Doubles draws at the Citi Open are hot for the summer

“Kyrsipas” against the Wimbledon champs. The brothers Murray reunite. And the Bryan brothers are unseeded?

Those are some of the storylines at the Citi Open this week in Washington, D.C., where the doubles will garner more than its fair share of attention, with never-before-seen pairings, comebacks galore and glimpses of the future of the game.

In a match made for primetime, top seeds Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal face one of the most unexpected pairings in the tournament, Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas. In the podcast heard around the world, among other topics, Kyrgios mentioned how he would like to hit the doubles court with Tsitsipas, one of the game’s breakout stars.

Throwing suggestions out there in the ether evidently works as the duo gets set for its debut. Known for their singles games, they’re not without some doubles savvy: Tsitsipas reached the final in Miami this year with Wesley Koolhof and Kyrgios is capable of pulling off some shot-making magic whether there’s two or four players on the court.

Continuing his path along the comeback trail, Andy Murray is entered into the doubles in D.C. He’s hit the court with players ranging from Feliciano Lopez, with whom he won the Queen’s Club title, to Serena Williams in mixed doubles at Wimbledon. Now, he’ll be taking the court with someone whose game he knows quite well, his older brother Jamie, one of the best doubles players in the world.

Though they’ve rarely played together, they have had some success in the past. Aside from winning two tournaments earlier this decade, they helped lead Great Britain to the Davis Cup title in 2015.

In the first round, they’ll face off against the Wimbledon finalists Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in a battle of unseeded teams.

Speaking of duos just out there floating around in the draw, four-time champions Bob and Mike Bryan are unseeded, as are this year’s French Open winners Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies. Two-time Grand Slam champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau are unseeded, too.

On the women’s side, the top seeds are Katerina Siniakova and Anna Blinkova, followed by Yafan Wang and Zhaoxuan Yang. All eyes, though, will be on the teen phenom of the summer, Cori Gauff, who was granted a wild card alongside fellow American Caty McNally.

Those two have shown they know what it takes to win, claiming the US Open juniors title just last year.

If draws like these keep popping up over the summer, it promises to be a hot one, indeed, in doubles.

Follow Van on Twitter: @Van_Sias