The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER nine weeks off the circuit, Mark Knowles is back on the big stage, playing once again in the men’s doubles competition with Australian Lleyton Hewitt.

Knowles, 41, and Hewitt, 32, are still waiting to play their first round match against the team of Jamie Delgado of Great Britain and Australian Matthew Ebden.

“It’s pretty exciting,” said Knowles from London where he watched Hewitt pull off his first round singles match 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 over No. 11 seed Stanislas Wawrinka from Switzerland. “Me and Lleyton talked in Miami and he mentioned that he wanted to play and so it was an exciting opportunity to play with one of the greats in the game, a legend and most importantly, I thought we could do well here. I’ve been here for a few days practicing and now I’m ready to get fired up.”

Despite the fact that he hasn’t played since he and former partner Xavier Malisse got ousted in the first round of the US Open in Flushing Meadows, New York, last August, Knowles said he expected to have to work off some of the rust. But as the tournament progresses, he hopes to get into a rhythm.

“You don’t lose it that much and I’m hitting the ball pretty good,” he said. “So if anything, I feel pretty fresh, having had nine months off. You still have the same feeling even though I have retired. It’s now just a matter of going out there and executing and trying to stay fit.”

Looking at the draw, Knowles admits that they have a tough task in Delgado and Ebden, who are both good grass court players – the surface the tournament is being played on.

“That’s our focus right now,” said Knowles about the draw. “Obviously, Lleyton is playing very well. He got a big win in singles and we played together before in Barcelona two years back, so we are very familiar with each other’s game. So I don’t see any problem there. It’s just a matter of going out there and playing our game and try to play our best tennis.”

Hewitt is now scheduled to play Dustin Brown of Germany in round two.

If there’s any omen for Knowles, he will have his wife Dawn and his seven-year-old son Graham, who has now grasped the whole Wimbledon experience.

“He understands the history and the prestige, so to be able to share that with him is really priceless,” Knowles said. “That’s really where a lot of the inspiration for coming back here came from. I want to play to expose him to this level, so I’m really inspired and hopefully I can take that inspiration on the court.”

Unfortunately, Knowles’ other charm, his mother Vickie Andrews, has not made the trek to London this time. At least not yet.

“This was all a last minute thing, so she is not here, but hopefully I can give her a reason to pop over,” Knowles said.

And that is getting a chance to watch him and Hewitt play through the second week of the tournament, maybe, just maybe, with a chance to be in the final.