Tennis: Farewell Ted and Pecker

By PETER CALDER

It ended, not with a bang, but with a whimper of disappointment from a crowd that had wanted a fairytale.

But it had ended under Australian skies and not, as one said later, "in a little tournament in some small city [on the other side of ] the world."

That, for the greatest doubles partnership in history, was enough to turn silver into gold.

Mark Woodforde said goodbye to tennis - and to his partner of 11 years, Todd Woodbridge - in the Olympic Tennis Centre with an unfamiliar taste in his mouth: defeat.

The pair had their record 58th tournament victory when they took their 10th Grand Slam title, the French Open which had always eluded them, this year. But they went down 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-7 (2-7) in the Olympics gold medal match to Canadians Sebastien Lareau and Daniel Nestor.

And at the end, it was the most abject of capitulations. They had fought back from the brink of defeat in the fourth set to force the tiebreak but they played it poorly.

The left-handed Woodforde missed - uncharacteristically, completely - an overhead smash. At 2-5, Woodbridge double-faulted to give the Canadians four match points.

Then - incredibly, heartbreakingly - he did it again to give them the victory.

"It was probably the most disappointing thing about the match," said Woodbridge afterwards. "I wish I hadn't. I wish I'd made them hit a shot to win it, but I don't want to dwell on it because it just takes away from the occasion for us. And that's not what our whole career is about."

This last is something of an understatement. Since the day they first stepped on to a court together in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1990 ( "We played atrociously that day," Woodbridge remembers) the two Woodies have bestridden the world of men's doubles like a single colossus.

From 1993 to 1997, they owned Wimbledon, winning the men's doubles five times on the trot. They've won the Australian and US Opens twice. And they stood on the highest podium at Atlanta in 1996.

This year it was only to be silver but they didn't care. Said Woodbridge: "It felt like, we didn't win but we won anyway." And Woodforde: "Just because it's silver today, I think our whole partnership has been gold. And it won't be tarnished."

Physically unlike (Woodforde, 35, a red-haired, freckled lefthander is 5cm taller than the nuggety 29-year-old Woodbridge) and in styles they have always seemed to operate as one, joined at some sort of psychic hip.

Their wives are even expecting together, in summer only a month apart, although the Woodies swear that's a fluke rather than an agreement hatched in a baseline chat.

And they have never achieved alone what they have gloriously accomplished together.

Now it's all over - well, not quite. Davis Cup captain John Newcombe plans to summon the old firm in the final against Barcelona in December.

But Woodbridge - who is retiring to enjoy impending fatherhood - would be happy if he never picked up a racket again.

"I still love the game, but the 1000 per cent commitment just isn't there. And I'm one of the older guys. It's damn hard to keep up with all of these young guys who want to kick your butt all the time."

Making the partnership work for so long at such a high level has been, like a good marriage, a study in compromise.

"We were two strong egos both wanting to be very successful," said Woodbridge, "and what we both learnt very early on was that both of us had to be happy to take the lead role on certain days, to be the one who looked better on the court."

Life in a world-beating partnership can take its toll on the individuals' relationship but plainly Ted and Pecker (as Todd and Mark respectively are nicknamed) still love each other a lot.

Says Woodforde: "Probably we'll spend more time together socially now. It's pretty hard to be around each other constantly. Tennis compels you to be together on the court and sometimes when you step off the court your first instinct is to separate."

Woodbridge has virtually sealed an agreement to team up with Swede Jonas Bjorkman but he admits it's going to be "hard on him and me because I'm so used to having Mark on my side of the court. I know what he's going to do under pressure and how he's going to react. I haven't played much with other people so it's going to be like learning to walk again."

And life for Woodforde is a glorious uncertainty.

"I just want to enjoy life as a normal person for a while," he says. "I want to enjoy my marriage and a newborn baby and just be able to have some spontaneity.

"It will be great to be able to up and visit somewhere without worrying about what it will do to my training schedule."