It’s clear that Rafael Nadal has made the Paris Olympics his main priority for the remainder of the season and is already exploring multiple options to prepare.
Nadal lost in the first round of his most recent tournament at Roland Garros. It was a historic defeat in the sense that he’d dominated the clay-court Grand Slam throughout his career, winning a record 14 titles and only losing three times in 19 years.
But the draw couldn’t have been any worse for him, as he was slated to play fourth Alexader Zverev, the eventual runner-up. Because his ranking was not among the Top 32 players in the world, he was unseeded and did not receive any special treatment from the organizers.
He would use a protected ranking to qualify for the main draw and lost in straight sets to Zverev. The 38-year-old is currently in his second comeback this year after recovering from a hip injury he sustained earlier this season when he played in Brisbane.
Although he wants to play beyond 2024, Nadal has not committed himself to that possibility and wants to see how his body will respond to whatever is left of the current season. So far, his objective is to play singles and doubles tournaments at the Olympics.
Because this year’s Games will be played on the clay courts of Roland Garros, Nadal does not intend to play during the grass-court swing. This was evident from pictures emerging from his most recent training session at his academy in Mallorca.
In the doubles tournament, Nadal hopes to team up with World No. 2 and newly crowned Roland Garros champion Carlos Alcaraz. But the scheduling complications and the 21-year-old’s busy schedule on grass will make it quite challenging.
But according to Spanish radio COPE, Nadal wants to play in the ATP 500 event in Hamburg in mid-July as this would be a perfect warmup tournament for the Olympics.
The same report also suggests that the 22-time major champion will “convince” Alcaraz to join him in the doubles draw to form some chemistry before going back to Paris.