Tennis at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's doubles

Background

This was the 13th appearance of men's doubles tennis at the Summer Olympics, having been held at every edition with tennis from 1896 to 1924 and from 1988 onward, plus a 1968 demonstration. The Bryan brothers were the top seed in 2008 after exiting in the quarterfinals as the top seed in 2004.

The defending gold medalists from 2004, Fernando González and Nicolás Massú, returned, as did the 2004 silver medalists Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schüttler and the fourth-place finishers Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes. Daniel Nestor, the 2000 gold medalist, competed again with Frédéric Niemeyer. Serbia made its debut in the event; France and Great Britain each made their 10th appearance, tied for most among nations.

Qualification

Qualification for the men's doubles was primarily based on the ATP ranking list of 9 June 2008. Nations could enter up to two pairs, with a total limit of six male players across singles and doubles. The draw consisted of 32 pairs, with most coming from nations that had two or four singles players. Ten quota places were available for direct qualification by world ranking, and the ITF allocated 12 additional places based on ranking and continental and national representation, bringing the total number of male tennis players to 86.

Did You Know?

• The final was best-of-5 sets, while other matches were best-of-3 sets; tiebreakers were not played in the final set.