Doubles tennis has little in common with singles, and mixed doubles, i.e. mixed doubles, is a completely different story. It will be even more interesting to watch this species at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and, moreover, the Russian duo will also be there, albeit without a flag. Roland Garros 2024 semi-finalist Mirra Andreeva and US Open 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev have joined forces to try to win medals and conquer the summit that Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrei Rublev climbed three years ago in Tokyo.
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It is difficult to predict how Andreeva and Medvedev will interact on the court. Apart from the Olympics, mixed doubles are played only at Grand Slam tournaments, and at the Majors, Daniil and Mirra focus mainly on singles performances. However, it should be noted that in December, at an exhibition tournament with the loud name “World Tennis League”, Andreeva and Medvedev played a one-set match, in which they lost to the international duo Paula Badosa (Spain) / Stefanos Tsitsipas by 6-7 (5-7) (Greece).
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There are many interesting mixed tandems at the Olympic Games. Here is the complete list of participants:
Laura Siegemund/Alexander Zverev (Germany); Ellen Pérez/Matthew Ebden (Australia); Cori Gauff/Taylor Fritz (United States); Maria Sakkari/Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece); Gabriela Dabrowski/Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada); Sara Errani/Andrea Vavassori (Italy); Sara Sorribes-Tormo/Marcel Granollers (Spain); Nadia Podoroska/Máximo González (Argentina); Donna Vekic/Mate Pavic (Croatia); Caroline García/Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France); Mirra Andreeva/Daniil Medvedev (Russia); Zheng Qingwen/Zhang Zhizhen (China); Kateřina Siniakova/Tomas Machac (Czech Republic); Demi Schours/Wesley Koolhof (Netherlands); Heather Watson/Joe Salisbury (Great Britain); Ena Shibahara/Kei Nishikori (Japan).
According to the results of the draw, ours went to Italians Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori. Errani, 37, is a legend not only in singles but also in doubles. In pairs, she is a five-time TBS champion and former world number one. Vavassori, 29, has been making progress lately. This year’s AO and RG finals allowed her to enter the top 10 in pairs.
The German national team has a very strong duo, although Zverev, the Olympic champion from Tokyo 2020, is still the best in singles. In addition to the gold at the Games in the Japanese capital, Alexander has access to the quarter-finals in doubles. Well, Russian fans know Siegemund very well from his performances together with Vera Zvonareva. With her, he won seven tournaments, including the US Open 2020 and the 2023 Final. In mixed doubles, Laura won the US Open in 2016 and Roland Garros in 2024, and reached the quarter-finals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Now the 36-year-old German is the fifth-ranked player in the world in doubles.
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The Australian mixed duo Perez/Ebden will be the only ones with a woman and a man in the top 10 in their respective pairing rankings. Ellen is ranked 10th and Matthew, a former world number one in doubles, completes the top 3. He will be the leader of the tandem. As a doubles player, Ebden won Wimbledon 2022 and the Australian Open 2024, and in mixed doubles, the Australian Open 2013. Perez reached the final of the final doubles championship last year.
In the American tandem, the main focus will be on Gauff: Fritz has no significant achievements in doubles. And Corey was the first racket of the world and won Roland Garros 2024. She is one of the few modern tennis players who can perform at the highest level in all types of the tennis program.
Sakkari and Tsitsipas will play for Greece. They cannot be called the best, but Stefanos occasionally pairs up with his brother Petros. At the 2020 Olympics, Sakkari and Tsitsipas finished the fight in the quarterfinals – in other words, they won a match.
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
The Canadian team will be led by Dabrowski, and Auger-Aliassime will clearly be the partner. Gabriela is now the world number three in pairs. At this event, she won the US Open – 2023, and in mixed doubles – Roland Garros – 2017 and the Australian Open – 2018. And at the 2020 Olympics, Dabrowski and Auger-Aliassime lost to Sakkari and Tsitsipas in the first round.
The world number one among men will compete for Spain in the pairs. Granollers, 38, has reached the TBS doubles final five times and also won the championship final in 2012. Sorribes-Tormo is also more successful in pairs than in singles. At Wimbledon, she reached the semi-finals and at other majors she reached the quarter-finals. And the Croats are worth keeping an eye on: Vekic is stronger as a singles player, but Pavic is one of only six men to have a career “Golden Slam” in doubles (at least one TBS title plus an Olympic gold).
Unfortunately, after the draw, Elena Rybakina withdrew from the Olympics. We will not see her in a duo with Alexander Bublik. And now the Argentines Nadia Podoroska and Maximo Gonzalez will play in mixed doubles.
Before the tournament, Medvedev shared his expectations for mixed doubles performances. “I knew I wanted to play mixed doubles. Mirra and I played very well at the exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi, even if it was just one set. This is a cool story. She is young and I am not young anymore by tennis standards. Let’s see what happens. A very interesting mix from which something can come out. Then we will chat with her while we play.”
Igor Kunitsyn asked me who I would like to play with. I talked about the match with Mirra in Abu Dhabi. Thank God I didn’t refuse,” he said in an interview with the Championship.
And she commented on the meme, referring to the cartoon “Masha and the Bear”: “It was very funny, because it is very similar. I laughed a lot.”
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Russian Tennis Federation President Shamil Tarpishchev said that Daniil and Mirra are not tasked with winning at any cost. “The question here is how well the partner will play. They have only played one tournament together. In this case, our goal is not necessarily to win, but to gain experience,” Tarpishchev said in an interview with the Championship.
The Olympic tennis tournament will be held from July 27 to August 4. Follow all the events of the “Championship”.
