Who will win the Gold Medal in Olympics Mixed Doubles? - Early Poll

[GameSetAndMath]

I know it is a silly event. Moreover, it is way too early. But, with so much speculation about Roger and Martina pairing, I was wondering as to who do you think will win the Mixed Doubles in Rio?
There will be 37 Grand Slam winners on one side of the net (17 by Roger, 20 by Martina [5 in Singles, 11 in Women's Doubles and 4 in Mixed Doubles]). You would think it will be a walk in the park for them. But, reality is far from that. They will have tough competition. I have listed few potential pairs who are likely to play in this event. Let me know who you think will win the Gold.

The mixed doubles event has only 16 entries. You just need to win 4 matches to win the Gold. Also, the super tie-breaker is almost like buying a lottery ticket when things go tight. Finally, Martina lacks power and is not very good from the back of the court.

While I do think Martina and Roger will win a medal, I am not so sure that they will win the Gold Medal. However, if Roger goes out early in the singles, I think he will focus lot more and try to win the Gold in this silly event at least.

The conventional wisdom is that mixed doubles matches are usually won by the team with better woman's player. It usually does not depend too much on the men.

 

[Carol]

Garbiñe/Nadal look to be a very good mixed doubles, I'm sure they will do well

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Moderators, I forgot to add an important pair.

Can you please add the Indian Duo of Sania Mirza and Leander Paes both of whom won two GS titles in 2015 (incidentally both won their titles with Martina Hingis). They will also be a tough cookie.

BTW, in my list I have put three American Teams. But, no country would be allowed more than 2 teams. So, I request mods to remove BMS & JI.

 

[isabelle]

Mirka and Stan seems to be the correct option

 

[Kieran]

Ole Wodger is playing coy with Martina. Little wonder, because I suspect that Mirka doesn't want him hanging around that hellcat. It would be like sending an ingenue to play mixed with Rad the Impaler. Martina will lose interest soon and hook up with Stan, who should be newly single by then.

My choice is Williams and Bryan... lot

 

[Carol]

Ole Wodger is playing coy with Martina. Little wonder, because I suspect that Mirka doesn't want him hanging around that hellcat. It would be like sending an ingenue to play mixed with Rad the Impaler. Martina will lose interest soon and hook up with Stan, who should be newly single by then.

My choice is Williams and Bryan... lot

Bah! :ras:

 

[Front242]

Having a woman on the team who serves as hard as some of the guys means Williams and Bryan have definitely got to be right up there. Then again, Serena's serve can be outstanding or atrocious these days.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Here is the Tie-Breaker of the 2001 Hopman Cup match between Fed & Hingis vs. Seles & Gambill. Actually, Fed & Martina lose the match in the STB. However, the match is a dead-rubber as both Fed and Martina have won their singles matches indivually earlier. Hence, they won the Hopman Cup in 2001. Now a trivia quiz.
Can you name the female player with whom Fed played in 2002 Hopman Cup?
[video=youtube]https://youtu.be/6JgxezGFnDs[/video]

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Why did Fed and Martina bother to make a decision about playing in the mixed doubles at Rio so early.
Is it possible that may be they want to get in some competitive match practice as a pair (considering that they have not played together for almost 15 years).

Mixed doubles event is available only at the four GSs and the Hopman Cup. Fed is not playing in Hopman cup this year (2016).

Olympics happens before USO. The only GS with the same type of surface (hard court) as Olympics (forgetting the actual speed of the surface) is AO.

So, my question is whether there is some chance of seeing Fed and Martina playing together at this year's AO. If not, what is the hurry to make this decision so early?

 

[Kieran]

Maybe they need to resolve this early due to planning issues? As in, the Swiss Team need to be put together early for entry into the event?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Interestingly, among the 10 pairs listed in the poll, only one pair is made up of players both of whom are exclusively playing doubles (although not much together). That pair is Sania Mirza and Leander Paes.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Mirza tips Fed & Martina to win.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

This wimbledon the last chance for "mixed doubles" folks to build some chemistry before going off to Rio. Will Federer and Martina try it out? Under normal circumstances, I would recommend against it; but, given that he is not a legitimate contender for the singles title this year, he might as well try MD out.

I know mixed doubles will be way low in the priority of most folks. But, the gold medal that one gets by winning MD is of exactly the same size and shape as the one that a singles champion gets it.
Also, it is a 16 pair draw in the Olympics and so one needs to win just 4 matches to lay hands on the medal.

Do you expect to see any other pairs mentioned in the poll play together at this Wimby?

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

aah good old mixed dubz, a bit of the old hit n giggle. a touch of the old grunt and bunt.

play 4 short matches of 2 sets plus a potential so-called super tiebreak (lol).

someone/someone will beat someoneelse/someoneelse. gold medal time. boom.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

aah good old mixed dubz, a bit of the old hit n giggle. a touch of the old grunt and bunt.

play 4 short matches of 2 sets plus a potential so-called super tiebreak (lol).

someone/someone will beat someoneelse/someoneelse. gold medal time. boom.

I totally agree. Even assuming Tennis belongs in Olympics, giving a medal for mixed doubles events with 16 pairs and 2-sets & STB match is a pure travesty. :cover

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Stupid decision by India. They have paired Sania with Boppanna instead of with Leander Paes.
On paper it is a valid reason as Boppanna is lot younger and is ranked #10 in doubles. But I think Sani and Paes probably have much better chance. Although there is one caveat; apparently they both like to play from the deuce court. They both are successful with Martina who likes to play from the ad side. But, I think this could be easily dealt with by having more practice together.

Bottom line is that I will remove Sania from the contender's list for the Gold Medal.

 

[Rational National]

Excuse the ignorance but are Mirnyi and Azarenka playing together again? I know mighty Max must be getting on a bit but if they are playing they would surely be in the mix again?

Also Petzschner / Lisicki or Zverev / Kerber look like interesting outside bets.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Excuse the ignorance but are Mirnyi and Azarenka playing together again? I know mighty Max must be getting on a bit but if they are playing they would surely be in the mix again?

Also Petzschner / Lisicki or Zverev / Kerber look like interesting outside bets.

Strictly speaking we don't know any team officially. The different countries are supposed to send their team roosters considering only the singles and regular doubles events only. Each country is allowed to send a maximum of six players including both sexes and including all events. Once the players arrive at Rio, the countries can submit two mixed doubles teams formed from players who are already there. From the submitted teams, the Olympics organizers will select the top 16 teams based on their combined rankings. The important point is that no player is allowed to play in mixed doubles event unless they qualify for either the singles or regular doubles event.
No country can include a player in the roster exclusively for the mixed doubles events.
In other words, mixed doubles event is conducted as an afterthought (as it should be). This is another reason why a gold medal of the same size and shape is a travesty.

Vika and Mirnyi are indeed the defending champions. But, Vika is sick now and Mirnyi has slowed down. So, I really doubt they will win even if they attempt to play.

 

[sid]

With the Zika virus I wonder who will play?& who won't.

 

[Rational National]

Excuse the ignorance but are Mirnyi and Azarenka playing together again? I know mighty Max must be getting on a bit but if they are playing they would surely be in the mix again?

Also Petzschner / Lisicki or Zverev / Kerber look like interesting outside bets.

Strictly speaking we don't know any team officially. The different countries are supposed to send their team roosters considering only the singles and regular doubles events only. Each country is allowed to send a maximum of six players including both sexes and including all events. Once the players arrive at Rio, the countries can submit two mixed doubles teams formed from players who are already there. From the submitted teams, the Olympics organizers will select the top 16 teams based on their combined rankings. The important point is that no player is allowed to play in mixed doubles event unless they qualify for either the singles or regular doubles event.
No country can include a player in the roster exclusively for the mixed doubles events.
In other words, mixed doubles event is conducted as an afterthought (as it should be). This is another reason why a gold medal of the same size and shape is a travesty.

Vika and Mirnyi are indeed the defending champions. But, Vika is sick now and Mirnyi has slowed down. So, I really doubt they will win even if they attempt to play.

Cheers - wasn't aware of that qualifying process. As it is I agree with the sentiment that this is very much the after thought, but at a country level a gold in mixed doubles tennis counts the same as the 100m sprint champion.