Doubles, Men

The top doubles team in the world was the American pair of twin brothers, Mike and Bob Bryan. Since 2003 they had won five Grand Slam doubles titles, and been runner-up seven times. In the semi-finals they met the Swiss team of Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka. On paper they looked formidable as Federer was the best player in the world, some saying the greatest of all-time, and Wawrinka was ranked #10 in singles, but Federer virtually never played doubles and was doing so at the Olympics only out of his loyalty to Switzerland, and the pair was only seeded #4. The Bryans were upset by the Swiss team in straight sets, after losing the first set tiebreaker.

Federer/Wawrinka advanced to the final to face the Swedish team of Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson, who were unseeded. And they had to be tired, having survived a marathon semi-final victory over France’s Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 19-17. The final match was close, but Federer/Wawrinka prevailed in four sets, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3, to give Federer his first ever Olympic gold medal.