Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz’s unexpected reunion with this legendary former World No. 1 ahead of Netflix Slam takes the internet by storm

Rafael Nadal will face Carlos Alcaraz at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas on March 3.

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz’s unexpected reunion with this legendary former World No. 1 ahead of Netflix Slam takes the internet by storm

L-R: Carlos Alcaraz, Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal (Source: Instagram/@rafaelnadal)

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz have already reached Las Vegas for their exhibition match at the Michelob Ultra Arena, which will be streamed live on Netflix. The streaming platform is marketing this much-anticipated match as ‘the Netflix Slam’. The close proximity of this match with the Indian Wells and the fact that Alcaraz is not fully fit have made the Netflix Slam a pretty hyped event. 

Nadal and Novak Djokovic reached the Indian Wells tennis garden together to start their respective preparations for the BNP Paribas Open about a week ago and they were joined shortly by Carlos Alcaraz. The two Spaniards recently traveled to Las Vegas for their exhibition match. There, they met the tennis legend Andre Agassi. Nadal and Alcaraz posted a picture of them with Agassi on Instagram in collaboration and it went viral on the internet in no time. “Hello Las Vegas,“ the caption of the post read. 

Carlos Alcaraz’s participation in the event was a big question mark a few days ago, as he recently suffered a grade 2 ankle injury during his first-round match in the Rio Open against Thiago Monteiro, which forced him to give a walkover. However, the Spaniard has decided to take part in the exhibition match. This indeed is a risky decision because the Indian Wells kicks off in a few days and the World No. 2 would definitely not like to miss it. 

On the other hand, Rafael Nadal will return to the court at Indian Wells. After a year-long break due to a hip injury, the Spaniard finally made his comeback in the 2024 Brisbane International. That too was short-lived, as he suffered a muscle issue during his quarterfinal match against Jordan Thompson. He had to miss the Australian Open due to that and is finally returning to the Indian Wells.

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz set to receive a massive paycheck from Netflix 

One of the reasons why Carlos Alcaraz has decided to take part in the Netflix Slam despite the short time that he got to recover from his injury might be the fact that both he and Nadal will get significantly richer. Nadal and Alcaraz normally charge an appearance fee of $1 million and $900,000 respectively, and their earnings from the Netflix Open may cross the $2 million mark, including the bonuses. 

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal (via Imago)

Now, whether the lucrative paycheck is a good enough tradeoff for the risk of missing out on the Indian Wells if things go haywire is highly debatable. The Spaniard played a similar exhibition match against Novak Djokovic before the start of the season in the Riyadh Season Tennis Cup. Alcaraz won the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

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