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At this year's London Olympics, one precious gold medal will dangle lower than the rest. Here's all it takes to win it: Serena Williams's phone number.
For the first time since 1924, the games will host a mixed doubles tournament, and whichever American team includes Williams will be the immediate favorite to win gold. The wooing began earlier this year, but at this year's French Open, there seems to be a winner of Williams's hand: Bob Bryan, who with his brother Mike has been part of the premier doubles team of the past decade.
Williams has won 27 Grand Slam titles: 13 in singles, 12 in doubles and two in mixed. She's the best tennis player of her generation, and one of the best ever. It's enough to make Bryan giddy. "It's exciting," he said.
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Any mixed doubles team that includes Serena Williams will be the team to beat at the London Olympics.
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When Williams's agent reached out to Bryan a few months ago to see if he would play the French Open with Williams, Bryan had an immediate answer: "Yes!'" he said. He then spoke to Williams in Madrid.
"She said something like, 'If we do well and we get our mojo going, maybe we can roll it into the Olympics,'" Bryan said.
Williams had been a favorite to win the French Open singles title before a shocking first-round upset Tuesday. Bryan was nervous. "I didn't know what to expect after her loss," he said. "Then I got an email from her, she wanted to practice."
Williams hasn't fully committed to the Olympics yet. Mixed doubles will be a last-minute decision for many players, depending on their health or their results to that point in Olympic singles or doubles. It will include 16 teams with at most two teams per country; 12 teams will receive direct entry based on a combined ranking. The International Tennis Federation will select the remaining four teams.
But any team that includes Williams will be the team to beat, despite the potential for some formidable foes. Petra Kvitova, the defending Wimbledon champion, plans to play with fellow Czech Radek Stepanek, a strong singles player and a doubles expert. Ana Ivanovic, a former No. 1 from Serbia, will team with Nenad Zimonjic, one of the world's best doubles players.
But Williams would be the best female partner in the field. Doubles is a fast-paced affair that turns on strong serves and forceful returns of serve. Williams has the best serve and the best return in women's tennis. In 2008, Mardy Fish partnered with Williams to win the Hopman Cup prior to the Australian Open. Asked at the time what made her such a great partner, Fish said, "She serves like a guy."
Williams knows she's coveted and has kept her suitors on their toes. "It's so tough to choose, there are so many good American men," she said in an interview in New York this spring. "I harass the guys a little bit and I just have fun with them."
Williams had planned to play with Andy Roddick at the Australian Open this year, but Roddick retired with an injury in singles and couldn't play. Roddick hasn't been shy in his courtship of Williams, a close friend since they were children.
"I want to play the Olympics," Roddick said after losing in the first round in Paris this week. "I can't get ahold of her. If you see her, ask her for me."
Roddick has never played a professional mixed doubles match. Fish, Williams's one-time partner, recently had a medical procedure on his heart and will skip the Olympics. John Isner, the top-ranked American, said earlier this year he might be willing to "bribe" Williams for the privilege of playing with her. Lately, though, he's less sure.
"When the Olympics roll around, I want to be really tired because I've done so well," Isner said. "And if that's the case, to be honest, I don't see mixed doubles in my future."
Bryan took a more subtle approach: He didn't woo Williams at all. "We're not like great, great pals...but we always say hi at the tournaments," he said. "I was totally taking a back seat." He figured Roddick would get the call and had another partner in mind: Williams's older sister. "I tried to lock down Venus, and she wasn't returning my calls," he said.
As Grand Slam competitions go, mixed doubles is the least tense. But with a gold medal on the line, that attitude changes.
"I really want to play well for Serena this tournament," he said. "Usually before mixed I'm sitting on the computer with a banana in my hand and it's like, 'Oh my God, it's time for mixed?' And then I put on my shoes and I go out there. I'll definitely go down to the gym this time and do some stretching, maybe five minutes on the bike."
A version of this article appeared June 1, 2012, on page D10 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: The Courtship of Serena.
Serena Williams, Williams, Bob Bryan, Mixed doubles, mixed doubles, French Open ebook download, Andy Roddick, London Olympics, the Olympics
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