The Davis Cup teammates are favourites to win this year
3. Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares (Brazil)
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Third seeds
Can Brazil win gold at home?
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Performing at home with the burgeoning expectations of the whole nation on your shoulders can be a daunting task. But Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares are veterans on the tennis circuit. While Melo has had 18 years of professional career, Soares can boast of playing 15 years of pro tennis.
Without a doubt, they will be eager to channelize this emotional experience of playing for the host nation in a positive way. Performance-wise, they are in a bright spot right now that was evident at the Toronto Masters last week.
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They reached the final there but were on opposite sides of the net. Melo went on to win that summit clash and both are arriving at home with the right amount of confidence. Furthermore, they can certainly bank on the vociferous chants of support to lift their spirits whenever they need it in the next few days.
Rio will also give the two, who now have four doubles Major titles between them, a big chance for redemption. Four years ago, they succumbed in the quarter-finals at London. Making amends should definitely be high on their agenda.
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About the author
Sudeshna Banerjee
Sudeshna is a veteran Indian Sports and International Tennis journalist as well as editor at Sportskeeda. She has an overall experience of over 10 years with top publications like The Bridge, Fox Sports Asia, and gained a keen interest in Indian sports since the 2002 Commonwealth and Asian Games when she was in school.
Sudeshna holds a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She attends tournaments regularly and being a highly experienced journalist, she ensures she only contacts the correct people from her network for the most authentic information to be put in her articles.
Sudeshna’s favorite Indian athlete is PV Sindhu owing to her big-tournament performances. She also admires Tennis legend Rafael Nadal for his resilience and has witnessed the Spaniard in action at the French Open, due to which, Roland Garros is her all-time favorite Grand Slam tournament.
Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics made a lasting impact on Sudeshna. She has also interviewed him along with Badminton star Chirag Shetty and several other sports personalities. She has done on-ground reporting on multiple ITF tournaments along with the Premier Badminton League, Asian Boxing Championships and the Davis Cup.
When not using her skills and years of experience in crafting compelling content, Sudeshna likes to read, watch movies and travel.