Rafael Nadal is “convinced” that partnering up with Carlos Alcaraz at the Paris Olympic Games is a great pairing as he has full “confidence” in the young tennis ace. Nadal, who has won an impressive 22 Grand Slam titles, has revealed that he believes that Alcaraz is performing at a high-quality level and that they will be working hard together.
Alcaraz, 21, is coming off the back of winning Wimbledon two years in a row to bring his Grand Slam title list to four and will be competing alongside Nadal in the men’s doubles at the Olympics.
On the other end of the tennis spectrum is 38-year-old Nadal, who has been playing tennis professionally for 23 years and has 22 Grand Slam titles to his name – including 14 French Opens at the same venue where the Olympics is being held, the Stade Roland Garros.
The pair are teaming up to compete in the men’s doubles with the first round coming against Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni – and Nadal has revealed his full confidence in his young tennis partner.
Speaking to Punto de Break, Nadal admitted that he is preparing to “work hard” to improve on his performances at the Swedish Open – where he reached a 131st career final but fell to defeat against Nuno Borges.
The 38-year-old also left Alcaraz in no doubt about how the Spaniard sees him performing. He said: “I am convinced that Carlos Alcaraz is going to be at a very good level because he arrives with confidence. We will train together this week.”
Nadal also shared pride in representing his country at the Olympics, as he said: “I am very excited to be part of the Olympic team and represent Spain.
“It is the most important event in sport and I hope to find the energy and train well. I know that if I can produce good tennis in singles, it will also be in doubles – but I have to analyse what happened this week and work hard.
Nadal will be taking on the men’s doubles in his fourth Olympic Games while Alcaraz is making his Games debut in Paris alongside his veteran partner. Both the Spaniards will also compete in the men’s singles tournament at the Olympics as Nadal told L’Equipe that his fellow countryman is the “favourite” to win gold.
Nadal has won one Gold Olympic medal at both singles and doubles, succeeding on his own at the 2008 Beijing Games and then with Marc Lopez at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games – making him one of the few players to have won multiple medals at the event. This list also includes Reginald Doherty, Serena and Venus Williams and the retiring Andy Murray.
The order of play of the tennis events at the Olympics will be drawn on Friday evening, with men’s doubles beginning at 11am on Saturday, July 27.
