By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Wednesday, June 12, 2024
A dream team of major accomplishments is set to potentially bring home Olympic glory for Spain at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal will play doubles together at the Olympics, the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation said on Wednesday.
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With this year’s tennis competition to be played at Roland Garros, it could well mean even more success for both champions. Alcaraz just won the men’s singles title for the first time in five sets over Alexander Zverev. Nadal holds 14 Roland Garros singles titles, the most of any man or woman. Together, they hold a total of 25 major singles titles.
Carlos Alcaraz 🤝 Rafael Nadal
This duo at the #ParisOlympics is going to be epic. 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/Wl7wbjByMz
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) June 12, 2024
Nadal owns two Olympics gold medals. One from the 2008 Beijing Games in singles, his second gold in doubles with partner Marc Lopez at the 2016 Rio Games. 21-year-old Alcaraz will compete at the Olympics in Paris for the first time in his career.
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National team coach David Ferrer made the announcement that Nadal will compete at the Olympics. The decision was still somewhat up in the air after the 38-year-old Nadal lost in the opening round of this year’s Roland Garros to eventual finalist Zverev.
“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,” Ferrer told the media. “We’ll wait a bit before announcing that. But Rafa and Carlos will be playing together in Paris.”
The additional players chosen for the Spanish men’s team are Pablo Carreno Busta and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Marcel Granollers, currently ranked World number two in doubles, is also in the squad.
Alcaraz, who said earlier in the year that his main aim for the season was to an Olympic Gold medal, revealed it would be a dream to play with Nadal in Paris.
Nadal equaled that sentiment, especially given that this will likely be his final Olympic appearance. “Carlos doesn’t have to ask me anything, all things being well, we’ll play [Olympic doubles],” Nadal told Iguales, the official Mutua Madrid Open podcast. “It’s also hugely exciting for me. If I’m not mistaken, I’ve heard it is for him too.”
The Summer Games will take place July 26 to August 11.
Photo Credit: Mutua Madrid Open Facebook.
