the first all-French Grand Slam mens doubles final of the Open era

All the consternation over whether golfs addition to the Summer Games makes sense raises the question of whether tennis -- another individual, professional sport with four annual Grand Slam tournaments and millions of dollars in prize money -- belongs, too.To U.S. Olympic mens tennis coach Jay Berger, the answer is obvious.When it first starts, people dont know what to expect. And I think golf is having this a little bit, in its infancy. They dont know what the meaning is going to be. But you look at the draw for the tennis, the very top players want to play, Berger said. Ive seen those top players cry for joy at having won a bronze medal. And Ive seen players cry because they lost a medal. When you get down to it, the Olympics kind of transfer to any sport, really.Sam Querrey, for one, isnt so sure.Querreys ranking made him eligible to be a member of Bergers team in Rio de Janeiro, where the draw is Thursday and play begins Saturday, but he opted to skip the trip to Brazil.His take, essentially: Let the gymnasts, swimmers and sprinters have their moment.I feel like the Olympics should only be sports where, like, thats the pinnacle of your sport: If you win the Olympics, theres nothing better, said Querrey, who ended Novak Djokovics 30-match Grand Slam winning streak at Wimbledon. But I think for tennis, you ask anyone, theyd rather win a Grand Slam over the Olympics.That might be the case for many folks, but certainly not for all.Venus Williams, who has won four gold medals, calls her Olympic success beyond anything I ever dreamed and places its importance always at the top -- above her seven major singles titles.The proudest moment for me, when they do the on-court announcements, she said, are the Olympic results.She and others would hate to see the International Olympic Committee, which brought tennis back in 1988 after a 64-year absence, drop the sport again.And make no mistake: The Olympics have helped tennis grow worldwide.If you look at whats happened from `88 to now, our sport has really become even more international because of the Olympic movement, International Tennis Federation President David Haggerty said, pointing to a more than 40 percent increase in the number of nations that belong to his organization.Just examine the WTA rankings. The week before Wimbledon in 1986, the top 100 women included 47 from the United States, and only 13 countries had more than one representative. The week before Wimbledon this year, the top 100 women included 14 Americans, and 21 countries had at least two members.Still, the sense that the Olympic tennis tournament is not all that much different from, well, any tournament held during any week is inescapable for some.The faces are, for the most part, familiar. So are the rules.The events -- mens and womens singles, mens and womens doubles, mixed doubles -- are found at each of the four Grand Slam tournaments. The U.S. Open starts a couple of weeks after the Rio competition ends and will be contested on the same surface, hard courts.All of which prompts suggestions for a format change.Have age restrictions of some sort, say, to promote future stars.Or take a break from Davis Cup and Fed Cup in Olympic years and use something similar to their setup.I dont think what we have now is broken, WTA CEO Steve Simon said, but I do think that the conversation about format, and potentially a team format, has merit.International Tennis Hall of Fame CEO Todd Martin, who calls barely missing out on participating in singles at Atlanta in 1996 one of my great disappointments, thinks Olympic tennis needs to do something different to make it look like something different.I look at it and say, `Why should the Olympics not be a team event? Other sports figure out how to make it a team event, said Martin, the 1999 U.S. Open runner-up. In tennis, we figure out how to make it an individual event, just like Roland Garros, just like Wimbledon.One proposal: Each country could have three two-person teams in mens and womens tennis that would face off in singles and doubles.Svetlana Kuznetsova, a two-time major champion from Russia, wants a totally different format and two full weeks of Olympic tennis, instead of nine days.Her father coached Olympic cyclists; her brother won a silver in cycling. So she insists on this: Tennis must remain in the Summer Games.Being from my family, I know how important the Olympics are and how big a deal the Olympics are, Kuznetsova said. So for me, tennis of course has to be in the Olympics. For Russians, winning a gold medal would be like winning a Grand Slam.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich Pat McAfee Colts Jersey . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. 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The quest begins with what is supposed to be an easy one, although Germany has traditionally been a stubborn opponent to Canadian teams at international tournaments. LONDON -- Serena Williams is leaving Wimbledon with two trophies, teaming with her older sister Venus to win a womens doubles final that began a little more than 3 hours after the singles final ended Saturday.The American siblings won their sixth doubles championship at the All England Club and 14th as a pair at all Grand Slam tournaments by beating fifth-seeded Timea Babos of Hungary and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4.Earlier Saturday, also on Centre Court, Serena collected her 22nd Grand Slam singles title with a straight-set victory over Angelique Kerber in that final.I had just enough time to change and get my ankles re-taped, Serena said about going from one match to the other. But there was so much adrenaline. I didnt want to cool down too much.Venus sat in the guest box during the singles final.Watching Serena earlier was so amazing, and I was so into that. And then you have to re-set yourself and say, `OK, weve got to play a match and were going to have to try to win, Venus said during a joint interview with the BBC after the doubles. So she brought the energy from Game 1 and that really brought me up, too.The Williams sisters also won doubles titles at Wimbledon in 2000, 2002, 2008, 2009 and 2012. Each time, one or the other also won the singles championship, with Serena doing it in 2002, 2009 and 2012 in addition to this year.Theyre now 14-0 in major doubles finals. But they were unseeded this time because they play doubles so infrequently, and their most recent Grand Slam title before Saturday had come four years ago at the All England Club. Until playing at the French Open in May, they hadnt even entered a doubles draw at any major tournament since 2014.Theyre planning to compete in doubles, in addition to singles, at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics next month. They already have won three gold medals in doubles, at the 2000, 2008 and 2012 Summer Games.When they were asked during the BBC interview which one is in charge of their doubles team, Serena immediately pointed toward Venus and said with a laugh, Shes definiteely the boss.ddddddddddddnd Venus said: Well, Im the older sister, so it kind of falls on me. But (there are) different times on the court that we both take over. So whatever the team needs, it kind of happens organically. Thats the best kind of team.Shvedova, who lost to Venus in the singles quarterfinals this week, was trying to win her third Grand Slam doubles title, after teaming with Vania King for trophies at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2010. Babos has never won a major doubles trophy; she was the runner-up with Kristina Mladenovic at Wimbledon in 2014.In mens doubles, Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert defeated Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-3 to win their first Wimbledon title. It was the first all-French Grand Slam mens doubles final of the Open era.The victory gives Mahut a happier memory from the grass-court tournament where he lost the longest match in tennis history, 70-68 in the fifth set against John Isner in the first round of singles in 2010.We talk a lot about this match already. Im very proud of it, Mahut said, referring to the contest that lasted more than 11 hours, spread over three days. But now its something different. Now I can come in the press conference as a Wimbledon champion. Its great.This is the second major title together for the top-seeded team of Mahut and Herbert, who won the U.S. Open last year.Theyre only the second pair of Frenchmen to earn the doubles trophy at the All England Club in the Open era, which began in 1968. Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra won Wimbledon in 2007.Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin won the 2014 French Open doubles championship.Mahut knows Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin rather well, having won ATP doubles titles with each of them in the past. Mahut and Benneteau even had success together as teens, collecting seven junior doubles titles in 1999.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich ' ' '