PopSockle and the Bryans — The Cincinnati Masters Doubles Finals

At the draw party for the Western and Southern Open, Cincinnati Masters, Jack Sock was asked how he and Vasek Pospisil began their powerhouse doubles partnership. It had apparently been very simple–Jack had known he needed someone with a higher ranking in order to get into the Wimbledon draw. A couple months before the event, he asked Pospisil if he’d be interested in teaming up for the grass Slam event.

The Canadian player had said, “Sure, as long as my back isn’t hurting, I’ll play.” His back was fine, the two teamed up, and BOOM! Wimbledon champions. Then they were Atlanta champions and, not counting the walkover they gave up in Canada, the wonder duo was looking at a pretty impressive undefeated 14-0 record as they headed into the Cincinnati finals.

The Bryan Brothers were looking for payback for that 5-set Wimby loss, however, and they came out full throttle in the Cincy rematch. Here are a ton of pics from the event, and you can click many of them for large-sized shots of the doubles action.

Here are PopSockle arriving on court. In my coverage of Grandstand matches, I found that 90% of players never look over at the photographer’s pit. Vashy is in that 10%, and he looks over a lot.

Here are the Bryans heading onto court. I didn’t realize that Bob peeked over as well.

These winners of the coin toss experience seem to be quite enamored with Popsicle. In fact, I think this pic below might be described as having a “moment.”

And the match begins…

(Go on to PAGE 2 for more PopSockle and Bryan Brothers action…)