Rafa Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz: Spain confirms doubles dream team for Paris Olympics

Spain’s Olympic tennis coaches, David Ferrer and Anabel Medina, announced Wednesday the teams that will compete in the Paris Games from July 27 to August 4. And, as expected after the two expressed an interest in doing so, Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz will form one of the pairs for the doubles competition, a dream team that will bring together the 22-times Grand Slam champion and the player considered his natural heir, who won the title at Roland Garros last Sunday and who now has three majors to his name, on three surfaces, at the age of 21.

“If nothing prevents it, Rafa and Carlos will play together in Paris,” confirmed Ferrer, who, however, is not yet clear on who will form the second doubles team. Marcel Granollers, currently ranked world number two in doubles, will be accompanied by either Pablo Carreño, a bronze medalist at the Tokyo 2021 Games, or Alejandro Davidovich, ranked 32 in the world singles. Along with Nadal and Alcaraz, the three complete the men’s line-up for the Olympics. After eight months of absence due to an elbow injury that forced him to undergo surgery, Carreño, who is currently ranked 876, will participate in the event through his protected ranking, like Nadal who is currently the world 264.

The women’s team will be formed by Sara Sorribes (55) and Cristina Bucsa (67), who achieved direct qualification through their rankings and who won the doubles title at the Madrid Open in May. It has not yet been announced who will make up the Spanish team for the mixed doubles. In any case, the captains are confident that their players have the capacity to win several medals, considering that the event will be played at the Roland Garros facilities and on clay. “In Paris, Spaniards have always done well,” Medina said.

“I wasn’t able to win there as a player, so I hope to do it now as a coach,” said Ferrer, who was beaten by Nadal in the 2013 French Open final. “We are all excited. Rafa is a great doubles player, who already won a medal in Rio [with Marc López]. Carlos has played less [doubles], but he has so much potential that I’m sure he will do very well,” said Ferrer, in statements reported by the EFE news agency. “I have seen how Rafa has evolved in the tournaments he has played and I think he has done very well; he was unlucky with the draw [in Paris, where he was paired in the first round with eventual finalist Alexander Zverev], but I think if he had been matched with another player, he could have been getting into the rhythm necessary to reach the later rounds. It’s important that he arrives mentally fresh.”

Nadal and Alcaraz to team up for first time

Nadal and Alcaraz will combine doubles and singles. They have never played together officially and, a priori, it seems unlikely they will be able to practice before arriving in Paris. Alcaraz will compete in the short grass season in the coming weeks, with Queen’s and Wimbledon as objectives, while Nadal will continue training on clay at his academy in Mallorca, after electing not to play on grass this year. Depending on how he feels physically, before the Olympic Games Nadal could test himself in a preparatory event such as Hamburg (ATP 500) or Gstaad (250), both clay-court tournaments. If there are no setbacks in between now and July, Nadal will participate in his fourth Olympic Games, having won gold in Beijing (singles, 2008) and Rio (doubles, 2016).

The Royal Spanish Tennis Federation must inform the International Tennis Federation (ITF) of the names of its chosen players and July 4, coinciding with Wimbledon, is the deadline to ratify the teams.

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