Rafael Nadal to represent Spain at Paris Olympics

League: Tennis


Posted on: 12 Jun, 2024 at 03:14 PM

Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

Two-time gold medalist Rafael Nadal will represent Spain at the upcoming Paris Olympics, the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation announced Wednesday.

Nadal, 38, and Carlos Alcaraz, 21, will play in both singles and doubles at Roland Garros, where the former is a record 14-time French Open champion and the latter lifted his first French Open trophy on Sunday.

Nadal won a gold medal in singles at the 2008 Beijing Games and captured a gold in doubles (with Marc Lopez) at the 2016 Rio Games. This will be the first Olympics for Alcaraz, who is ranked No. 2 in the world.

David Ferrer, Spain's national team coach, confirmed that Nadal and Alcaraz will play doubles together. Spain also selected Pablo Carreno Busta, Alejandro Davidovich and Marcel Granollers for the Paris roster.

Nadal, who has battled injuries over the past two years, previously said that he would consider skipping Wimbledon to prepare for Paris.

"My main goal now is to play Olympics," he said after losing in the first round of the French Open on May 27. "That's going to be here. So I need to prepare myself the proper way to try to arrive here healthy and well prepared, and then let's see."

--Field Level Media