Imagine Bob Bryan playing with Venus Williams, against Andy Roddick and Serena Williams.

Or Mike Bryan playing with Melanie Oudin, against Rafael Nadal and a countrywoman from Spain.

Mixed doubles has been added to London 2012 Olympic Games, and the event could produce some interesting teams comprised of the world’s top players.

American Bob Bryan, who is part of the world’s No. 1 doubles team with his twin brother, Mike, is extremely excited about the possibility of playing in another Olympic Games.

“When I heard that mixed had been added, it put a big smile on my face,” said Bob, who along with Mike earned a bronze medal in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. “I always thought about that. Why didn’t they have mixed in it from the start? I was hoping that would happen.

“It’s awesome to have more chances to win a medal. Michael Phelps has like 10 chances to win a medal. We get one, or two, depending on if you play singles and or doubles.”

The Bryan brothers and the Williams sisters, along with Roddick, have already started some friendly smack talk via their Twitter accounts about the possible mixed doubles teams.

“We’re all so excited—I want to play, Mike wants to play, Andy wants to play, we’re all going to battle to the death for the gold in London,” Bob said, adding a friendly laugh. “I think it’s going to be so great for the fans. They’re going to get to see all the stars of the game, playing on one court, for their countries, for a medal. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

The format has not been settled for the 16-team mixed doubles tournament, which will be held at the All England Club—better known as the grass court home of Wimbledon.

It is likely to follow the standard at Grand Slams: having the top singles and doubles players in the world, as determined by rankings, entered. A country such as the U.S. will be able to field more teams, as there will be more high-ranked players, such as Roddick and the Williams sisters, available to form mixed teams.

Players who are the lone representative of their country in the singles tournament will probably be out of luck in getting a partner for the mixed tournament.

Jeff Ryan, the United States Tennis Association’s senior director of team events, said there is wide-spread enthusiasm for mixed doubles being part of the Olympic Games.

“That’s a great testament to this, if the Bryans love it so much, because they love doubles,” Ryan said. “Whatever makes the players happy, makes us happy. It’s good for the sport. The Grand Slams all have mixed doubles. One can argue that Grand Slams are the pinnacles of our sport, so adding mixed to the Olympics brings it up there with the Slams now.

“Tennis welcomes the opportunity to be in the Olympics. It’s every four years, a tremendous opportunity to be on even greater stages.”

Mixed doubles, aside from the game, always brings a special form of drama: does the male player go after the female player? Those who submit to chivalry may find the female player making them eat fuzz.

But if a male player really goes to hit a woman with a blistering return…let’s just say fans and her partner won’t be happy.

It’s a complex dilemma, but Bob has figured out a solution.

“Oh, I never let up, because those girls can just whale on the ball and make you look silly if you’re not careful,” Bob said. “Where I do well is with my lefty serve. I just bomb it out wide, and I’ve had girls just tell me they were scared of it. They don’t often see power, or a lefty serve, like that on their tour, so it’s an advantage for me. I’m never going to on purpose go for hitting a girl, that’s not right. But I am not going to let up playing, I am there to win, and so is my partner.”

Bob and Venus Williams have played together before, finishing as the runners-up for the 2006 Wimbledon mixed title.

He thinks they can do one better in the Olympic Games.

“How cool would that be if we won the gold at Wimbledon, at the Olympics?” Bob said. “That would be unreal. I’m fired up right now thinking about that.”