Olympics Doubles Preview: Top 15 Medal Contenders and Dark Horses

Though less significant than other premier Olympic sports like gymnastics, swimming, or track and field, tennis at the Olympics is still considered one of the greatest career accomplishments for many players who have successfully added medals to their resume. Doubles at the 2024 Paris Olympics will be particularly meaningful.

Not only does it take place at Roland Garros, but it will also serve as one of, if not the, last professional events for two of our sport’s greats: Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray. With national pride on the line, more singles players competing in doubles, and razor-thin margins featuring 10-point match breakers, expect plenty of surprise results throughout the week and on the medal podium.

Without further ado, here’s our Olympics doubles breakdown with top five predictions for gold medal candidates, silver and bronze medal contenders, and dark horses to watch throughout the doubles competition in Paris.

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Women’s Olympics Doubles Preview

Going for Gold: Top 5 Favorites

• No. 2 Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic): The defending Tokyo 2021 gold medalists own seven majors together and both come into Paris with fine form after sweeping the singles (Krejcikova) and doubles (Siniakova) titles at Wimbledon.
• No. 3 Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani (Italy): As the No. 4 team in the WTA Finals Doubles Race, the Italian clay-court specialists who have enjoyed a fine 2024 season together highlighted by a title in Rome and runner-up finish at Roland Garros.
• No. 1 Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula (USA): The top seeds and 2022 Roland Garros doubles finalists own five WTA titles together and will come into Paris with confidence after Gauff won her first major doubles title at Roland Garros earlier this summer with Siniakova.
• No. 5 Leylah Fernandez and Gaby Dabrowski (Canada): Both are big-match players who wear Canadian pride on their sleeve and went undefeated in doubles together last year to capture the Billie Jean King Cup trophy for Canada.
• Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara (Japan): Although they haven’t played much together in 2024, the aggressive Japanese duo has a proven track record and typically saves their best tennis for the biggest events.

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Podium Worthy: Silver and Bronze Medal Contenders

• No. 6 Beatriz Haddad-Maia and Luisa Stefani (Brazil): An athletic lefty-righty duo whose blend of powerful baseline game and high doubles IQ will complement each other nicely. Stefani was also a bronze medalist in doubles at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics with Laura Pigossi.
• No. 8 Sara Sorribes Tormo and Cristina Bucsa (Spain): Short but mighty, the Spanish duo revels on the clay and comes into Paris riding an impressive 2024 clay season where Bucsa tore up the dirt with three titles, including the WTA 1000 Madrid trophy on home soil with Sorribes Tormo.
• No. 4 Danielle Collins and Desirae Krawzcyk (USA): The fiery Americans, who are good friends off the court, won a title on green clay at the 2023 Charleston Open and were Wimbledon semi-finalists in 2022. Krawczyk was also a semi-finalist at Roland Garros this year.
• Lyudmyla Kichenok and Nadia Kichenok (Ukraine): Both accomplished doubles players individually, the Kichenok twins finished runner-up at the Charleston Open this year and will use family DNA to their advantage.
• Hsieh Su-wei and Tsao Chia-Yi (Taiwan): With seven doubles majors and two mixed doubles majors, the crafty Hsieh has proven herself capable of winning big titles with a wide variety of partners. She’ll team up with a talented young Taiwanese player on the brink of cracking the top 100 in doubles.

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Dark Horse Picks

• Ellen Perez and Daria Saville (Australia): Few things mean more to Aussies in sport than competing in the Olympics. Expect Perez and Saville to wear the Aussie flag with pride when competing.
• Caroline Garcia and Diane Parry (France): They will thrive on the Parisian home crowd support and lean on the resume of two-time Roland Garros doubles champion, Garcia.
• Angelique Kerber and Laura Siegemund (Germany): The lefty-righty, singles-doubles, baseline-net, and steady-aggressive German team complement each other in just about every category.
• Erin Routliffe and Lulu Sun (New Zealand): A newly minted doubles world no. 1 and singles grand slam quarterfinals will have confidence and momentum to rely on.
• Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider (Individual/Neutral): Young and powerful Russian talents who have enjoyed breakout seasons in singles and doubles, both of whom were 2024 Roland Garros quarterfinalists.

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Men’s Olympics Doubles Preview

Going for Gold: Top 5 Favorites

• No. 1 Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli (Italy): One of the best teams of 2024 who sits at No. 3 in the ATP Finals Doubles Race who posted back-to-back runner-up finishes at the 2024 Australian Open and Roland Garros.
• No. 7 Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić (Croatia): The defending Tokyo Olympic gold medalists are reunited and come into Paris with clay-court momentum after Pavic won the 2024 Roland Garros title and captured the career grand slam.
• No. 2 Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz (Germany): Coming on the heels of their doubles title on home turf last week in Hamburg, the consistent German duo will also have Roland Garros experience on their side as Krawietz is a two-time title winner and Puetz won the mixed doubles title in 2023.
• No. 4 Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek (USA): Both former World No. 1s and major title holders, the top American team has experience on their side with Ram entering his 3rd Olympic games and Krajicek being a former Roland Garros doubles champion.
• Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal (Spain): Need we say more? Beyond their combined 26 singles grand slam titles, Nadal is also an Olympic doubles gold medalist alongside Marc Lopez at the 2016 Rio Games.

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Podium Worthy: Silver and Bronze Medal Contenders

• Edouard Roger Vasselin and Fabien Reboul (FRA): The French pair recently finished runner-up at the German open in Hamburg and will have the advantage of the rowdy Parisian crowd behind them.
• No. 5 Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski (GBR): Although clay isn’t their best surface, don’t count out the Brits who are both former No. 1s and own a combined nine majors between them.
• No. 6 Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni (ARG): Both of the top 20 Argentine duo’s titles this year have come on clay at the ATP 250 in Cordoba and ATP 500 in Barcelona.
• Matt Ebden and John Peers (AUS): They’d rather be playing on grass, but the Aussie veterans have five major titles between them and value the Olympics more than most countries. Peers was also a mixed doubles bronze medalist in Tokyo.
• Joran Vliegen and Sander Gille (BEL): The Top 30 Belgian pair has posted their best results of 2024 on the dirt featuring a title in Monte Carlo and quarterfinal runs at Rome and Roland Garros.

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Dark Horse Picks

• No. 3 Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul: It’s not often you consider the No. 3 seeds a dark horse. Seeded high due to their singles rankings, both Americans know how to play on clay and have complementary game styles that could wreak havoc in the doubles draw.
• Stefanos Tsitsipas and Petros Tsitsipas (Greece): Keeping it in the family, the Tsitsipas brothers thrive on clay and have a proven track record of being doubles giant killers.
• Marcel Granollers and Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain): Both clay-court veterans who will lean on Granollers’ doubles expertise as part of the No. 1 team in the world right now.
• Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji (India): World No. 4 and 43-year-old Bopanna had his pick of the litter among several worthy Indian doubles partners and clearly chose 34-year-old Balaji for a reason.
• Andy Murray and Dan Evans (Great Britain): Don’t count out a two-time Olympic gold medalist in Murray who will be playing the final professional event of his career. Evans is also a big match player who has posted clutch doubles performances for Great Britain in Davis Cup. Never say never.

Arrived in Paris for my last ever tennis tournament @Olympics
Competing for 🇬🇧 have been by far the most memorable weeks of my career and I’m extremely proud to get do it one final time! pic.twitter.com/keqnpvSEE1

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) July 23, 2024

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Make Olympics Predictions at Your Peril

If the Olympics has taught us anything in the past, sometimes you might as well throw predictions out the window. Margins are far thinner in Best of 3 format and some players have more motivation when playing for their country in this type of unique environment than a regular tournament on tour.

Regardless of the outcome, we’ll be excited to watch everything unfold. Follow us on the social media handles below to keep up with the action:

• Twitter: @HanlonWalsh, @WillBoucek and @The_TennisTribe
• Instagram: @Tennis_Tribe

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