Rafael Nadal wasn't happy about the scheduling at the 2024 Paris Olympics after his first-round win in the doubles tournament.
This year, the 38-year-old Spaniard, who has two gold medals from the Olympic Games, chose to compete in two competitions. Traditionally, he singed up for the singles competition, but he has also decided to play in doubles alongside compatriot Carlos Alcaraz.
It was the doubles match that he got to play first, but it wasn't without issues. Those issues didn't arise in the match itself, but already prior to the match, as Nadal seemingly suffered an injury setback during preparations in the French capital.
As a result, he even canceled some of his practice sessions, but returned the following day, even though he had his thigh heavily bandaged. He appeared with the bandage also for his first-round doubles match at the Court Philippe-Chatrier, which was scheduled as the first match of the evening schedule, beginning at 7 PM local time (CEST).
Nadal and Alcaraz were able to win the match in two sets, beating the sixth-seeded Argentinian team of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, 7-6(3), 6-4 to advance in the doubles competition.
While Alcaraz has already won his first-round singles match, the more experienced Spaniard has yet to play, taking on Marton Fucsovics from Hungary in the first round of the singles competition.
If he wins that match, he will take on his great rival, Novak Djokovic, in the second round, as the Serbian lost only one game against Matthew Ebden in his first round at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
While Nadal played his doubles match, the schedule for the second day of the Olympic tournament was decided, and he found out about it immediately after his match when talking to the press.
The 14-time Roland Garros champion was scheduled to play the second match at the Court Philippe-Chatrier after the women's singles match between Barbora Krejcikova and Sara Sorribes Tormo, and he was stunned to hear the news, as per a recording posted by Carrusel Deportivo.
Nadal couldn't comprehend that after he finished a late-evening match and talked to the press at 10 PM, he was already scheduled to play the second match the following day.
"At 2:00 p.m. I'm playing? I don't understand, it's 10:00 p.m. at night. It seems outrageous to me."
What was even more worrying was the fact that he suggested that he may withdraw from the singles competition, something he's done a few times already.
Specifically, Nadal stated that he would have to talk to his team to determine the best option moving forward, and there were rumors of him focusing only on doubles with Alcaraz, which would seem as a sensible decision, if he is dealing with a physical issue.
"I will have to talk to the team to see what is the best option to achieve results."
Nadal will now have a very short time to decide about what he would do on Sunday, July 28th, 2024, but his first-round singles match at the 2024 Paris Olympics is scheduled at around 2 PM local time (CEST).
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