An Interview With British ATP Doubles Pro Dominic Inglot at the 2015 Australian Open
Glenys Furness for Tennis Atlantic

Tennis blogger Glenys Furness of the British tennis oriented Eeyore Tennis Blog, conducted an interview with ATP World Tour doubles professional Dominic Inglot, the current world number 45 in doubles, while Dominic is in Melbourne, competing in the AO men’s doubles tournament with his new doubles partner Florin Mergea. Dominic and Florin recently reached the final in Auckland and are into the third round at the AO, thus far. Of note for college tennis fans, Dominic played college tennis at the University of Virginia.

The interview, conducted on 1/23/2015 is below. Thanks to Glenys for conducting the interview on special assignment for Tennis Atlantic, and to Dominic for being so cordial to do the interview-The Editors

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British doubles player Dominic Inglot took time out from his Australian Open schedule for a short interview with me.  I would like to thank Dom very much for taking some time out and agreeing to talk with me.

Dom on splitting with Treat Huey

GF: “When did you and Treat decide to end your successful partnership?”

DI: “It was after our match at the U.S. open that Treat and I decided it was time to call it a day on our partnership. We had had a great run and had played together for nearly three years. It was funny that even though we played at the University of Virginia as team mates, we never once stepped on the doubles court together as a pair there.”

On teaming up with Florin Mergea

GF: “How did your new partnership come about?”

DI: “While at the US Open, I was looking at the upcoming tournaments and most of the doubles guys were still in their partnerships. Florin and I had always talked throughout the year about how we were getting on and what we were looking for from our respective partnerships, so when I mentioned to him that Treat and I had stopped playing he suggested we should give it a shot. It sounded like a good idea, even though I hadn’t thought of playing with a guy who serves and stays back. We decided to team up for the first time at Metz. I had a few injury issues right at the end of the year but I think we saw enough to believe that there was enough in our partnership to give it a go in 2015. We tinkered with our tactics after Doha, one being what sides we played on, and it was good to see an improvement straight away when we made the final in Auckland.”

On his hopes for the 2015 season

GF: “What are your hopes for this season?”

DI: “My hopes for 2015 are to really develop myself to be as complete a doubles player as I can be. In the past I’ve been guilty of neglecting parts of my game because I thought I had them under control but it’s so easy to lose an edge if you do that. I want to make sure that I do everything I can to stay healthy.  It’s a long season and if you miss several weeks out that can really hurt your ranking, confidence and good form.

Usually with setting goals, I set one hurdle at a time.  Of course the far end goal is to win a slam, and to get myself to the top of the rankings list, but in the short term it’s to do the very best I can here in Australia, I’d like to see if I can improve on my quarter final from last year and who knows….”

On the Davis Cup tie between team GB and team USA in March

GF: “What do you think of the Davis Cup home tie?”

DI: “It will be a great tie. We play America again but this time in Scotland. I’m very confident our GB team can get another win. Andy (Murray) is playing great tennis, James Ward has come on leaps and bounds in the last year, he can definitely cause another upset. In doubles Jamie Murray is playing great tennis, and I think he is probably the front runner to be the doubles guy in the team. The rest is up to (Coach) Leon (Smith), whether he wants to bring another doubles guy in or just stick with one. If he decides to call me up it would be a great honour, but if not, that’s OK. The team is made up of very capable players and I’m sure they will get Great Britain into the next round

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It was fantastic to chat with Dom to hear his thoughts on the here and now and his perspective on the year ahead.  I wish him and Florin the best of luck at the Australian Open and beyond.  Reaching the final in Auckland in early January this year was an amazing feat considering it was so early in the season and the start of a new doubles partnership. In the short time they’ve been together, I’m very confident that Dom and Florin will go higher in the rankings and achieve more success.

Personally, I feel very positive about British Tennis.  The tennis rankings attest that British tennis for both men and woman is on an upward trend.  This type of competition is very healthy for the British game and long may it continue-Glenys