Tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's doubles
Spain won its first men's doubles gold at the Olympics.
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Marc López and Rafael Nadal of Spain took the men's doubles gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, beating Romania's Florin Mergea and Horia Tecău 6–2, 3–6, 6–4. This marked Spain's first title in the event and its first medal since 2000, while Romania earned its first men's doubles medal.
Background
This was the 15th appearance of men's doubles tennis at the Summer Olympics. The event has been held at every Games where tennis was on the program: from 1896 to 1924 and then from 1988 onward, with a demonstration event in 1968. The reigning gold medalists, the Bryan brothers of the United States, withdrew before the competition due to health concerns. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, silver medalist in 2012, returned with a new partner, Gaël Monfils.
Daniel Nestor of Canada, a 2000 gold medalist and career golden slam winner, competed in his fifth Games with his third different partner. The top seed went to Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut of France, with the British Murray brothers as the second seed. Thailand and Ukraine made their debut in the event. France and Great Britain each made their 12th appearance, tied for most of all nations.
Qualification
Qualification for the men's doubles was primarily based on the ATP ranking list of 11 June 2016. Players had to have been part of a nominated team for three Davis Cup events between 2013 and 2016, with some exceptions. Nations could enter up to four players (two pairs) since 2004, and each nation was limited to a total of six male players in singles and doubles combined. The draw consisted of 32 pairs (64 players).
Doubles players ranked 10 or better qualified directly and could bring any ranked singles or doubles player from their nation as their partner, filling six pairs; two pairs consisted of both players in the top 10, and the Bryan brothers declined their qualification places. The draw was then filled to 24 pairs (18 new pairs) through combined ranking, using the better of each player's singles or doubles ranking and adding them together, with the lowest combined rankings earning spots. For example, Rafael Nadal (singles #4, doubles #144) and Marc López (no singles ranking, doubles #18) had a combined ranking of 22, earning the first quota spot through this method. The final eight pairs were selected by the ITF, considering combined ranking as well as continental and national representation, including host nation places if not qualified, bringing the total number of male tennis players to 86.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's doubles (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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