Fleming: We can compete with the best

 

Originally published on: 26/07/12 00:00

Doubles teams have to be from the same country and many other pairs who will be competing in the Olympics do not play regularly together.

Fleming (world No.28 in doubles) and Hutchins (world No.29) have been playing together since the end of 2010. They won their first title as a partnership at St Petersburg last year and have won tournaments in 2012 at Delray Beach and Eastbourne. Having also reached the final at Newport, Rhode Island earlier this month, they have proved their grass-court credentials.

“I think it will be a little bit of an advantage that Ross and I have been playing together for the best part of 18 months now, practising together, working together, trying to keep improving,” Fleming said at Wimbledon during a break from the British team’s preparations. “But at the same time it doesn’t guarantee us a win in any match against a pair who haven’t been doing that, because there are so many good pairs playing together.

“You see week in and week out in doubles that scratch teams come together and do well quite often. In any one-off event a team can play well. But I feel like we’re in a good position through having worked together and I feel like we can play well here.”

The British pair are not among the eight seeds and Fleming admitted they would not be regarded as one of the favourites. However, he added: “I think our results since we’ve been playing together probably show that if we play at our best we can compete. We’ve had some wins against some of the top pairs. We’re realistic about our chances but we also know that if we play well we can compete with the best teams in the world.”

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