“Today is a difficult day…” Rafael Nadal reacts to Carlos Alcaraz’s heartbreaking defeat against Novak Djokovic at Paris Olympics
Rafael Nadal praised Carlos Alcaraz for his performance at the Paris Olympics and congratulated him on winning the silver medal.
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Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal (via Imago)
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Rafael Nadal has shared words of optimism for his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz after losing to Novak Djokovic in the Olympic final. The Spaniard, in his Games debut, lost in straight sets in the summit clash.
Both players had chances to break in the first set; however, neither converted and the set was taken to a tiebreak, where Djokovic came out on top. Despite Alcaraz’s resistance, the Serb continued to stay ahead in the second set and eventually prevailed.
Alcaraz also bidding to become the first player since Nadal to win Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the Olympic Singles medal in the same year. He will have to wait for another four years to try and achieve that.
After that match, Nadal took to social media to commend Alcaraz on winning the silver medal and praised him for his performance.
Carlos, even though I know today is a difficult day, value a medal that is very important for the whole country; eventually you will see that too. Thank you for this incredible week and for a medal you’ve given to Spanish sport.Rafael Nadal said on his Instagram stories
The Spaniards had partnered in the men’s doubles at the Paris Olympics. They did well to reach the quarterfinals, where they lost to the American pair of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.
What does losing the Olympic gold medal mean for Carlos Alcaraz?
Carlos Alcaraz suffered arguably the most devastating defeat of his career on Sunday (August 4) when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the Olympic gold medal match. After losing to the Serb in two tiebreak sets, he had to settle for a silver medal.
This is the first major final defeat in Alcaraz’s career. To date, he has looked like the man for big occasions, having reached four Grand Slam finals and winning all of them. Incidentally, two of those Grand Slam final wins were against Djokovic.
It is important to see how Alcaraz will regroup from this loss with the US Open around the corner. He experienced a similar defeat in the Cincinnati final last year against Djokovic, where he also appeared to be in tears after the match.
His form declined after that loss and he didn’t win a singles title for the remainder of the season. In his bid to reclaim the World No. 1 ranking, Alcaraz will need to put the defeat behind him and refocus quickly.
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Fahad Hamid
(628 Articles Published)