The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

As his illustrious 20-year career starts to wind down, Mark Knowles is starting to be more selective with how many meets he competes in on the international tennis tour.

Having resigned to just playing singles since his appearance on the Bahamas Davis Cup team in 2003, Knowles has been on a roller coaster ride with three different partners in seven tournaments this year.

His lone tournament victory came in February with Xavier Malisse of Belgium in San Jose, California, where they defeated Republic of South African Kevin Anderson and German Frank Moser.

The week after, Knowles and Anderson paired up in Memphis, Tennessee, where they were ousted in the first round by two of Knowles' former partners Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Canadian Daniel Nestor.

Knowles' last tournament was in Houston, Texas, in April where he and Malisse made it to the quarter-final before they were sent packing by the team of Treat Conrad Huey of the US and Dominic Ingot of Great Britain.

"I basically just took the last few weeks off to spend time with my family," said Knowles, a married father of two boys and one girl. "I'm going to leave next week and just play the French (Open) with Malisse.

"We're obviously not coming in with any match practice but I've been practicing hard and, as a team, I believe that we can do very well. So I'm pretty excited and I'm looking to go there and do some damage."

The 40-year-old Knowles, who earlier this month spent about a week at home, said match practice is hard to duplicate but he's not a rookie coming in.

"I've done this a long time so it really comes down to execution," he said. "When you get to the French, you obviously get a little bit of confidence when you can win a few matches. I know what my goal is when I get there, which is to execute and win matches. So once we have our minds set when we get there, I don't see why we can't do it."

Currently ranked at No. 80 on the ATP computer rankings as a doubles player, Knowles said it will come down to his fitness level and he is sure that he's healthy to play well at the second Grand Slam tournament for the year.

"At this stage of the game, it's just about winning tournaments," he said. "Obviously, I don't want to play a huge schedule, so from that standpoint, it has been a success because I've already won a tournament this year.

"But I also want to win some big events this year. Indian Wells and Miami didn't go as well as I would have liked for it. So from that standpoint, it was disappointing. But I haven't played a Grand Slam yet, having missed Australia. So there are still some big things ahead of me."

After the French Open in Roland Garros at the end of the month, Knowles is expected to team up with Australian Paul Hanley to play in two tournaments on grass in Queens and Eastbourne leading up to the Wimbledon Grand Slam in London next month.

"I just decided not to play that many tournaments so I could spend some time with my family and playing in Europe makes it difficult for me to do that because you're a lot further away," he said.

"I think it's pretty important to be a part of my kids' lives, so I try not to miss a lot of those experiences. I think playing the smaller events in Europe is not something that I need to be playing at this stage. My main goal is to play in the big events and to win in the big events."