Alcaraz, Sinner, Nadal, Djokovic… The duels of an Olympic tournament to remember

Paris 2024 is full of incentives for great tennis claimsof the circuit, which every four years puts aside the tension and frenetic pace it imposes for one week and another each season, non-stop, to be part of the biggest celebration in sport, the Olympic Games.

Paris 2024 sharpened the crossing of paths, the generational shift that tennis has seen in recent times. The legendary and incomparable ‘Big Three’, now, since Roger Federer said goodbye, has become a ‘Big Two’ broken, with Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, assuming the secondary role he had to digest. the unstoppable rise of the youngest, Jannik Sinner, world number one, and Carlos Alcaraz.

While Djokovic and Nadal face off in the final Olympic dance, Sinner and Alcaraz face off in their Games debut. Different incentives for good racket referrals. Still all part of the present, of the present. Some, by the way, in their last stretch. The other two, as a starting point.

What is the most anticipated match in Paris? A new chapter of legendary, traditional heads-ups, full of pending accounts and comings and goings between Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic, or the establishment of the rivalry that points to history between Sinner and Alcaraz, the heirs. Or the crossing of both generations. A Spaniard in front, between the best of all time or his successor, who aims to be. Or the Italian, number one, against the greedy Serbian, the top… All of them, the four, have arguments.

Rafa Nadal has focused his season, in large part, on Paris 2024. For the winner of 22 Grand Slams, always committed to team competitions, representing Spain, always ready to compete in the Davis Cup, the Olympic tournament is a perfect point to start the retirement towards which his career will inevitably lead.

The clay, the Roland Garros stadium, where he reigned many times. There is no better challenge at this point that will tell if you can reach the level of competition you are aiming for. The 38-year-old Spaniard, who was present in Athens 2004 only in doubles, and Olympic champion in Beijing 2008 as an individual and in Rio 2016 with Marc López in the pairs event, faces his fourth appearance in a game. It has already dosed its presence until 2024 to arrive, in time and form, in Paris.

After leaving 2023 blank due to his psoas injury, Nadal has only been present in seven tournaments. He was again on the circuit in Brisbane, where he lost in the quarterfinals and where he left with a hip injury. He didn’t pick up a racket until the clay season, in April, three months later, in Barcelona. He played two games. He fell to Alex de Minaur in the second leg and then went to Madrid, in the Masters 1000, where he raised his level and reached the round of 16. He played two games in Rome, getting past the Polish Hubert Hurkacz and Alexander Zverev was undefeated in his debut at Roland Garros. It comes from playing and losing in the final of the Bastad tournament.

Healthy, which is the most important thing, highlighted his preparation and hopes for the Olympic Games. The land of Paris raises his expectations in this section of his career. A good draw can bring you closer to the podium. In doubles with Carlos Alcaraz he will be the great attraction of Paris. There is no such claim as the Balearic Islands and Murcia. Living history of Spanish tennis. The representation of success and the values ​​of sport.

A duel with Djokovic takes away incomparable moments, with so much at stake, with successes and failures split. The Serbian, unlike the Spanish, has never won an Olympic event. The Games are the pending topic for Balkan, who recently had meniscus surgery after Roland Garros, where he returns to fulfill one of the few goals he has left to fulfill.

The winner of 24 Grand Slams, more than anyone, has always eluded gold. He has been to the Games four times. The bronze he won at Beijing 2008, in the edition won by Nadal, where he lost in the semifinals, was the only time he was on the podium. He then went to London 2012 and lost in the semifinals against British Andy Murray and in Rio 2016 he lost in the first round, along with Juan Martín del Potro. At Tokyo 2021, Spaniard Pablo Carreño was eliminated in the semifinals, he also missed third place.

Novak Djokovic had a record recovery from his injury, arriving on time at Wimbledon and also in Paris.

Everything is new, however, for Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz who attend the Olympic event with the freshness of the new, with the excitement and curiosity of the unknown. Neither of the two current tennis leaders has been part of an Olympic expedition before. Now, they go to Paris with the responsibility of feeding the medal table of their respective countries.

The sinner leads the mighty transalpine team. He is the benchmark for the growth that tennis has given his country., with multiple rackets as the main characters of each week’s tournaments. “I’m looking forward to the Olympic Games. Obviously you play for yourself but also for Italy. It will be exciting,” said the tennis player from San Candido, world number one who returns to Roland Garros weeks after being eliminated, in the semifinals, by Carlos Alcaraz.

The Olympic Games will enjoy the transalpine explosion in 2024 where it extends the history of victories in the Australian Open, Miami Masters 1000, Rotterdam and Halle.

Everything will be new in Paris for Sinner, as well as for Carlos Alcaraz, his generational rival., the person with whom he questions the dominance of the circuit. For the Murcian, already installed at the top of the rankings, the Olympic event is full of incentives.

Winner of Wimbledon in 2023, the United States Open in 2022 and Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same campaign, he returned a few months after winning the Philipe Chatrier stage where he consolidated his level and achieved his third Grand Slam despite his youth.

The doubles tournament, with Rafa Nadal, is an additional incentive for Carlos Alcaraz that publicly placed an Olympic medal before one of the great traditional achievements that a player seeks every season.

There is something about the Olympic Games. It is desirable for applicants, for the best in a sport as professional as tennis, to put aside the routine of the circuit to descend into the daily life of other athletes. Four numbers support and encourage the battle in the Roland Garros stadium.