© Knowles family
Former World No. 1 doubles star Mark Knowles is free to play his 17th consecutive Wimbledon after welcoming the early arrival of his second son on Friday in Dallas, Texas.

His wife, Dawn, presented Knowles with the couple's second child, Brody Mark, three weeks ahead of her due date and then gave her blessing for Knowles to head to Wimbledon Sunday night to partner Mahesh Bhupathi in the gentlemen's doubles.

"It's been a little stressful lately and if Dawn didn't have the baby early I don't know what I would have done," said Knowles. "The timing is truly a blessing. And first and foremost we're so happy to see our second son born."

Brody weighed in at a robust 9 lbs. 6 oz. and 21 1/2 inches.

Knowles has not played since Roland Garros, where he and Bhupathi took an unexpected first-round loss. Knowles reached the second round of the mixed but withdrew from the event to be with Dawn, who encountered some complications.

"I was kind of hoping Brody would come early but I was starting to wonder if the gods didn't have a plan for me to miss two Grand Slams," Knowles said. "Dawn would have been extremely disappointed to see me miss another one, and she probably would have let me play. I wanted to be with my wife for the birth and play a supportive role, but I also had my doubles partner to think about. I didn't want to let Mahesh down. It would have been different if I was just playing singles."

Knowles, who with Bhupathi is fourth in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race, plans to return to Dallas immediately after his Wimbledon campaign. (He hopes that will be in two weeks!) "Straight after Wimbledon I'll take a few weeks off because this special time with the family is time you'll never get back."

Knowles has been to the Wimbledon quarterfinals or better for five consecutive years, dating back to his lone runner-up finish (w/Nestor) to Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde in 2002.

The Knowles' first son, Graham, will turn three in September.

Mark Knowles in DEUCE 

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