Nadal and Alcaraz will form a doubles pair at the Olympic Games | ATP Tour

2024

Nadal and Alcaraz will form a doubles pair at the Olympic Games

The Balearic Islands and Murcia will compete hand in hand in Paris 2024

June 12, 2024

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz will form a doubles pair at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, as David Ferrer officially confirmed this Wednesday as captain of the Spanish men’s team. In an event held at the Real Club de Tennis Barcelona, ​​the call for La Armada was announced, which will be completed by Pablo Carreño, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Marcel Granollers.

“As you all know, one of the doubles couples will be formed by Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal,” explained the captain, about two players who will also compete in the individual event. “The second couple has yet to be decided, it is not 100% “sure. There is a clear idea, but we will wait a little to decide. If nothing prevents it, Rafa and Carlos will be playing together in Paris.”

Alcaraz will participate in the Olympic Games for the first time, becoming at 21 years old one of the most respected players in the locker room. The three-time Grand Slam champion will return to Paris weeks after lifting his first Roland Garros crown, looking to extend the authority shown on French clay.

The automatisms together with a partner on the court, of course, will have to reach the Alcaraz game, with a short route in the pairs specialty. Throughout his professional career, the Murcian has only played nine doubles matches, a modality that he has not practiced in the last two seasons. If his dazzling rise to the top of men’s tennis was achieved with little experience on the big stages, his adaptation to pairs tennis will be a new challenge of immediacy for the prodigy from El Palmar.

For his part, Nadal is one of the figures with the most experience on the circuit in the Olympic Games. The Mallorcan is the only active player who has managed to win the gold medal in singles and doubles, completing a truly legendary track record in an event that is held every four years.

The Spaniard won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing event, on the eve of his first promotion to world No. 1. Later, in Rio de Janeiro 2016, Rafa rounded off his feat by climbing to the first step of the podium as a couple with his good friend Marc López. A conquest that he could try to repeat in a few months on the clay of Paris 2024, a scenario that he knows like no one else.

The pairs formed by Emilio Sánchez-Vicario/Sergio Casal, silver in Seoul 1988, and Àlex Corretja/Albert Costa, bronze in Sydney 2000, complete the history of Olympic medals for Spanish tennis in the modality.

The men’s doubles competition will feature a field of 32 couples at the Paris event. The Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, who won the gold medal at Tokyo 2020, are the current champions in the modality.

The tennis tournament will be held from Saturday, July 27 to Sunday, August 4 on the clay court of Roland Garros. It will be the first time that the Olympic event is held on clay since Barcelona 1992.