Venus To Play Olympic Mixed Doubles

Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Former World No.1 Venus Williams looked to have wrapped up her Olympic tennis event campaign with tough losses in singles and doubles, but the four-time Olympic gold medalist has one more chance for glory in Rio, pairing with Rajeev Ram in the mixed doubles draw; the pair will play the Netherlands’ Kiki Bertens and Jean-Julian Rojer in the first round. Bethanie Mattek-Sands joins the draw alongside Jack Sock as the second US team.

Often on a mixed doubles court when playing for the Washington Kastles during Mylan World TeamTennis, Venus hasn’t played a full mixed doubles match since 2013 at Hopman Cup alongside John Isner. The five-time Wimbledon winner won the first two legs of a Calendar Year Grand Slam in mixed doubles all the way back in 1996 with Justin Gimelstob; she last played a mixed doubles major in 2006, when she reached the Wimbledon final alongside Bob Bryan.

It will nonetheless be a tall order for Venus to capture a fifth Olympic gold medal in a draw that features top seeds and reigning French Open champions Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic, who have paired with reigning Wimbledon winners Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, respectively. Mladenovic has won a pair of mixed doubles titles with Daniel Nestor, most recently at the 2014 Australian Open. Garcia and Mahut begin their mixed campaign against Brazil’s Teliana Pereira and Marcelo Melo, while Mladenovic and Herbert open against Italians Roberta Vinci and Fabio Fognini.

Garbiñe Muguruza also joins the mixed doubles fray as the No.3 seed, playing with nine-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal; their first round opponents are Czechs Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek. Her countrywoman and women’s doubles partner Carla Suárez Navarro will also represent Spain with partner David Ferrer; they will play Romanians Monica Niculescu and Florin Mergea.

Agnieszka Radwanska will try to redeem her disappointing Olympic result in singles by pairing with Lukasz Kubot, while Johanna Konta will play with Jamie Murray on behalf of Great Britain.

Check out the full draw below: