Silver Lining for Nole

Nole made an unexpected exit from the singles at Queens this week at the hands of Xavier Malisse, which I can’t shed any light on as I didn’t have court 1 tickets (I was watching Marin play doubles by himself, I mean with the incredibly useful Andre Sa as a partner, so all I saw of Nole’s match was the occasional spiky kitten-head bobbing up over the fence and, once, a racquet soaring into the air). Still, he doesn’t leave empty-handed, after teaming up with Israel’s Jonathan Erlich to take the doubles title, 67(6) 62 10-3 over Beck and Skoch.

I’d have rather seem him smooching a bigger trophy (and without assistance), but these days I will take any happy Nole I can get, sad to say.