Fritz and Paul overpower the Czechs to win Olympic bronze
The American pair beat Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek 6-3, 6-4 to clinch Olympic bronze in the men’s doubles event
Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul win Olympic bronze, 2024 Olympics © Andy Wong/AP/SIPA
Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul combined excellently to comfortably dispatch opponents Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek, beating the Czech team 6-3, 6-4 to win a well-deserved Olympic bronze medal in the men’s doubles.
The American duo have been a thoroughly impressive team throughout the Olympics. Despite having rarely played together, their game styles complimented each other nicely as they sought to maximise the benefit from their powerful serves, with one man frequently smothering the net while the other would pull the receiver well out of position with a well-placed delivery.
While they were overawed by the eventual Olympic champions Matthew Ebden and John Peers in the semi-finals, today the Americans’ gameplan worked perfectly and was executed in clinical fashion. They overpowered their opponents, with Machac perhaps somewhat fatigued from his emotionally draining gold-medal victory alongside former partner Katerina Siniakova last night.
Nevertheless, Fritz and Paul were great value for their win.
The pair looked dialled in from the start, breaking in the fourth and sixth games en route to a commanding 5-1 lead. Despite a late wobble in the next game as they lost serve while the Czechs eyed an unlikely fightback, the Americans steadied themselves well to serve out the set at the second time of asking a game later.
They then broke in the opening game of the second stanza to get a firm grip on the match, a grip that ultimately would not be relinquished.
Both teams held serve for the remainder of the contest, but not before Machac and Pavlasek did well to save three break and match points in the ninth game.
The Czech pairing then pushed their opponents hard in the final game, before Fritz and Paul eventually got over the line on their seventh match point to cap a fine week in the French capital.
It was a disappointing end for the Czechs, who showed great promise earlier on in the competition. Machac has the considerable consolation of already winning gold in the mixed doubles, however, and is also a burgeoning singles talent. For Pavlasek, now 29 years of age and with no titles to his name, today’s defeat may be a more difficult pill to swallow.
But Olympic bronze is no more than the American duet deserve, as they’ve teamed up to form a memorable partnership at the 2024 Games. En route to a third-placed finish, they had the unenviable task of ending Andy Murray’s career in a partisan atmosphere of fierce support for the Brit, before falling in the last four.
With today’s win, however, Fritz and Paul – both well-established top 20 singles players – have finished their campaign in winning style and earnt a well-deserved spot on the podium.
While their singles campaigns both ended empty-handed, they will return to their homeland next week for the traditional US hard-court swing as newly crowned Olympic medallists.
