Fernando Romboli from Brazil and Spaniard David Vega Hernandez were too strong for Tomislav Brckic and Nikola Cacic in the final. This is a great achievement because Brckic from Bosnia Herzegovina and Cacic from Serbia were top seeds. They are on position number 55 respectively 44 in the double world ranking and that is a lot higher than place 132 of Romboli and 122 of Vega Hernandez. With the 250 points they earn here in Umag, that ranking will of course go up.
In singles, you are alone on the court and if you have a coach, he is not allowed to say anything during the match. Single game is quite literally playing on your own. That’s what makes tennis such a mental sport. In doubles, the mental factor is no less important. And even now a coach, if there is one, must keep his mouth shut. But there is one important difference: it is a team sport. It is true that it is a small team, but still, there are two of you. And you can coach each other and help each other through the difficult moments. It can also work the other way. Partners can also break each other down and that is of course disastrous. Robin Haase pointed this out emphatically in the conversation we had with him in 2019 when he won the Umag doubles tournament together with Philipp Oswald. It was precisely that stimulating and boosting each other that Romboli and Vega Hernandez constantly did. They survived no less than seven match points in the tournament! It also resulted in a win in their last game in straight sets: 6-3, 7-5. Are they millionaires now? No not at all. They earn just over €15,000 in Umag with their win. Must share them together. But when you see how excited this duo is on the court and how overjoyed they are with their victory, one thing is clear: these are real tennis lovers. A joy to watch!
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