Rafael Nadal will play doubles with Carlos Alcaraz at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and he hopes the draw will help them succeed in Paris.
The men's doubles event at the Olympic Games doesn't get talked about much compared to the singles event, but it's always an exciting affair. What makes it so interesting is that, generally, many top players, who generally only play singles, also play at the event.
Players such as Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal rarely play doubles, but they've all played doubles at the Olympics. Alcaraz is a case in point this year.
The Spaniard is a prominent singles player and almost never plays doubles, but he's going to play doubles this year in hopes of maximizing his chance of winning a medal for his country.
The medal he and all the others are after is the gold medal, and he will have a decent chance in both singles and doubles. His partner in doubles is Nadal, a player who knows how it feels to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games, having done it multiple times.
Nadal won the gold in singles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the gold in doubles at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Now, he hopes to get another medal in Paris, even though he understands it will be tricky.
He and Alcaraz are not the most natural pairing, and they haven't played doubles together, so there will certainly be growing pains. Because of that, the 38-year-old hopes that the draw helps them out a bit.
"We have maintained a good relationship, an opportunity to get to know each other more and live together. Being with him rejuvenates you. It's nice to see someone like Carlos experience his first Olympic Games."
"We will try our best. We have not been able to prepare like other great teams. We are going to train a little together today and see if the draw helps."
The past few days that they've spent in Paris is all the preparation they're going to get, and that's not ideal for a doubles team. Nadal wanted to play a practice event before the Olympics, but that didn't work out due to the schedule and how close Wimbledon was to the Games.
What may help the Spanish pairing, is the fact that when looking at the top doubles teams on the ATP Tour, not all come from the same country. Some of the pairings they will have to face in Paris might have more experience playing in doubles than both of them.
Still, doubles matches are quite notorious for requiring chemistry because of their fast-paced, unpredictable nature, so a couple of points here and there can decide the match.
For Alcaraz and Nadal, the singles likely take priority, but they will give it their all and live with the result in doubles, as they are aware that with their history at Roland Garros, they are certainly capable of challenging for a medal.