Paris Olympics: Rafael Nadal’s Desperate Attempt at Final Glory Prompts Him to Turn to Carlos Alcaraz

The ‘King of Clay‘ was among the first to congratulate the new ‘Prince of Paris‘ after his emphatic victory in the 2024 French Open finals. With this victory on the Parisian clay, Carlos Alcaraz achieved what the ‘Big Three’ couldn’t. He has now won his first three Slams on three different surfaces and is the youngest player in history to do so!

Shortly after his emphatic triumph over Alexander Zverev, Nadal took to social media to congratulate his compatriot. “Congratulations @carlosalcaraz for this immense victory!!!! Great!!!! Very happy for your successes!!! Let’s go ” Nadal wrote on Twitter. Rafael Nadal reportedly has also been trying to convince Alcaraz to play in a tournament together before the Olympics.

As per Spanish sports commentator Juanma Castano, Carlos Alcaraz will now go to Ibiza to relax and celebrate with friends for a few days before heading to London on the weekend to get ready for Wimbledon. He revealed, “And from there Rafa wants to convince Carlos Alcaraz to play a tournament together on land and if not they will go directly to the Olympic Games, that the tennis tournament starts on July 27.” The tournament which he indicated is most probably Hamburg.

Carlos Alcaraz has grown up watching his idol, Rafael Nadal lifting the trophies. Even, after winning the French Open he recalled those fond memories surrounding the ‘King of Clay.‘

He revealed, “For me, it’s really special to lift the trophy because when I finished school, I’d run home to put the TV on to watch Rafa, to watch this tournament, to watch all the matches. It’s great to have Rafa … who won 14 times here, to say congratulations to you. He’s my idol since I started playing tennis, so it’s something great.”

Alcaraz got the chance to play against his idol three times in his career so far. Currently, Rafael Nadal leads the H2H with a 2-1 margin. But both the players have now one goal ahead of them. They now want to bring a gold medal for their nation at the Paris Olympics.

“It would be a dream” – Carlos Alcaraz on playing doubles with Rafael Nadal at the Olympics

Shortly after clinching his second Grand Slam in Wimbledon last year, Carlos Alcaraz spoke about his dream of playing a doubles match with his tennis idol. He said, “It would be a dream. Not only to win a medal at singles or doubles, but just to live the experience of playing a doubles with your idol, would be a memory that I would keep with special affection.”

However, at that time, Alcaraz revealed that he couldn’t dare to tell Nadal about his wish, but he stated that would be something pretty exciting for him.

Later on, after hearing the wish of his super-talented compatriot, the ‘King‘ approved! Rafael Nadal said, “I think if we’re both fit enough, why not? We could have the chance to form a great team and aspire to great things. It’d be good for both of us. I think it’d also be good for the Spanish team, so we’ll see how things progress.” At that time, he gave a hint that both of them needed to work a bit together to get going at the Olympics at the end of July.

Now, it’ll be interesting to see if the fans really get a chance to see them play together in Hamburg or if they prefer to play directly at the main event. How excited are you to see this Spanish duo team up together in a doubles match?

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