By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Saturday, July 27, 2024
Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal won six of the last seven games stopping Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 7-6(4), 6-4 to reach the Paris Olympics second round.
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Soaring above the red clay, Rafael Nadal slammed down a smash with exclamation point power.
The Spanish Dream Team faced a reality check in their Olympic debut.
More: Tennis Lights Up Paris Opening Ceremony
Swarming net on pivotal points, major champions Carlos Alcaraz and Nadal won six of the last seven games stopping Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 7-6(4), 6-4 to advance to the Paris Olympic doubles second round.
Playing beneath the closed roof of Court Philippe Chatrier before a packed and festive crowd, all four players shined at times during a quality match.
They've been branded everything from "Nadalcaraz" to "Rafalitos" to "Rafaraz" and the antcipation fans had for this historic pairing of king of clay Nadal with reigning Roland Garros ruler Alcaraz was clear from the rousing cheers the pair were greeted with as they stepped on court.
Wimbledon winner Alcaraz said it would be his “dream” to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Nadal as Olympic doubles partners. Both Grand Slam champions exuded passion in their debut together today.
Fans erupted in the wave at one point in the opening set then started a spontaneous chant of “Rafa! Rafa!” before one of the former world No. 1’s service games.
Playing with strapping wrapping his right thigh, Nadal moved well and showed all-court aggression. Spain rallied from a love-3 deficit in the second set with some declarative down the line strikes from Nadal and heavy Alcaraz forehands .
Two-time Olympic gold medal champion Nadal is competing for a third gold-medal in his Roland Garros return a month-and-a-half after Olympic gold-medal champion Alexander Zverev knocked him out of the Roland Garros first round.
Now, the question is will Nadal play his singles match?
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic destroyed Aussie Matthew Ebden 6-0, 6-1 earlier today on Court Philippe Chatrier and awaits the winner of the singles match between Nadal and Hungarian Marton Fucsovics in the second round.
If Nadal wins that singles opener, he would square off against Djokovic in Episode 60 of the most prolific rivalry in ATP history. Djokovic holds a 30-29 edge over archrival Nadal in their head-to-head series.
For much of today’s opening set, Argentina was holding serve more effectively.
Slashing a pair of jolting forehand strikes down the line, Nadal held at 15 putting Spain up 6-5.
In the opening-set tiebreaker, Alcaraz threw down a smash for 2-all.
The tiebreaker turned on a net-code shot.
A rocket forehand from Alcaraz skimmed net—that change in trajectory gave Gonzalez no chance as Spain snatched the mini break and a 4-3 lead. Alcaraz ripped a forehand drive volley and finished with a smash for 5-3.
Playing a forehand lob over Molteni’s head, Alcaraz set up Nadal for a smash and triple set point.
On the first set point, the Argentinean side won a net exchange for 4-6.
On the second set point, Nadal spun a backhand return winner down the line to close it. The Spanish side hit nine more winners—19 to 10—in the opening set though Argentina held with more conviction for most of the set.
The sixth-seeded Argentinean side burst out to a 3-0 second-set lead. Spain responded with a three-game run of its own.
Alcaraz zapped a forehand winner down the middle holding at love to level the second set after eight games.
Nadal played a spinny, short backhand and drew an error from Gonzalez for break point on Molteni’s serve in the ninth game.
Measuring his backhand return, Alcaraz trampolined off the court as he bolted a backhand crosscourt to rattle out the break and a 5-4 lead.
The 14-time Roland Garros champion crunched a smash down the middle for double match point at 40-15.
On their second match point, Alcaraz blocked a self-preservation volley to end it.
Alcaraz and Nadal will play either Dutchmen Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof or Hungarians Marton Fucsovics and Fabian Marozsan in round two.
Nadal is bidding to join It is the British Reginald Doherty, who struck gold in doubles and mixed doubles in Paris 1900 before winning a doubles gold medal in London 1908, as just the second man in history to win three Olympic tennis gold medals. Nadal won the gold medal in singles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics then partnered buddy Marc Lopez to capture gold in doubles at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.