“The protected ranking in the Games is not fair, even if it is Nadal”

Roland Garros has entered its final stagebut already have thoughts on another of this summer’s great events: the Paris Games.

One of those called to star in the French capital is Rafa Nadal. The Spaniard returned home after crashing out in the first round of the French Grand Slam after a match against Alexander Zverev in which he showed significant improvement that left him optimistic for the Olympic event.

Despite being ranked 275th in the ATP, Nadal will have a ticket to Paris 2024 thanks to the protected rankingwhich allows him to play up to nine tournaments with the classification he had before his injury absence.

Furthermore, in the case of the Olympic Games, two places are reserved for Olympic champions or Grand Slam winners who do not qualify by ranking, as long as they are among the 400 best in the world.

Nadal’s presence in Paris with a protected rank has one victim, Pedro Martínez. The Valencian, who is currently the third Spaniard with the best ranking (48) after Carlos Alcaraz (3) and Alejandro Davidovich (32), expressed his disapproval of this situation, which for him is unfair.

“The protected ranking in the Olympic Games is unfair, regardless of whether it is Nadal, which we all want to see there, even me as a fan. “I think this year I deserve to go,” he lamented.

“It’s like I’m injured now and in four years I’ll be using the protected ranking at the Los Angeles Games.Martinez added.

So, and barring a last-minute setback, the four Spanish tennis players who will go to the Paris Games to play in the individual draw are Carlos Alcaraz, Alejandro Davidovich, Rafa Nadal and Pablo Carreño, who will also use the protected rank after returning to Roland Garros after almost a year off.

Spain will also have two couples on the doubles table, and everything indicates that one of them will be Nadal and Alcaraz.while Marcel Granollers will lead the other with a partner yet to be decided.