Olympics mixed doubles - No Bollywood saga here, but expect plenty of thrills

If this was a Bollywood movie, somehow through the forces of an evil villain or pure destiny, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza would have found a way to partner each other in the mixed doubles event at the London Olympics. But this ain’t no film script, and and in the end it is Paes and Mirza who will represent India in the draw that was released yesterday.

The mixed doubles event is being introduced at the Olympic Games for the first time since 1920 and the build-up to the event has been exciting. Tennis players get the opportunity to play mixed doubles only 5 times in a year (at the four slams and at the Hopman Cup) and in this 16-team draw, a team has to win only 3 matches to win a medal to achieve tennis immortality.

The players have been planning their partnerships for nearly a year now. While Martina Hingis did not come back to partner Roger Federer, and neither the Williams sisters will figure in the final draw, there are plenty of high-profile partnerships to ensure maximum thrills in this oft-overlooked discipline in tennis.

Players can use their singles or doubles ranking and need to be on-site for either the singles or doubles event to sign up for the mixed. And if the tennis events at the Olympics were a bit more spread out schedule-wise, you would have seen an even more packed draw as the likes of Federer, Novak Djokovic and the Williams sisters all chose to skip the event in order to focus on the singles & regular doubles. Playing in all 3 disciplines could mean playing a maximum of 15 matches over 9 days if a player gets to the finals of all 3 events.

With Paes and Vishnu Vardhan being the only other Indian tennis interest still alive in London (and while we can pray for a medal there, there’s little chance for them to actually win one), India’s best hopes of a medal from tennis, rest firmly on the shoulder of Paes and Mirza. The selection and nomination drama would not have helped matters but the duo are talented doubles players in their own right and could hit a purple patch on the green grass of the All-England Club. One thing that favors them is that most of the other teams in the draw too are not regular pairings on the Grand Slam mixed doubles circuit.

Paes and Mirza open up against the Serbian duo Nenad Zimonjic and Ana Ivanovic. Zimonjic has a strong doubles resume and this match is going to come down to who plays better between the women. A win there could put the Indians into the quarterfinals against the top seeds Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka.

The big favorites for the medals in London will be the Americans, as the Bryan brothers have combined with the top ranked American duo of Lisa Raymond and Leizel Huber to form strong partnerships. 2012 Wimbledon mixed champions Mike and Lisa are seeded third and are in the same half of the the Indians while Bob and Liezel are seeded second and are in the opposite half of the draw.

Some other high-profile pairings to watch out for in the draw include the British wild card pair of Andy Murray and Laura Robson as well as the the Australian pairing of Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur.

There’s something fascinating about watching mixed doubles. Seeing your favorite male player pair up with your favorite female player, or maybe your most hated female player, watching the dynamics between the pair on court and off it, watching the women ace the men and tee off on the men’s serve (yes, it does happen) is something you won’t find in regular doubles.

Make sure you get your fill of mixed doubles event in London this week. It won’t be for another four years until Rio 2016 that you can find the same drama, pressure and exictement.