Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac have scripted one of the storylines at the 2024 Paris Olympics with their triumph in the mixed doubles category. Their gold medal win in the French capital came just days after the Czech tennis couple had separated after three years of dating.
Siniakova and Machac, who had been dating since 2021 and had become one of the most recognizable power couples in the tennis world, announced their separation at the 2024 Prague Open, just a week before the Paris Olympics. She also confirmed they would continue their professional relationship and participate in mixed doubles at the Paris Olympics.
The Czech duo bettered Germany's Alexander Zverev-Laura Siegemund, Japan's Ena Shibahara-Kei Nishikori, and Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime-Gabriela Dabrowski to reach the final in Paris. They faced Zhizhen Zhang and Wang Xinyu of China in the gold medal match on August 2 and emerged victorious after a tense match-tiebreaker 6-2, 5-7, 10-8.
Katerina Siniakova and Tamas Machac were over the moon after their unexpected victory. After the championship point, they hugged each other and shared a kiss.
The success at Paris 2024 capped off an excellent couple of months for Siniakova. The nine-time doubles Grand Slam champion recently won the women's doubles title at the French Open with Coco Gauff and the Wimbledon Championships with Taylor Townsend.
The mixed doubles gold medal was the second Olympic medal for Katerina Siniakova, who won the women's doubles gold medal with Barbora Krejcikova at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Meanwhile, it was the first Olympic success for Tomas Machac.
“Top secret” - Tomas Machac and Katerina Siniakova tight-lipped on questions about their relationship at Paris Olympics
After their gold medal triumph, Tomas Machac and Katerina Siniakova faced a slew of questions from the media during their press conference about their current relationship status. The couple rolled their eyes at the line of questioning and stated that their relationship status was a private matter.
“That's our personal life, so you don't need to know that. We like it when you are confused,” Siniakova said with a smile.
Machac joked, “This is top secret.”
The 2024 Paris Olympics wasn't the first time Siniakova and Machac paired up to play mixed doubles. Their first appearance together came at the 2022 Australian Open, where they lost to Nadiia Kichenok and Santiago Gonzalez in the first round. They next linked up to play mixed doubles at the 2024 French Open but again failed to secure a win.