TOKYO 2020OLYMPIC TENNIS EVENTMEN’S DOUBLES MATCH NOTESFriday 30 July 2021 Gold Medal Match

TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC TENNIS EVENT MEN’S DOUBLES MATCH NOTES Friday 30 July 2021 Gold Medal Match No. 1 Nikola Mektic/Mate Pavic (CRO) v Marin Cilic/Ivan Dodig (CRO) Bronze Medal Match Austin Krajicek/Tennys Sandgren (USA) v Marcus Daniell/Michael Venus (NZL) On court today… • The men’s doubles gold medal match is an all-Croatian affair, with Wimbledon champions Nikola Mektic/Mate Pavic facing compatriots Marin Cilic/Ivan Dodig. The success of the 2 Croatian teams here has guaranteed Croatia a first-ever gold and first-ever silver medal at the Olympic Tennis Event, building on the 2 bronze medals won at Barcelona 1992 and the further bronze medal won at Athens 2004. The meeting represents the 3rd time since tennis returned to the Olympic Games that a gold medal match has been contested by 2 players or teams from the same nation – after the all-Russian women's singles final at Beijing 2008 (when Elena Dementieva defeated Dinara Safina) and the all-American mixed doubles final at Rio 2016 (when Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Jack Sock defeated Venus Williams/Rajeev Ram). • The bronze medal match sees USA’s Austin Krajicek/Tennys Sandgren up against New Zealand’s Marcus Daniell/Michael Venus. The Americans are bidding to continue recent success in this event, having won one men’s doubles medal in each of the previous 3 Games. Krajicek/Sandgren are also USA’s final hope for a medal at Tokyo 2020 – victory for the pair today would ensure that USA maintains their record of winning an Olympic tennis medal at every Games since Seoul 1988. The New Zealanders meanwhile are bidding to win a first medal for their nation at the Olympic Tennis Event – their compatriot Anthony Wilding, a men’s singles bronze medallist in 1912, represented Australasia at the time of his success.