Knowles Wins Mixed Doubles Title

© Getty ImagesMark Knowles celebrates after championship point in the mixed doubles final.

While Roger Federer is a well-known private jet fractional owner, another Wimbledon champion had a different travel experience flying back from London. Doubles star Mark Knowles, accompanied by his wife and two young sons, needed to wait out a trying weather delay to board their airplane back to the U.S.

"We had to wait four hours to fly from London to Dallas, which was a nightmare because we had our one-year-old with us," said Knowles. "It was already a 10-hour flight, so it ended up being a 14-hour journey and we got back at 11:30 at night. It was a little bit rough."

One day prior, immediately following Federer’s record-breaking performance at The All England Club, the 37-year-old Knowles had teamed up with Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld to clinch the Wimbledon mixed doubles title. Knowles and Groenefeld had trailed top seeds Leander Paes and Cara Black 2-5 in the opening set, but won eight straight games and rode the momentum to close out the 7-5, 6-3 victory.

Knowles has now won all four Grand Slam tournaments, adding his first mixed doubles title to his men’s doubles titles won alongside former partner Daniel Nestor at the 2002 Australian Open, 2004 US Open and 2007 Roland Garros. He and Nestor were also finalists at the grass-court major in 2002.

"I have a British passport – my mom’s British – so I’ve grown up in the tradition of Wimbledon. It was always the one tournament I wanted to win," said Knowles. "To finally have won it, it’s thrilling. To be on Centre Court, and to go up in the Royal Box and receive the trophy, it’s something that no one can ever take away from me."

The Bahamian achieved a special milestone earlier in The Championships, playing his 1000th career doubles match – the most among active players – in the men’s draw quarter-finals with Mahesh Bhupathi. He is the sixth player to reach the 1000-match plateau, joining Cyril Suk (1147), Sherwood Stewart (1080), Todd Woodbridge (1042), Rick Leach (1038) and Jonas Bjorkman (1015).

"At the start of your career it’s not really something you set out to do," said Knowles, who has compiled a 675-325 match record and 51 titles since turning pro in 1992. "It’s unfathomable that you’ll be around that long and be that successful... I’m just playing because I still enjoy the game, and I still enjoy the challenge of trying to win matches. There’s so much competition out there and it’s changed so much since I first came on tour so it brings a whole different excitement to it."

And although he has no interest in chasing the all-time record for doubles matches played – "At my stage, with two kids, I’m just hoping to keep playing almost week by week," he attests – Knowles already has his sights set on the Wimbledon men's doubles title in 2010: "I still feel I can possibly achieve that goal. I look forward to returning next year, and now that I have a little new-found confidence with the mixed doubles title, hopefully that’ll spur me to win men’s doubles."