Royal Spanish Tennis Federation (RFET) on Wednesday said that Rafael Nadal and recent French Open winner Carlos Alcaraz will be teaming up to play doubles in the Paris Olympics.
“”One pair, which I think everyone knows and was hoping for is Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal and the second pair is yet to be decided, it hasn’t been 100% confirmed yet,” said Spain coach David Ferrer while announcing the squad.
“We’ll wait a bit before announcing that. But Rafa and Carlos will be playing together in Paris,” he added.
Nadal already has a gold medal in the Olympics which was held in Beijing in 2008 while this will be
Alcaraz’s first foray into the event as he returns to Roland Garros where he was crowned French Open champion on Sunday.
But on Thursday, the 22-time Grand Slam champion took to social media to confirm he will pull out Wimbledon. “During my post match press conference at Roland Garros I was asked about my summer calendar and since then I have been practicing on clay. It was announced yesterday that I will play at the summer Olympics in Paris, my last Olympics,” Nadal posted.
“With this goal, we believe that the best for my body is not to change surface and keep playing on clay until then. It’s for this reason that I will miss playing at the Championships this year at Wimbledon. I am saddened not to be able to live this year the great atmosphere of that amazing event that will always be in my heart, and be with all the British fans that always gave me great support. I will miss you all.”
In order to prepare for the Olympic Games, Nadal said he will play the tournament in Bastad, Sweden.
Nadal’s participation was up in the air with the 14-times French Open champion still not at his best following injuries but Ferrer said the 38-year-old would team up with 21-year-old Alcaraz.
Two weeks ago, Nadal had gone down 3-6, 6-7(5), 3-6 in the first round of the French Open to Alexander Zverev.
“I don’t know if this is the last time, I’m not 100% sure. But if it is, I enjoyed it. For me, it is so special to feel the love of the people in the place I love the most,” Nadal said on court after the match. “It’s a big percentage chance that I will not be back here. I have some goals in front (of me), I hope to be on this court for the Olympics, but we will have to wait and see.”
The other players selected are Pablo Carreno Busta and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina while Marcel Granollers, who is ranked world number two in doubles, is also in the squad.
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First uploaded on: 12-06-2024 at 19:08 IST