Rune and Wozniacki prepare for the Paris Olympics in mixed doubles! What couples are you waiting for?
Kirill Veyovich August 16, 2023, 15:45 Moscow time
Very interesting mixed duos can appear in the next Helmets and the Games of 2024. Let’s fantasize.
At the crossroads of July and August 2024, tennis fans are waiting for a significant and rather unusual event – the Olympic Games in Paris. After all, the Slams are held four tournaments a season, but the Games are held only once every four years. And the fight for prizes will be fiercer than ever. At the last start of the four-year period, which took place in Tokyo, Alexander Zverev of Germany and Belinda Bencic of Switzerland won singles gold respectively. In the women’s pairs competition, the Czechs Barbora Kreychikova and Katerzhina Sinyakova turned out to be the strongest of all, among the representatives of the strong half of humanity – the star Croatian tandem Mate Pavic / Nikola Mektic. Representatives of national tennis celebrated the victory in mixed doubles. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev defeated Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev in an all-Russian final in the championship tiebreaker. But what awaits all of us in Paris 2024?
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Where will the tennis players play at the Paris Olympics?
Roland Garros, the traditional venue of the French Open, will host tennis events as part of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. This means the tournament will be played on clay for the first time since Barcelona 1992. In the last seven Games, athletes have mostly settled things hard, with only the 2012 Olympics taking place on grass at Wimbledon.
Mixed doubles at the Olympics
By the way, it was from the London 2012 Games that mixed doubles competitions appeared on the tennis program, and they have already won a place in the hearts of fans. Not long ago the first official tandem that will play in Paris was announced. The world number 20 racket in men’s singles, Hubert Hurkach, announced on social media that he will play mixed doubles at the 2024 Olympic Games with WTA ranking leader Iga Sviontek. It is worth noting that the star Poles already not so long ago received the experience of joint performances in the United Cup, which took place at the beginning of this season. Hubert and Iga helped their team reach the semi-finals of the competition, winning two of their matches during them.
Igi Swiatek and Hubert Hurkach
Photo: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images
Other interesting combinations could be seen in the Australian tournament this season. The Greeks Tsitsipas / Sakkari, the Swiss Bencic / Wawrinka, the Belgians Mertens / Goffin, the Americans Pegula / Fritz – all these eminent single skaters connected with each other in competitions to help their national team. It is worth paying special attention to the American team, which impresses with the depth of its composition. The Stars and Stripes can make at least two great tandems for the Paris Olympics. I’m sure fans won’t mind seeing Jessica Pegula in action with Francis Tiafoe, who has experience in pairing combinations, and, for example, Taylor Fritz with Corey Gauff.
By the way, about other combinations. Recently, the Danish tennis player Holger Rune admitted that he wants to play with his eminent compatriot Caroline Wozniacki at the 2024 Olympic Games. Recall that it was only at the beginning of August that he returned to the tour after a break of three years and eight months.
“That would be great, I really like her, as a person and as a player. She would be the perfect match for me at the Olympics. I hope we can do it,” Rune said in an interview with France24.
It should be noted that the tennis players, on the eve of the return of the Australian Open champion – 2018 to tour, have already conducted joint training in Monte Carlo. “Today the training of the Danish duo took place! Thanks to Holger for a great practice,” Wozniacki captioned the post.
Russian fans, in turn, firmly believe that their compatriot athletes will still have a chance to perform at the next main start of the four-year term. Although the issue of admitting national players is still open, you can only think of possible combinations in your head with a favorable decision from the IOC. Attacking tandems in the person of Veronika Kudermetova and Andrey Rublev, Lyudmila Samsonova and Karen Khachanov look very attractive. And what do you think of this duo: Daniil Medvedev and Mirra Andreeva? In general, you can fantasize about a lot of interesting things.
Mixed doubles in “Helmets”
In TBSH, mixed doubles can be international. This is the main difference between mixed doubles at the Olympics and at the Slams. Even before the start of Wimbledon 2023, two-time major singles finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas and former World No. 2 Paula Badosa, who became headliners in recent months (the Greek and Spaniard started dating on the spring), announced that they had decided to unite. in mixed doubles at the royal TBS. Experts were immediately skeptical about the prospects of the tandem: in their opinion, Badosa, who struggled with injuries for almost the entire season, cannot be an equal partner for her new lover at the moment. As a result, Stefanos and Paula were never able to play in the mixed doubles in London: it was the Spaniard who disappointed. The reason for Badosa’s refusal to compete was a back injury, which the athlete has been trying to deal with for several months. The Greek himself reacted to the elimination of his girlfriend from the tournament very calmly.
“Mixed is not important now, thank goodness. I prefer to continue living,” Tsitsipas said at a news conference.
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Will it be the debut of the newly minted pair at the next US Open? It will show the time. In any case, the Greek-Spanish tandem looks like an interesting option in the mixed doubles competition. We also offer you, dear readers, to dream a little – do a little fortune-telling on the coffee grounds. Write in the comments interesting mixed combinations that you would like to see in the next Helmets and Olympic Games. Perhaps your favorites will hear prayers and play together in a couple of weeks, at the US Open.
