It’s a tough draw for Nadal, who will face Djokovic in the second round and that’s enough for Alcaraz

“The pain helped me appreciate the good things that happened to me,” he said. Rafael Nadalthat at 38 years old is clear some Olympic Games as in Paris, they deserve the extra effort. Another in a long list of 20 years of suffering. A player who makes sure that losing doesn’t break him because he is more of a competitor than a winner. Such is the charisma of the Mallorcan player that relegates him to the most successful tennis player in history, Novak Djokovic, in the media background. The Serbian is looking for the only major title missing from his record, Olympic gold, and destiny has matched them at the top of the table. nadal will debut against the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (#83 ATP) and Djokovic against the Australians Matthew Ebden (since 2022 he has only played in doubles) and if they both win on their debut, they will face off in a historic duel in the second round. Between the two they merge 17 titles of Roland Garros and won 208 matches on these courts -14 (112) for Nadal and 3 (96) for Nole-.

In its part, Carlos AlcarazSpain’s main medal option, will have a more affordable route to the bottom of the draw and will debut against the Lebanese Hadi Habib, number 275 in the ATP ranking. If the Murcian wins Olympic gold, he will be the youngest tennis player to do so in 128 years and the second youngest in history behind the German. Friedrich Traunwhich achieved this in the first Games in history in Athens 1896. On the other hand, if nadal achieves another gold, he will become the oldest tennis player to do so in 112 years and the fourth oldest ever, surpassed only by George Hillyard (London 1908), Arthur Gore (London 1908) and Charles Dixon (Stockholm 1912).

He tennisone of the nine sports that were part of the first edition of the 1896 Athens Games, will be played in Roland Garros of July 27 to August 4 in singles (table of 64 players), doubles (32 players) and mixed (16 players) modalities.

The big ones dominatrix The historical figures of the Olympic tournament are the sisters Serena and Venus Williams with nine medals and eight golds in total. They only won four gold medals each. To find the male tennis player with the most Olympic golds, we have to go back to London 1908, when the British Reginald Doherty He added his third title at a Games. nadal and Murray, with two gold each, could be equal or more than him. The last tennis player capable of winning two golds at the same Games was the Chilean Nicolas Massu in Athens 2004.