MONTREAL — A fifth Rogers Cup doubles title was not to be for Daniel Nestor, but the remarkable thing is that the Toronto left-hander is still playing in finals of big ATP tournaments at 42.
Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan won the doubles final at the US$4.1 million Rogers Cup with a 7-6 (5), 3-6, 10-6 victory over Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France on Sunday.
The Bryan twins, ranked first in the world for 429 weeks, posted their 109th career tournament title, their sixth this year and their third in a row. They won $212,000 by taking their fifth Rogers Cup trophy and their 35th win at a Masters 1000 event, one level below the grand slams.
Now the 36-year-old Bryans are wondering if they will still be playing at Nestor’s age.
"Danny has kind of set the bar for the rest of the guys," said Bob Bryan. "Ten years ago 35 was ancient, and now he’s 42.
"He’s really blazing the trail for the doubles guys, giving everyone kind of hope that they can do this as long as they’re healthy. But as he said, two years from now he might not be coming back to Montreal. That’s probably a realistic statement by him. At some point, family takes priority and you’ve got to reshuffle and rebalance your life."
Nestor isn’t sure how long he will play, but he plans to continue at least until the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero.
"It depends on rankings, the body," said Nestor. "Davis Cup is obviously still important.
"I can’t answer all these things. Four years ago at the Olympics, I said there was no chance I would play Rio. Now it looks likely that I will play. I can’t make any predictions. Right now I’m planning on playing next year."
It is a fifth trip to the final for Nestor of the tournament once called the Canadian Open. With a variety of partners, he has a 2-3 record in finals, including 1-2 against the Bryan duo. Nestor’s most recent win was in 2008.
It was the 57th time Nestor has faced the Bryans, with the American duo holding a 29-28 edge.
In his career, Nestor has won 87 doubles titles with nine different partners. He has taken eight grand slam events and won gold at the 2000 Olympics with Sebastien Lareau.
If he plays in Rio de Janiero, he will likely team with Davis Cup partner Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver. But there is doubt they will get much time to play together because Pospisil has a successful ATP Tour doubles team with American Jack Sock.
Before the Sydney Olympics, both Nestor and Lareau left their usual partners to prepare for the Games.
"I think that year maybe we weren’t doing as well with our other partner, so it kind of made sense," said Nestor. "Sebastien and I always played well together, too.
"I thought it made sense that year. Vasek is in a great partnership with Sock. I’m kind of just waiting to see."
Against the Bryans, the first set came down to one errant service return during the tiebreaker, but the action picked up in the second when Nestor’s duo broke the twins, were broken back, and then broke again for a 3-1 lead.
They served out to force a super-tiebreaker, where the Bryans grabbed the first point on their opponent’s serve and didn’t look back.
It was the first time Nestor and Roger-Vasselin played together. But the French right-hander, who won the 2014 French Open doubles with Julien Benneteau, played earlier this year with Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and Pospisil.
