“I don’t understand,” Rafael Nadal furious with ‘outrageous’ Olympics scheduling
Rafael Nadal is scheduled to play his opening singles match on Sunday at 2 pm local time.
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Rafael Nadal (via Imago)
Rafael Nadal made a fantastic start to his Olympic gold medal bid in doubles. On Saturday, pairing with Carlos Alcaraz, he won 7-6, 6-4 against the Argentine pair, Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.
However, Nadal’s participation in the men’s singles draw remains uncertain. The ‘King of Clay’ is projected to play Marton Fucsovics in his singles opening round at 2 pm local time on Sunday, which is just 16 hours after his doubles match ended. The left-hander was extremely furious with the Olympic scheduling.
At 2:00 pm I'm playing? I don't understand, it's 10:00 pm at night right now. It is outrageous to me.Rafael Nadal spoke in his post-match interview (H/T: cadenaser)
Nadal isn’t the only one who has criticized the Olympic Tennis Association. He was joined by Novak Djokovic, who called out the Olympic format for putting Matthew Ebden in the opening round against him. The Australian has already retired from singles and was given the entry to replace Holger Rune.
Nadal has already seen the impact of playing singles and doubles simultaneously on his body in the past week at Bastad. Hence, it is very likely that he will commit to doubles only in his final Olympic games.
Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz’s first match ever as a doubles pair starts on strong front
Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal started strong in their first doubles match at the Paris 2024 Olympics. They beat the sixth-seeded Argentine pair, Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, with a score of 7-6(4), 6-4, and advanced to the second round.
Alcaraz, who had earlier won his singles match, had a shaky start. He lost his serve in the first game and had to save two break points in his second service game. Nadal, with his experience at his fourth Olympics, helped calm the team. He hit impressive forehand winners and showed quick reflexes at the net.
Both players wore red shirts and white shorts. They used a ‘two back’ strategy on return, with Nadal on the deuce side. They aimed to control rallies by using angles and moving forward. They got a mini-break at 3/3 in the first set tie-break when Alcaraz hit a forehand that deflected off Gonzalez’s racket.
In the second set, Alcaraz and Nadal were down 0-3 but then won three straight games. They broke serve at 4-4, and Nadal served out the match. Fans cheered for the 22-time Grand Slam champion as they played under the Court-Philippe Chatrier roof.
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Fahad Hamid
(646 Articles Published)