Marcus Daniell says he's prepared to go back to sleeping on hotel floors on the Futures Tour despite his surprise win in the Heineken Open doubles yesterday.
Almost unknown outside New Zealand tennis circles this week, Daniell is now a pin-up boy for the sport after becoming the first New Zealander to win an ATP Tennis final in 11 years.
Daniell and his Romanian partner Horia Tecau, who the New Zealander had never heard of before this week, beat the Brazilian pair Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares 7-5 6-4.
The victory earns Daniell $US9750, and will shoot him up from 670 in the doubles rankings to about 220.
But improving his singles ranking from 767 is still his priority, so it's back to the third tier Futures Tour, where money and quality accommodation is sparse.
"I'm going to have a bit of a change of scene," Daniell said.
"But I'm used to it, I've done it for two years, I know what to expect.
"I've just got to try to take all the positive energy I have from this week and keep running with it throughout the year, make it last as long as I can."
Daniell said he would be making the prizemoney stretch as long as he can to help him try to improve his rankings.
"I think it's going to be much the same, I'm going to be skimping as much as I can.
"The only thing I've found I can't skimp on is food."
Daniell and Tecau first beat fellow wildcards Oliver and Rubin Statham before toppling the third seeds, Tommy Robredo and Marcel Granollers of Spain.
They then defeated Johan Brunstrom of Sweden and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands Antilles in the semifinals before beating Melo and Soares in the final.
Tecau said he wasn't disappointed when he found out the only way he would play in the tournament was to play with a New Zealander ranked 670.
His ranking wasn't quite high enough to get direct entry and accepting the wildcard was his way to get a tournament spot.
"My first thought was that I was just happy to play, happy to have a chance," he said.
"Then when we drew the other wildcards in the first round I thought it was good for us to have a weaker first round, and after, I had been practising with Marcus and I found he had a very good game.
"I was never thinking we were going to win the title but I was positive we could play well and be a tough team to beat." Daniell became the first New Zealander to win an ATP final since James Greenhalgh won a doubles title in Hong Kong in 1999.
In a tight first set, Daniell and Tecau broke Soares' serve in the 11th game, and Daniell served out the set after going 0-30 down.
Daniell and Tecau broke Melo's serve in the fifth game of the second set, and Tecau served out the match to love.
Tecau now heads to the Australian Open, where he will play with Lukas Arnold Ker of Argentina.
