5, in the semifinal. In the final they came up against Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jamie Murray who, incredibly, were not seeded, despite winning the previous year. The major difference between the pairs was that Chan could hold serve only once in the match, and the defending champions eventually won comfortably, 6–2, 6–3, in 59 minutes. It was Murray's third title in a row, having partnered Martina Hingis to beat Chan and Venus in 2017.
A week later Venus was in Jakarta for the Davis Cup tie against Indonesia Davis Cup team, Indonesia, where he and
Marcus Daniell had a very easy win in the doubles rubber. Venus then headed to China, where he and Klaasen lost in the first round in 2019 China Open – Men's doubles, Beijing to the eventual champions, Ivan Dodig and Filip Polášek. They lost in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Rolex Shanghai Masters – Doubles, Shanghai Masters to Jamie Murray and
Neal Skupski
Neal Skupski (born 1 December 1989) is a British professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 1 on 14 November 2022.
He is a two-time Grand Slam champion in mixed doubles, hav ...
, and then found Dodig and Polášek too strong once again, this time in 2019 Swiss Indoors – Doubles, Basel.
The last Masters tournament of the year is in 2019 Rolex Paris Masters – Doubles, Paris, where Venus and Klaasen were upset in the first round by Marcus Daniell and
Philipp Oswald. They moved on to the 2019 ATP Finals – Doubles, ATP World Tour Finals in London, where they were seeded fifth. They won their first two round-robin matches before falling to Dodig and Polášek for a third successive time. They had already guaranteed themselves a semifinal position, though, where they beat the top seeds Cabal and Farah to gain revenge for their Wimbledon defeat. They had to save a match point at 8–9 in the second set tie-break, but won the first five points in the match tie-break on the way to a 6–7, 7–6, 10–6 victory. That put them up against the seventh seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the final. Just one service break was required in each set, with both teams saving two deciding points before the French pair won 6–3, 6–4.
The bombshell announcement from Venus that the pair were to split, and that his new partner would be Australian
John Peers, came the same day.
2020: New partnership with Peers and three titles
Top seeds in their first appearance together, Venus and Peers were surprisingly beaten in two tie-break sets by
Artem Sitak and Divij Sharan in the first round of the 2020 ASB Classic – Men's doubles, ASB Classic. They were seventh seeds in the 2020 Australian Open – Men's doubles, Australian Open, losing in the third round to Marcelo Arevalo and Jonny O'Mara. Seeded fourth in the mixed doubles, Venus and Chan Hao-ching went out in the second round to Łukasz Kubot and Iga Świątek.
Venus and Peers then lost in the first round in 2020 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Doubles, Rotterdam before taking their first title as a pair, winning in 2020 Dubai Tennis Championships – Men's doubles, Dubai over Klaasen and
Oliver Marach. They did not drop a set in the entire tournament. This was Venus's last match before international tennis was suspended due to the Covid-19 coronavirus.
Venus and Peers started in the first ATP tournament after the tours resumed, the 2020 Western & Southern Open – Men's doubles, Western & Southern Open, this year held at Flushing Meadows as a lead-up to the US Open. They lost in the first round to Daniel Evans (tennis), Dan Evans and David Goffin. Unseeded in the 2020 US Open – Men's doubles, US Open because of the draw size being cut to half the normal numbers, they lost in the second round to Sander Gillé and Joran Vliegen. They reached the semi-finals of the 2020 Italian Open – Men's doubles, Italian Open, losing to Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, before winning the 2020 Hamburg European Open – Doubles, Hamburg European Open, defeating
Ivan Dodig and
Mate Pavić in the final.
Seeded 11th in the 2020 French Open – Men's doubles, French Open, Venus and Peers were upset in the second round by Frederik Nielsen, Freddie Nielsen and Tim Pütz. They then went to the new ATP250 tournament in 2020 Forte Village Sardegna Open – Doubles, Santa Margherita di Pula, Sardinia, where they lost to eventual champions
Marcus Daniell and
Philipp Oswald in the semi-final. They collected their third title of the year just a week later, beating Rohan Bopanna and Matwé Middelkoop in the final of the 2020 European Open – Doubles, European Open in Antwerp.
They lost in the first round in 2020 Erste Bank Open – Doubles, Vienna to French Open champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, and in the quarter-finals of the 2020 Rolex Paris Masters – Doubles, Paris Masters to Félix Auger-Aliassime and Hubert Hurkacz, who would go on to win the title. Their final event for the season was the 2020 ATP Finals – Doubles, Nitto ATP Finals in London, where they lost all three of their round-robin matches in very close contests which could each have gone the other way.
2021: New partnership, 15th & first Masters titles, Olympics bronze medalist
As was the case with so many other players, Covid-19 disrupted travel arrangements for Venus at the start of 2021. With his wife due to give birth to their second child in April, Venus elected to return home after the 2021 Australian Open – Men's doubles, Australian Open, his only lead-up tournament being the 2021 Great Ocean Road Open – Doubles, Great Ocean Road Open due to the cancellation of the 2021 ATP Auckland Open, Auckland Open. With Peers unavailable before the Grand Slam event, Venus teamed up with
Marcus Daniell, the pair losing in the quarterfinals.
Seeded tenth, Venus and Peers lost in the third round of the Australian Open to the fifth-seeded defending champions, and eventual runners-up,
Rajeev Ram
Rajeev Ram ( ; born March 18, 1984) is an American professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
Ram is a five-time major champion, having won the 2020 Australian Open, the 2021 US Open, and the 2022 US Open in men's ...
and
Joe Salisbury
Joe Salisbury ( ; born 20 April 1992) is a British professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a five-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2020 Australian Open, the 2021 US Open and the 2022 US Open in men's ...
.
In July, with new partner Tim Pütz, he won his 15th title at the ATP 500 2021 Hamburg European Open – Men's doubles, Hamburg European Open.
At the 2020 Summer Olympics he won the bronze medal in doubles with fellow New Zealander
Marcus Daniell defeating Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren.
He and Pütz got to the semifinals of the 2021 BNP Paribas Open – Men's doubles, Indian Wells Masters, defeating second seeds
Joe Salisbury
Joe Salisbury ( ; born 20 April 1992) is a British professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a five-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2020 Australian Open, the 2021 US Open and the 2022 US Open in men's ...
/
Rajeev Ram
Rajeev Ram ( ; born March 18, 1984) is an American professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
Ram is a five-time major champion, having won the 2020 Australian Open, the 2021 US Open, and the 2022 US Open in men's ...
and fifth seeds Kevin Krawietz/Horia Tecau before losing to Russian Duo Andrey Rublev/Aslan Karatsev.
He won his first ATP Tour Masters 1000, ATP Masters 1000 title at the 2021 Rolex Paris Masters – Doubles, Paris Masters, again with Pütz. As a result, he reached No. 15 in doubles on 8 November 2021.
2022: Second Australian Open quarterfinal & Masters final, World No. 6
Seeded sixth, he reached the quarterfinals of the 2022 Australian Open, Australian Open partnering with Pütz where they were defeated by eventual champions Kokkinakis/Kyrgios.
Seeded 4th at the 2022 Dubai Tennis Championships they won the ATP 500 title defeating top-ranked
Nikola Mektic /
Mate Pavic
Mate may refer to:
Science
* Mate, one of a pair of animals involved in:
** Mate choice, intersexual selection
** Mating
* Multi-antimicrobial extrusion protein, or MATE, an efflux transporter family of proteins
Person or title
* Friendship ...
.
At the 2022 Halle Open he reached his third final of the season and fifth overall as a team with Putz.
After a final showing at the 2022 Western & Southern Open partnering again with Putz,
he reached world No. 6 in the doubles rankings on 29 August 2022.
Significant finals
Grand Slam finals
Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Mixed doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)
Olympic medal finals
Doubles: 1 (bronze medal)
Year-end championships
Doubles: 1 (runner-up)
Masters 1000 finals
Doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)
ATP career finals
Doubles: 37 (17 titles, 20 runner-ups)
Challenger Tour/ITF finals
Singles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)
Doubles: 21 (12 titles, 9 runner-ups)
Davis Cup (32)
*
indicates the outcome of the Davis Cup match followed by Davis Cup#Ties and rubbers, the score, date, place of event, Davis Cup structure, the zonal classification and its phase, and Tennis court#Types of tennis courts, the court surface.
Performance timelines
Doubles
''Current through the 2022 Davis Cup qualifying round, 2022 Davis Cup.''
Mixed doubles
''Although the US and French Opens took place in 2020, mixed doubles were not included in either event due to the COVID-19 coronavirus.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Venus, Michael
LSU Tigers tennis players
American male tennis players
New Zealand emigrants to the United States
New Zealand male tennis players
Tennis players from Auckland
Sportspeople from Orlando, Florida
Tennis people from Florida
Texas Longhorns men's tennis players
1987 births
Living people
Olympic tennis players of New Zealand
Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
French Open champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles
Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Olympic bronze medalists for New Zealand
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Olympic medalists in tennis