Rafael Nadal 'would also like' to play Olympic doubles with Alcaraz

September 20, 2023

ATP Tennis Players, Carlos Alcaraz, Rafa Nadal, Tennis News, Tennis Tournaments

Rafael Nadal ‘would also like’ dream Olympics partnership with Carlos Alcaraz

Rafael Nadal has lead Spanish tennis for the past 20 years, and has revealed that he would be interested in a ‘dream’ Olympics doubles partnership with the new face of tennis in Spain, Carlos Alcaraz.

Nadal has been on the injury sidelines since January, where he suffered a psoas tear in his second round Australian Open defeat to Mackenzie McDonald.

Since then, the 37-year-old has been focussing on recovering for what could potentially be his final year on the ATP tour in 2024, something that he has admitted himself.

As well as the potential for a ‘last hurrah’ at the four majors for Nadal, he also has the prospect of competing at the Olympic Games for one last time.

This is something that the 22-time Grand Slam champion is hoping to do, “As for the [Olympic] Games, on a personal level, I would like to play them one more time. Everyone knows that I have always been a lover of [the] Games. I have lived incredible moments of coexistence, of seeing what sport is in its pure essence.”

With the Paris 2024 Olympics on the horizon, there has been a lot of speculation about the potential of a Spanish doubles partnership between Nadal and Alcaraz, something that the latter had revealed would be a ‘dream’.

“It would be a dream,” said the 20-year-old looking ahead to his first Olympics. “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.”

And now Nadal has also commented on the potential of this happening, “Regarding the fact of playing doubles with Carlos, I have not had the slightest conversation with him in that regard.

“But I would also like [to play with him] and it would be a good motivation, another incentive for me to be able to close my Olympic cycle playing with Carlos, with everything he is achieving, with the young people and with the great future he has ahead of him.”

With the Olympics being held in Paris, there will also be the added element for Nadal of playing at Roland Garros once again, where he has been a major champion on a record 14 occasions.