Mirza tips Federer, Hingis to win gold at Rio Olympics

Dubai - Federer has chosen Hingis as he looks to add to his already extensive and impressive haul of achievements in the global sport, including the men's doubles gold medal alongside Stanislas Wawrinka at Beijing seven years ago and the men's singles silver in London back in 2012.

 Sania Mirza believes the recently-revealed Swiss pairing of Roger Federer and her playing partner Martina Hingis are now the favourites to win mixed doubles gold at next summer's Rio Olympics.
Federer has chosen Hingis as he looks to add to his already extensive and impressive haul of achievements in the global sport, including the men's doubles gold medal alongside Stanislas Wawrinka at Beijing seven years ago and the men's singles silver in London back in 2012.
There can be no denying that Federer and Hingis will make a formidable pairing with 22 Grand Slam singles titles between them (Federer: 17, Hingis: five) and Mirza firmly expects they'll be the most fancied to succeed from all of the duos in Brazil.
"That is a pretty good team!" Mirza quipped with a hearty laugh. "It's great that two champions like that are going to get together and play and who would have thought that Martina was going to make a comeback, have a year like she has had and then go into the Olympics?
"They're obviously going to be the favourites for gold and I say that with all due respect to my partnership with whoever I'm playing with and everyone else. On paper, they're probably going to be the best team and the one that everyone is going to go for in terms of the gold medal.
"That's not going to stop us from trying to go for the gold ourselves, but I would think it would be a lot of fun to play against them at any point and, hopefully, in the final."
Federer and Hingis then have confirmed their link-up well in advance for the quadrennial showpiece, but the exact identity of Mirza's mixed doubles partner remains a mystery for now.
As at London 2012, the 29-year-old is faced with another tough choice and she seemingly must decide this time around between Rohan Bopanna - her mixed doubles partner for the Micromax Indian Aces in the IPTL - and the veteran Leander Paes.
"No decision has been made," Mirza explained. "Having said that, whomever it is at that point in time, you can rest assured that the best team will be put forward.
"It depends on who is healthy and who isn't, who is playing well and who isn't and which two people get along on the court and which two don't.
"It's just a decision that needs to be made and I don't think it needs to be made right now. Being the number one (women's doubles) player in the world, I'd imagine I would have some say in it. But, we will see. When we get closer to it, we'll try and make that call."
alex@khaleejtimes.com 

SP161215-SK-IPTLAgnieszka Radwanska in action against Belinda Bencic during IPTL at Dubai Tennis Stadium on Wednesday. 16 December,2015. Photo by Shihab

SP161215-SK-IPTLDustin Brown serve in mixed doubles with Karolina Pliskova (not in picture) against Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig during IPTL at Dubai Tennis Stadium on Wednesday. 16 December,2015. Photo by Shihab