Olympics Mixed Doubles - Tokyo 2021

[MargaretMcAleer]

Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from the Olympics due to the rising cases of the pandemic.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

With the withdrawal of Angie Kerber earlier today,meaning neither player from the Rio women's singles gold medal match will be back in Tokyo.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Main draw ceremony of the Olympic tennis event will take place on Thursday 22 July at 11am local time at Ariake Tennis Park (press conference room).

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Breaking News from the Olympics

Aussie Alex de Minaur has been tested positive for COVID has now been withdrawn from the Olympics.
Alex was tested in Spain for COVID

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Russian team's revised nominations for singles and doubles at Tokyo,
Women's singles, Pavlyuchenkova,Kudermetova,Alexandrova,Vesnina
Women's doubles Vesnina/Kudermetova.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Breaking News from the Olympics

Aussie Alex de Minaur has been tested positive for COVID has now been withdrawn from the Olympics.
Alex was tested in Spain for COVID

There goes Aussies chances in this event. Now, I think Greece, Russia must be the favorites in this event.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Jelena Ostapenko announced as Olympics ceremony flag bearer for Latvia.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Tokyo Women's Singles Seeds,
1- Barty
2- Osaka
3- Sabalenka
4- Svitolina (Monfils)
5- Pliskova
6- Swiatek
7- Muguruza
8- Krejcikova
9- Bencic
10- Kvitova
11- Brady
12- Mertens
13- Pavlyuchenkova
14- Sakkari
15- Rybakina
16- Bertens

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Coco Gauff has tested positive for COVID and has withdrawn from the Olympics.
Gauff was also scheduled to play doubles with Nicole Melichar.Bethanie Mattek Sands and Jessica Pegula for now will play doubles and Melichar opting for another partner.
USA team still have Jennifer Brady,Jessica Pegula and Alison Riske in singles.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Nina Strojanovic said that 'most probably she will play mixed doubles with Novak Djokovic'.Nina and Aleksandra Krunic are playing doubles together.,representing Serbia.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Deco Turf is the surface used for tennis at the Olympics.While the speed of that court is unknown,the Deco Turf courts are assessed as medium pace surfaces by the ITF and have an average rally length of 4.4 according to DDSA captured matches.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

The chief of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee on Tuesday did not rule out a last-minute cancellation of the Olympics,as more athletes tested positive for COVID-19 and major sponsors ditched plans to attend Friday's opening ceremony.Asked at a news conference whether the global sporting showpiece might be canceled,Toshiro Muto said he would keep an eye on infection numbers and liaise with the organizers if necessary.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Petra Kvitova together with Tomas Satoransky will be the flag bearer of Czech Republic.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I have tried to print the women's singles draw here though for some reason it won't show.

I have done some projected QF by seeding,

Barty (1) vs Krejcikova(8)
Sabalenka (3) vs Muguruza (7)
Karolina Pliskova (5) vs Svitolina (Monfils) (4)
Swiatek (8) vs Osaka (2)

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Interesting first rd matches

Barty (1) vs Sara Sorribes Tormo
Osaka (2) vs Zheng Saisai
Bencic (12) vs Jessica Pegula
Fernandez vs Yastremska
Muguruza (7) vs Kudermetova
Sakkari (14) vs Kontaveit.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Just a reminder Olympic Tennis Rules,

Women's doubles: matches tiebreaks in third sets (unlike in Rio)
Mixed Doubles: remains match tiebreak in 3rd sets.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Naomi Osaka's match against Saisai Zheng which was scheduled first up on centre court Saturday 24th July, at 11.00am local time has been re-scheduled to Sunday morning
Iga Swiatek vs Mona Bartel will now be the first match on centre court Saturday 24th July,at 11.00am local time replacing Noami Osaka's match agaisnt Saisai Zheng..
I would imgaine Osaka will play a leading role in the Opening Ceremony in Toyko,probably the reason why she requested a time change for her first up match on centre court at 11.00am local time,which is understandable.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Mixed doubles entry will be finalized and the draw released on Tuesday, the 27th of July. The event will start on Wednesday, the 28th July.

The host nation is given a courtesy entry. The other 15 pairs will be direct entries.

Top four teams will be seeded.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

In the OP, I listed Naomi with Nishikori. However, Nishioka is both younger and ranked better. So, Naomi (and/or the Japan Tennis Organization) might want to play with Nishioka. However, if (Naomi or) the Japan Tennis Organization wanted to field Naomi with Nishikori, that pair would also be accepted regardless of their combined ranking total as the host nation is guaranteed one spot.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Novak is playing MD with Stojanovic. Naomi opted not to play.

Here is the complete list of 16 pairs with the seedings.


[1] Kristina Mladenovic & Nicolas Mahut (FRA)
[2] Maria Sakkari & Stefanpos Tsitsipas (GRE)
[3] Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Rajeev Ram (USA)
[4] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova & Andrey Rublev (ROC)
Iga Swiatek & Lukasz Kubot (POL)
Ashleigh Barty & John Peers
Gabriela Dabrowski & Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN)
Darija Jurak & Ivan Dodig (CRO)
Paula Badosa & Pablo Careno Busta (ESP)
Luisa Stefani & Marcelo Melo (BRA)
Nadia Podoroska & Horacio Zeballos (ARG)
Nina Stojanovic & Novak Djokovic (SRB)
[Host] Ena Shibarara & Ben McLachlan (JPN)
Laura Siegemund & Kevin Krawietz (GER)
Elena Vesnina & Aslan Karatsev (ROC)
Yaroslava Shvedova & Andrey Golubev (KAZ)

I would say that SRB, ROC#2, AUS and POL will be contenders apart from the four seeded teams.