DANIEL NESTOR and Nenad Zimonjic, the Canadian-Serb partnership, retained the Wimbledon doubles title on Centre Court with victory by 7-6 6-7 7-6 6-3 in two hours and 42 minutes over the American twins Bob and Mike Bryan. It was a hard-fought victory but Nestor and Zimonjic had beaten the American five times before and never lost belief in the brilliant sunshine.

The first three sets were decided by tiebreaks but Nestor and Zimonjic broke serve for the first time at the start of the fourth set and they were on the way to the title worth £230,000.

Nestor-Zimonjic never lost control in the fourth set and two sharp vollies by Zimonjic took them into a 5-2 lead. And it was Zimonjic who took victory in style, finishing with two aces.

The Bryans won the Wimbledon title in 2006 and this was their fourth final in five years, and their third defeat.

It was a final worthy of the occasion and the tradition of Wimbledon, but demonstrates yet again that the top singles players just don’t do doubles anymore, leaving the agreeably rich pickings to players who may not be able to achieve anything like the same earnings in singles play.

The two pairs in the final might not be household names in the wider world but in tennis their status is somewhat different with specialist doubles being played by fewer and fewer of the big names. Doubles has become almost a circuit of its own,virtually ignored by men chasing the singles titles,and these Wimbledon finalists are out of the top draw.

While it is true that this time last year Roger Federer was contemplating winning a doubles gold in the Beijing Olympic Games, and was elated about doing so, and it is also true that Rafael Nadal plays the occasional doubles in lesser events, they would never play side by side singles and doubles in the same major championship.

In Wimbledon terms, John McEnroe was the last serious contender to try for both titles and few have tried to do so in the 15 years or so which have gone by in the meantime. There is too much at stake for the potential singles champions to have their preparation time affected by being called out to play doubles late in the day with a big singles clash coming up the next afternoon.

In the Wimbledon singles this year, the Spaniard David Ferrer, seeded 16th, was the highest- ranked player to also compete in the doubles—but he lost in the first round. The best main draw players to play the doubles were the Americans James Blake, runner-up in the Aegon championships to Andy Murray, and Mardy Fish, who made the semi-finals unseeded.

“The 90s was the turning point,” says Steve Flink, a self confessed tennis nut from New York. “Some of the big players stopped competing in doubles and the others saw what was happening and stopped as well.” The crowds at Wimbledon have traditionally supported doubles and will have a second chance in November when the top eight pairs will play off in the Barclays ATP tour finals at the O2 Arena in November.

Looking back through Wimbledon’s doubles history, champions Don Budge and Jack Kramer played either side of the second world war, the Australians led by Lew Hoad and Roy Emerson set the tone in the fifties and sixties, and John Newcombe was said to have celebrated winning the singles crown in 1970 by attacking a bath full of cold beer with his mates and winning the doubles the next day.

The Bryan brothers have a natural family harmony which they have put to good use on the tennis court, with the left- handed Bob and the right-handed Mike playing on the tour for more than 13 years. They have played Wimbledon 11 times in a row.

Nestor and Zimonjic, both born in Belgrade, have played all the majors since 2008 and, with the Bryans, are probably a step ahead of the rest of the chasing pack.