Doubles, Men

For the doubles qualification, the world ranking list was used with a maximum of two pairs per nation. The 24 best players qualified for Rio with eight more places being awarded by the International Tennis Federation. No two players from the same country started within the same section of the draw, which consisted of four sections of eight pairs, thus making it impossible for them to meet until the semi-finals.

As Bob and Mike Bryan withdrew from the men’s doubles for health reasons, Spain’s Rafael Nadal won his second Olympic gold medal when he partnered Marc López to victory over the Romanian pair Florin Mergea and Horia Tecău 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. The French pair Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut were the number one seeds but lost in the first round to Colombians Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah. Also, the number two seeds, brothers Andy and Jamie Murray surprisingly lost their first round match to the host nation’s duo of Thomaz Bellucci and André Sá by two tie-breaks.