The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

MARK Knowles may be done as a player at the US Open. But he’s still hanging around in Flushing Meadows doing some coaching chores.

On Friday, Knowles and Xavier Malisse got eliminated from the first round of the men’s doubles as they fell victim to the Spanish team of Pablo Andujar and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The set scores were 1-6, 6-4, 6-3. It was certainly not the kind of performance that Knowles expected.

“It was a tough one. We actually played very well,” Knowles said. “It was a match that we definitely should have won. We won the first set convincingly and we had four break points in the second set to pretty much win in straight sets. It was just one point. Unfortunately, we couldn’t capitalise on our opportunities.

“Things turned around and they played much better. It was unfortunate because we played well enough to win. Things just didn’t go our way.”

It was the third straight tournament that Knowles has been ousted in the first round since he and Malisse reached the round of 16 where they lost in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2 to the American identical twin brothers of Bob and Mike Bryan at the French Open in Roland Garros.

Done with playing in the last of the four Grand Slams for the year, 40-year-old Knowles is now teaming up with another of his former partners. He is on the sidelines coaching American Mardy Fish, who has a big third round match-up today against top seed Roger Federer of Switzerland.

Knowles and Fish teamed up to play in their last tournament at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada in Toronto at the beginning of August before they came to the US Open to play in separate segments.

While Fish prevailed with a three-hour marathon 6-1, 50-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Gilles Simon of France on Saturday, Federer easily disposed of Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in their second round match. Fish and Federer will renew their rivalry from their last tournament in Cincinnati where Federer won 6-3, 7-6 (4).

“I’ve been doing the player-coach thing for a few months. He’s playing Federer, so I will see how well he does,” said Knowles, who has been coaching Fish since the Miami Tournament in March. “He just contacted me to see if I would be interested in coaching him.

“It’s been going pretty good. He’s probably playing the best tennis of his career and so it’s been an interesting balance to be playing and coaching. The combination has been kind of tricky, but it’s going very well.”

As present, Fish is the only player that Knowles is coaching. But he noted that he will definitely be on pins and needles as he watches Fish go up against Federer.

“It’s obviously going to be a tough match,” Knowles said. “Rog is playing very well and his record speaks for itself. Mardy played him in a close match in Cincinnati, but Rog is playing the best tennis in his life. It’s going to be a big challenge for Mardy, but he’s beaten Rog a few times in the past. So he just has to play a complete match from start to finish.

“Obviously to beat Rog you have to play extremely well. I think it’s going to be exciting. It’s the US Open, so we just have to wait and see how he deals with it.”

And with his appearance as a player done at the US Open, Knowles said he will sit down with Malisse and look at their options ahead of them before deciding on their next move.

“It was a little disappointing. I expected to do better here,” Knowles said. “I felt that we had a good draw and should have been able to go deep in the tournament. I’m still playing well and I’m healthy. So I will just wait to see what happens from here.”