Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka may be among the most dominant athletes in singles tennis, but doubles is a whole different animal. Despite having the No. 1 seed entering Tuesday, Djokovic and Sabalenka were humbled by Henry Patten and Kateřina Siniaková in the first round of mixed doubles Tuesday.
Patten and Siniaková rallied after losing the first set to defeat Djokovic and Sabalenka 1-4, 4-2, 10-2.
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It looked as though Djokovic and Sabalenka would cruise to a win early, easily taking the first set 4-1. The pairs traded wins in the first two games of the set before Djokovic and Sabalenka won three straight games to pick up the first-set win.
Mixed-doubles matches are a best-of-three format, with sets lasting four games.
But Patten and Siniaková offered far more resistance in the second set. They immediately took the first game of the set before dropping the next two. At that point, Patten and Siniaková rallied, taking the next two games to go up 3-2 in the set.
With the set potentially on the line, Djokovic and Sabalenka battled back in Game 6, but couldn’t overcome Patten and Siniaková, who won the second set 4-2. The win set up a tiebreak. In mixed doubles, a third set is played as if it were a 10-point match tiebreak.
Patten and Siniaková were fully operational at that point. While Djokovic and Sabalenka were able to take an early point to make it 1-1 at the start of the tiebreak, Patten and Siniaková pulled away, eventually winning the tiebreak 10-2 and moving on in mixed doubles.
Despite Djokovic and Sabalenka’s excellence, their loss should have probably been the expected result. Djokovic is the fifth-ranked men’s player and Sabalenka is the women’s No. 1, but that’s in singles tennis. Over in doubles, Patten and Siniaková excel.
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In fact, heading into the mixed-doubles event, both Patten and Siniaková ranked No. 1 in doubles on the men’s and women’s side. It was no certainty that Djokovic and Sabalenká would pick up the win Tuesday, despite their prestigious singles rankings … and their No. 1 seed in mixed doubles heading into the event.
Djokovic and Sabalenka weren’t expected to face such a tough task initially. The pair was originally slated to take on Frances Tiafoe and Leylah Fernandez. But Tiafoe was forced to pull out of mixed doubles Monday due to an injury. Because of that, the mixed doubles schedule was reworked, putting Djokovic and Sabalenka against Patten and Siniaková.
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That pair proved too much for Djokovic and Sabalenka to handle in the first round. While it probably stings for both players to be eliminated, they now have time to focus on their singles matches going forward.
Meanwhile, Patten and Siniaková can continue to put all their energy into dominating in doubles. As Tuesday’s win showed, they are already in excellent shape on that front.
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