Nadal’s participation in the Olympics was confirmed by the Spanish Tennis Federation on Wednesday. The 38-year-old is using his protected ranking of No. 9 to enter the tennis contest. Carlos Alcaraz, Pablo Carreno Busta and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina will also represent Spain in the singles.
Nadal will also compete in the men’s doubles draw in a highly-anticipated partnership with Alcaraz. Nadal already has gold medals in both singles and doubles from 2008 and 2016 respectively.
Alcaraz could decide to join Nadal in Bastad so they can practice for the doubles together. But the world No. 2 will likely have his sights set on Wimbledon, where he is the defending champion. He has already all but ruled out playing doubles with Nadal before the Olympics.
“Well, in principle my calendar, now, is Queens, Wimbledon, and the Olympic Games. I don’t think we have time to prepare for the doubles with Nadal,” he told Radio Marca. “Rafa knows how to pick up the pace in the doubles. He knows what it is to play and win the gold in both singles and doubles, we will try to adapt in the best way possible ahead of the Games.”
