Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac won the mixed doubles tennis gold medal for the Czech Republic at the 2024 Paris Olympics, just weeks after parting ways.

The couple dated since 2020, but confirmed their split in early July this year, just three weeks before the Olympics. However, they remained professional and played mixed doubles tennis together.

The two players started by defeating the top seeds from Germany in the round of 16, then beat Japan in the quarterfinals and Canada in the semis. In the final, Siniakova and Machac dramatically defeated Wang Xin and Zhang Zhizhen (China) with a score of 6-2, 5-7, 10-8, to win the gold medal.

Katerina Siniakova (left) burst into tears in the arms of Tomas Machac (right) after winning the mixed doubles tennis gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Photo: AP

It was Machac’s first Olympic gold medal, but Siniakova’s second – after the women’s doubles at Tokyo 2020. After today’s victory, the Czech pair shared a kiss on court, leading fans to speculate that they had mended their relationship.

Machac confirmed that the two slept in different rooms at the Paris Olympic Village. When asked about the possibility of a reunion, the male tennis player said: “This is top secret.”

Siniakova kept it coy. “It’s my private life so people don’t need to know about it,” she said with a chuckle. “We enjoy it when people are confused.”

Machac, born in 2000, is not yet a famous doubles player. His best achievement was reaching the semi-finals of the 2024 Australian Open men’s doubles. Meanwhile, Siniakova, born in 1996, is a doubles specialist, having won nine Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, out of 27 titles. She is currently ranked second in the world in doubles and was ranked first in October 2018.

“I have proven that I can play well with anyone,” Siniakova said, proud of herself. She also affirmed that when competing as a pair, the most useful measure is to communicate and help each other.

Meanwhile, Chinese men’s player Zhang Zhizhen is good friends with Machac. This year, the two teamed up to reach the men’s doubles semifinals at the Australian Open and the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.

“The friendship is completely broken,” Zhang joked after the loss. “He ruined my Olympics.”

However, the silver medal in mixed doubles was an achievement beyond Zhang Zhizhen’s expectations.

Initially, Zhang Zhizhen was paired with Zheng Qiwen, who had just won a historic gold medal in women’s singles tennis for China . However, Zheng Qiwen’s women’s singles match was postponed due to rain, so she withdrew from the remaining event.

Zhang Zhizhen (right) and Wang Xinyu won the mixed doubles tennis silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Photo: Xinhua

According to China Daily , Zhang was lucky to have Wang Xinyu, who had just lost in the second round of the women’s singles, ready to put out the fire. Wang lost on July 29 and was packing her bags to go to the airport to return home when Zhang contacted her. She decided to stay and compete in the first round of the mixed doubles the next day.

Zhang and Wang competed in the Olympics without training together, at one point bumping into each other during a match. They eventually reached the final, losing only to the pair of Siniakova and Machac.

Winning one gold and one silver medal in tennis is beyond China’s expectations at Paris 2024. Zhang Zhizhen hopes this will be a springboard to attract more people to be interested in tennis.

“Many Chinese sports fans don’t understand tennis rules but still watch us compete,” Zhang said. “I hope what happened will help more people understand and contribute to promoting this sport better in China.”