Australian Open mixed doubles champions Nenad Zimonjic and Sun Tian Tian are already eying their next Grand Slam title after beginning their association in spectacular fashion in Melbourne.
The outgoing Serb and the quiet girl from Beijing may seem like and odd combination, but they produced the magic over the last fortnight, culminating in a straight-sets success in Sunday's final over India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza.
After such a successful start to their association, Zimonjic revealed he had other commitments for the French and US Opens but was looking forward to linking up with Sun for Wimbledon this year.
"We just spoke like on the way here. Before we agreed to play here I spoke to Katarina Srebotnik, who I played a lot of mixed doubles with last couple of years. We said we're going to play French and US Open together, and for these two I was looking for somebody," Zimonjic said after the 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 win.
"We're pretty much sure that we're going to play Wimbledon together. We just have to see for the French because I promised Katarina. We have also pretty good score there. And depending on her because she also plays singles and doubles, depending how she feels. So we'll talk about this maybe during Miami or Indian Wells and just go from there," he said.
Both are highly-regarded doubles players with Zimonjic combining with Elena Bovina to win the Australian Open mixed title in 2004, while Sun's greatest achievement came in the 2004 Olympics when she combined with Ting Li to win the women's doubles gold medal.
It was former US Open men's doubles champion and now highly-rated coach Sandon Stolle who brought the pair together.
"Thanks to Sandon Stolle which was coaching them, and we're good friends. I ask him if he know somebody that would be interested to play, and he asked a couple of them, and then Tiantian responded that she would like to, and that's how it started," he said.
"So it was a lot of fun, you know, on the court. And I thought we played some really good matches. It was interesting tennis, and I think we both enjoyed it."
Enjoying the partnership is key to any doubles success and it was apparent that Sun and Zimonjic had a connection on the court. Also key to their win was Zimonjic's ability to convey his experience into the partnership.
"I was trying not to give too many information to her, which I think is the most important thing. It's just to stay relaxed, try to enjoy, which is the most important thing. If you start thinking too much, if you're panicking a little bit, then it's not good. You cannot focus on the things you have to do," he said.
"So I tried to keep it very simple for her. My goal was to, myself, start very strong, you know, very consistent, so she has more opportunity to get into the match. I think I managed to do this. That was I think the big key, because Mahesh is also very experienced. He won a lot of titles in mixed doubles. And I think that was the main thing what I was trying to do and just try to tell her to go for her shots and not to worry if she doesn't -- if she makes a mistake."
And Zimonjic praised Sun's coolness under pressure, especially in the first set when the pair found themselves down a break, and also down 3-0 in the tie-breaker.
"I thought she was very good. It's not easy. You can ask her, but it's never easy to play in the finals. You know, there are a lot of turnarounds in the match. First we were up 3-1, then 4-3 down. Maybe you start to panic a little bit. Down 3-0 in the tie-breaker, which I think we managed to stay calm, positive, you know," he said.
"We turned the match around there from 0-3 to 6-3 in the tie-breaker. And then we played made a break first game, and then it was a little bit easier I have to say.
But I thought she was very good at the net. She moves well. The more we play the more we understand each other."
For Zimonjic, it tops a huge tournament for his country and has him firing ahead of the Davis Cup tie against Russia in earlty February. Sun has an even bigger aim, defending her gold medal at her home Olympics with Shuai Peng.
