Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

's Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka defeated

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

's Simon Aspelin and

Thomas Johansson Karl Thomas Conny Johansson (; born 24 March 1975) is a Swedish retired professional tennis player and coach. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 7 singles ranking on 10 May 2002. His career highlights i ...

in the final, 6–3, 6–4, 6–7^(4–7), 6–3 to win the gold medal in men's doubles

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. In the bronze medal match, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Bob Bryan Robert Charles Bryan (born April 29, 1978) is an American former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. He has won twenty-three Grand Slam titles: 16 in men's doubles and 7 in mixed doubles. He turned professional in 1998. With his twin ...

and Mike Bryan defeated

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

's Arnaud Clément and

Michaël Llodra Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titl ...

, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4. It was Sweden's and the United States' first medals in the event since

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

. The tournament was held from August 10 to August 16 at the

Olympic Green Tennis Centre The National Tennis Center (), is a tennis center located in the Olympic Green. It opened on 1 October 2007. It hosted the tennis preliminaries and finals of singles and doubles for men and women at the Beijing 2008 Olympics as well as the Paraly ...

, in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China. The

DecoTurf DecoTurf is a brand of tennis hardcourt constructed from layers of acrylic resin, rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic c ...

surface rendered the event a hardcourt tournament. There were 32 pairs from 24 nations.

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

's Fernando González and

Nicolas Massú Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

were the reigning gold medalists from

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, but they lost in the first round to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

's Dmitry Tursunov and

Mikhail Youzhny Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982), nicknamed "Misha" and "Colonel" by his fans, is a Russian retired professional tennis player who was ranked inside the top 10 and was the Russian No. 1. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the Assoc ...

Background

This was the 13th appearance of men's doubles tennis. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics where tennis has been on the program: from 1896 to 1924 and then from 1988 to the current program. A demonstration event was held in 1968. The American pair of the Bryan brothers,

and Mike Bryan, were the top seed in 2004 but had exited in the quarterfinals. They were again the number one seed in Beijing. The 2004 gold winning pair of Fernando González and Nicolás Massú returned, as did German silver medalists

Nicolas Kiefer Nicolas Kiefer (; born 5 July 1977) is a German former professional tennis player. He reached the semifinals of the 2006 Australian Open and won a silver medal in men's doubles with partner Rainer Schüttler at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Kief ...

and

Rainer Schüttler Rainer Schüttler (; born 25 April 1976) is a German former professional tennis player. Schüttler was the runner-up at the 2003 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. He won an Olympic silver medal in double ...

and Indian fourth-place finishers Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes. 2000 gold medalist

Daniel Nestor Daniel Mark Nestor ( ; sr, Данијел Нестор, Danijel Nestor; born September 4, 1972) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. Nestor won 91 men's doubles titles (with 11 different partners), including an Olympic gold medal ...

of Canada competed once again with his 2004 partner, Frédéric Niemeyer. Each of the

Big Four Big Four or Big 4 may refer to: Groups of companies * Big Four accounting firms: Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC * Big Four (airlines) in the U.S. in the 20th century: American, Eastern, TWA, United * Big Four (banking), several groupings ...

competed, but expectations of them in the doubles were not particularly high. Serbia made its debut in the event. France and Great Britain each made their 10th appearance in the event, tied for most of all nations.

Qualification

Qualification for the men's doubles was primarily through the ATP ranking list of 9 June 2008. Nations had been able to enter two pairs (four players) in the event since the 2004 Games. Each nation was limited to a total of 6 male players in the singles and doubles events combined, so nations with 4 singles players could add only 2 more in doubles. The men's doubles draw was 32 pairs (64 players), with most of the pairs coming from the singles event where nations had 2 or 4 players. There were 10 quota places for direct qualification to the doubles event, based on world ranking. The ITF allocated 12 places based on ranking and continental and national representation (bringing the total number of male tennis players to 86).

Competition format

The competition was a single-elimination tournament with a bronze medal match. Matches were best-of-3 sets, except for the final which was best-of-5 sets. Tiebreakers were not played in the final set.

Schedule

Seeds

Draw

Key

* INV = Tripartite Invitation * IP = ITF place * ALT =

Alternate Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

* r =

Retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

* w/o =

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Finals

Top half

Bottom half

External links

Draw
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennis at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's doubles

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Men's Doubles Men's events at the 2008 Summer Olympics