Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz are getting the hang of this doubles thing, improving to 2-0 as a team at the Paris Olympics and moving into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 10-2 match tiebreaker victory over Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands on Tuesday night.
Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz - The Canadian PressPARIS — Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz are getting the hang of this doubles thing, improving to 2-0 as a team at the Paris Olympics and moving into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-7 , 10-2 match tiebreaker victory over Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands on Tuesday night.
As has been the case throughout tennis at this Summer Games, the attention was fully on the 38-year-old Nadal, owner of 22 Grand Slam titles and two gold medals, and the 21-year-old Alcaraz, whose major trophy total already is at four, including from the French Open last month and Wimbledon this month.
In the scorching morning, more than six hours before this doubles match began, fans crowded into tiny Court 3 a short walk away for a practice session with Nadal at one baseline and Alcaraz at the other. Some folks waited in lines dozens deep hoping to get in to catch at least a glimpse of the two stars.
Koolhof, a former doubles No. 1 and the 2023 men's doubles champion at Wimbledon, and Griekspoor were introduced first, to polite applause and yells from their orange-clad Dutch supporters. Then came Nadal and Alcaraz —"Nadalcaraz," as some have coined them — and the noise was rather substantial. As at Nadal's previous outings at these Olympics, the chants of “Ra-fa!” or shouts of “Vamos, Rafa!” or “Let's go, Rafa! Let's go!” were forceful and frequent.
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