Sakkari and Tsitsipas, Djokovic, Barty enter Tokyo 2020 mixed doubles
Greece’s Maria Sakkari believes she and Stefanos Tsitsipas can "do some damage" as they reprise their 2019 Hopman Cup partnership in the Olympic Tennis Event mixed doubles draw, which promises to be a hotly-contested affair after both singles world No. 1s Ashleigh Barty and Novak Djokovic's entries were confirmed on Tuesday.
The Greek duo will be No. 2 seeds in the 16-strong draw, behind France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Nicolas Mahut, while Australia’s Barty will line up with John Peers and Djokovic joins Serbian compatriot Nina Stojanovic, both singles world No. 1s fighting on two fronts for medal success in Tokyo.
> Scroll down for the full entry list and draw
Reigning Olympic mixed doubles champion Bethanie Mattek-Sands returns to defend her title, this time partnering Rio 2016 silver medallist Rajeev Ram, who played with Venus Williams against Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock in the all-American gold medal match five years ago. Mattek-Sands and Ram are the third seeds in the draw, with ROC's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev seeded fourth.
With both Sakkari and Tsitsipas making strides on the Grand Slam stage this season, and still both in contention in the singles draws in Tokyo, they head into the mixed doubles with medals on their mind.
“It’s something we both really want, and it’s a dream come true for both of us being here, in singles and in mixed,” said Sakkari, who reached the Roland Garros semi-finals last month while Tsitsipas made the final. “We’ve played with each other two and a half years ago and did really well, and now we are both better players. For sure we will try our best to get as far as we can for our country.”
With just three match wins standing between the 16 teams and a medal, Olympic mixed doubles leaves little room for error and requires partnerships that rarely materialise in their regular careers to gel quickly, bringing its own unique set of pressures.
“It’s not so relaxed, because we both want to win! We have a great chemistry on court, and I think our games also fit well to each other,” Sakkari added. “But the fact that we have a good chemistry on court is the most important thing. We can really do some damage here, so we’re going to try our best.”
Sakkari and Tsitsipas will face Canadians Gabriela Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime in the first round, while top seeds Mladenovic and Mahut take on ROC duo Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev. Djokovic and Stojanovic face Brazilian duo Luisa Stefani and Marcelo Melo, while up first for Barty and Peers is Argentina's Nadia Podoroska and Horacio Zeballos. Another notable first-rounder sees Polish pair Iga Swiatek and Lukasz Kubot take on Spaniards Paula Badosa and Pablo Carreno Busta.
The mixed doubles entry list takes each player’s singles or doubles ranking – whichever is higher – to determine who qualifies for the draw. Host nation Japan was guaranteed an entry, accepted by Ben McLachlan and Ena Shibahara. Both Vesnina and Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova qualified for the mixed doubles event with their protected rankings; all players' actual rankings as of 19 July 2021 are used to determine the seeding of the draw.
The entry list and draw for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic mixed doubles event can be found below.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Tennis Event Mixed Doubles
Entry list (PDF) | Draw (PDF)
Entry list in ranked order:
[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)