[yeeha13]

Is it true these two are splitting up????

Anyone have pictures of the two of them?

[ae wowww]

Yes they are separating.

[yeeha13]

I can't believe it is true! I was on wikipedia and I found this site for Mark, it looks new. www.markknowlestennis.com I didn't no where to post it so I put it here.

[jitterbug]

Originally Posted by yeeha13

I can't believe it is true! I was on wikipedia and I found this site for Mark, it looks new. www.markknowlestennis.com I didn't no where to post it so I put it here.

I know the webmaster; it's a fairly new site.

[yeeha13]

Ooh u no the webmaster? Does he no Mark or something? Why did they start the site anyway? Mark isn't even that popular. I like Nestor more. I hope they win the champonship.

[celia]

Nestor and Knowles make final on eve of split

Despite success, pair will part after Wimbledon

Joe O'connor, National Post

Published: Friday, June 08, 2007

Breakups can be messy. Somebody almost always gets hurt. But making the decision to break up, and then setting an exact date as to when the split will take effect, appears to be a brilliant tennis strategy.

Canadian doubles ace Daniel Nestor recently informed longtime partner Mark Knowles that he would be dumping him for a younger man -- Nenad Zimonjic --after Wimbledon.

Yesterday, at the French Open, the soon-to-be split-up pair stomped Radek Stepanek and Mahesh Bhupathi in the semi-finals, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to tomorrow's Grand Slam championship match.

Nestor and Knowles have not dropped a set en route to the final at Roland Garros, a title they played for in 1998 and 2002, but have yet to win.

"Mark was a little upset with the decision to break up, and it came from my side," Nestor explained yesterday. "And any time you are questioned, you want to prove yourself.

"And I think Mark has been playing great, and I think he wants to show everybody how good he can be."

The long and mostly happy tennis marriage between Nestor and Knowles began in 1994. They captured the first event they entered together in Bogota, Colombia and have won 36 titles since, including the 2002 Australian Open and the 2004 U.S. Open. Nestor and Knowles have no titles to show for 2007, but they have already appeared in four semifinals and three finals. Tomorrow is their fourth, with the sixth seeds facing the No. 9 pair, Lukas Dlouhy and Pavel Vizner.

But what looks to be a successful year to an outsider is a sub-par season in Nestor's mind, a clear sign that he and Knowles are getting too old to compete in a young man's game.

Nestor is 34. He has a bad elbow. Knowles is one year older. It was age, and a sense that maybe things were beginning to get a little stale between them, that led Nestor to sue for divorce.

"Our results here kind of contradict what I was saying," Nestor says. "That maybe we were getting older and might need, each of us, a younger, more athletic and more powerful partner."

Nestor describes his Bahamian partner as a "very good friend," although he admits that since the breakup became public Knowles has been a little distant.

"Right now, things are kind of uncomfortable," said Nestor. "But hopefully, in time, our friendship will be the same as it always was. And we still talk and all that -- it is not like we are going to come to blows. It is just a little more professional. Before it was maybe a little more chummy on the court."

Nestor declined to name names, but he said several successful doubles pairings almost come to blows, that they hardly speak at all, and don't particularly like one another. A doubles team is a business relationship, and business partners are seldom buddies.

"Mark and I have been fortunate to have a good relationship on and off the court," Nestor said. "Obviously, now, it has changed a little bit. But I don't see it being an issue down the road."

Their road as a doubles team will end later this month, or early next, on the manicured lawns at Wimbledon. Or will it?

"The plan was to split up," Nestor said. "But if we keep up the success in the next few weeks, [staying together] will be in the back of my mind. As of now, after Wimbledon, it is final: we are splitting up. But I can't say what a year from now is going to look like."

© National Post 2007

[Lee]

And they FINALLY won the doubles championship. A great ending for a great doubles team.

[kukka]

Yeah, congrats to Mark & Dan for the Roland Garros title! I've followed them for years and it's a pity that they will break up...

Elina

[jitterbug]

They guaranteed themselves an automatic spot in Shanghai by winning RG

They're also in the Queens finals against the Bryans, due to be played in a couple of hours' time.

[yeeha13]

Maybe they should stick together now that they win again.

What a shame to break up now And what about Santoro? He and Nenad had been Doubles Partners

[jitterbug]

They beat the Bryans and won Queens

Nestor rethinking split with Knowles

Breaking up has proved a little harder to do for Daniel Nestor and Mark Knowles.

One week after capturing the French Open men's doubles title, Canada's Nestor is having second thoughts about his planned split with his longtime Bahamian partner.

Nestor told the Canadian Press on Friday that he was rethinking the breakup — scheduled to happen after Wimbledon, which begins June 25 — and is considering keeping the partnership together until the end of the pro tennis season.

Nestor and Knowles have played together for 13 years, winning 38 titles, including three of tennis's four Grand Slams. The only major they haven't captured is Wimbledon.

By winning the French Open, they automatically qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup event in Shanghai, an elite tournament with plenty of prize money on the table.

"Maybe it makes sense to finish the year in Shanghai," said Nestor, who told Knowles in May that he needed a change. "If we delayed the new partnership, almost everyone would be happy."

The only hitch in those plans would be Nestor's commitment to his new partner, Serb Nenad Zimonjic.

Zimonjic is leaving Fabrice Santoro to pair with Nestor, so a delay might not suit his plans.

"I'm the kind of person who honours my commitments," he said. "When Zimonjic and I decided to do this, we didn't know this would happen.

"I haven't yet talked to Zimonjic and I don't know how he feels [about the delay]. Maybe he and Santoro have cut off all contact."

Nestor said last Saturday's clay court win has given the Nestor-Knowles partnership the jolt of energy it had been missing.

"I've talked with Knowles. He's pushing this idea," said Nestor. "We're playing well now. People are wondering: `Why break up when you've won a Grand Slam?"'

[yeeha13]

They lost. Don't no if they are staying together now.

[Björki]

any news about Knowles/Nestor if the will split?

[NicolasKiefer44]

I wonder if they are playing together in Cincy this year? I will be there to wish Mark well. And only Mark.