The pairing-up of tennis legend Rafael Nadal and young star Carlos Alcaraz melted the hearts of many fans, causing all the more heartbreak when the team lost in the quarterfinals.
Tennis lovers were delighted when two of Spain’s most well-known players, Nadal and Alcaraz, decided to pair up for men’s doubles in the 2024 Olympics.
Fans were quick to give the duo a catchy team name: “Nadalcaraz.”
Even though Alcaraz was an Olympics first-timer, he had recently been a nearly unstoppable singles player in other tournaments.
The fans were hopeful. They were already dreaming that Nadalcaraz would win gold. Besides, Nadal, the more experienced team member, already held two Olympic gold medals.
The pair entered the Olympics as two independently successful and widely beloved players.
The world was on their side.
@.6phh NADALCARAZ #nadal #alcaraz #paris2024 @Carlos Alcaraz 🧠❤️🥚🥚 @Rafael Nadal
♬ sonido original – peache
Rounds 1 and 2: Early successes
Nadalcaraz played in the first men’s doubles match of the Olympics on July 27. The pair — especially Alcaraz — had a shaky start.
It was the first time Nadal and Alcaraz played on the same side of the court. The first set was full of errors, missed shots, and positioning issues, especially when the pair bunched together and left wide parts of their court vulnerable.
But soon, they adjusted to their more doubles-experienced opponents, Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni. With Nadal often taking the team’s reins, Nadalcaraz won the first set, and a passionate celebration filled the stadium.
In the second set, Nadal and Alcaraz had settled into a steadier rhythm. They played faster points than in the first set, and they hit more balls past their opponents.
Nadalcaraz emerged with a straight-sets win, 7-6, 6-4, with Alcaraz hitting the winning shot gracefully at the net.
One of the match commentators compared Nadalcaraz to the “dynamic duo” Batman and Robin, a classic example of a powerful mentor-mentee team.
On July 30, Nadalcaraz kept up the momentum in their match against Wesley Koolhof and Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands.
Though still having positioning problems, Nadal and Alcaraz otherwise played more smoothly as a team, hitting formidable shots and winning unlikely points.
They reacted quickly to their opponents, made skillful ball placements, played with power, and were sometimes downright lucky.
NBC’s play-by-play announcers Mary Carillo and Jimmy Arias agreed during the broadcast that Alcaraz was improving his doubles game by the hour.
Nadalcaraz dropped one set but went on to dominate in the tiebreak, finishing with a victorious score of 6-4, 6-7, 10-2.
Quarterfinals: The tide turns
The next day was already the quarterfinal round. Nadalcaraz would face Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, an experienced American team.
Early on, Nadal and Alcaraz were on the defensive, fending off tricky shots from the Americans. Krajicek and Ram broke Nadalcaraz’s serve in the first game and won the first set in forty-five minutes.
Throughout the second set, Nadalcaraz had their fair share of good plays and strong serves. But the Americans made fewer errors, expertly slipped the ball past the Spaniards, and covered their side of the court almost seamlessly.
In under two hours, Krajicek and Ram claimed the match in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-4. Krajicek ended the match, and Nadalcaraz’s Olympic journey, with an ace.
Krajicek and Ram went on to win the silver medal.
Why Nadalcaraz fell
Fans had hoped the combined strengths of Nadal and Alcaraz would be enough to make the pair unstoppable. One was a tennis legend; the other was a rising star who had the momentum of youth at his side.
But that was no guarantee that Nadalcaraz would be infallible.
Rather than counting on their individual skills, the best doubles players work together, even during the toughest and fastest-moving plays.
The world-famous Nadal and Alcaraz turned out to be no match for the Americans Krajicek and Ram, who are hardly household names.
How did Nadalcaraz lose?
Seasoned opponents
Though lesser-known players, Krajicek and Ram entered the match as the more experienced doubles team. They have won seven Grand Slam titles between the two of them.
“We’re good friends, we’ve played a lot on tour before,” Ram said of his partnership with Krajicek in an interview for NBC Sports.
On the contrary, the 2024 Olympics was Nadal and Alcaraz’s first time pairing up. There were bound to be some bumps in the road.
In addition to their comfort as a team, Krajicek and Ram performed brilliantly in their match against Nadalcaraz. They covered their court and reacted fast, even while both of them were at the net — a skill that Nadalcaraz lacked.
The Americans moved together, and verbally communicated during points, better than the Spaniards did.
The different world of doubles
Nadal and Alcaraz primarily focus on singles, although Nadal is the more experienced doubles player: He won a gold medal in the 2016 Olympic men’s doubles.
As a guide by Nike explained, doubles is a parallel universe to singles.
In doubles, players hit the ball over a larger surface area. Zones that are out of bounds in singles become in-bounds in doubles. But because there are four people on the court, each player typically runs around less than they would in singles.
This means the key skills and positions of doubles are different. Most of the time, one player from each team is positioned at the net, waiting to volley. Volleys are essential: Players need to react quickly and accurately.
Above all, teamwork in doubles can be more important than either player’s individual talent.
Nadal and Alcaraz may have been unaccustomed to playing together, thrown off by the doubles format, tired from their singles matches, or overwhelmed by the pressure to win. But almost anything could have accounted for their loss.
Nadalcaraz’s bittersweet ending
During every one of Nadalcaraz’s Olympic matches, the stadium was jam-packed. The crowds adored Spain’s new dream duo, and they made sure to show it.
Fans in the stands chanted, danced, and waved Spanish flags and handmade signs. They erupted in cheers after every point Nadalcaraz won. When Nadalcaraz claimed victory in their first two matches, the stadium went wild.
The disappointment was just as tangible when the dream team, who captured everyone’s heart, was beaten in the quarterfinals.
The first thing Nadal did was bring his younger partner in for a hug.
An Instagram post by La Vanguardia, originally written in Spanish, translated to, “It was nice while it lasted: Goodbye to ‘Nadalcaraz,’ the dream team in these Olympics.”
Under online posts that celebrated Nadalcaraz’s journey through the Olympics, clapping emojis, heart emojis, and words of support flooded comment sections.
“Que buena representación,” one commenter wrote on Instagram (Translation: What a good representation [of Spain]).
“Nadalcaraz will always be legendary,” read another comment on one of Alcaraz’s Instagram posts.
Other social media posts expressed grief about the defeat of Spain’s “dream team.”
@valeria.robless el sentimiento de Nadalcaraz es real 💔 #womeninsports #nadalcaraz #olympics #tennis #tennistiktok
♬ Corazón partío – Alejandro Sanz
A TikTok video posted by Valeria Robles reflected the devastation of many Nadalcaraz fans. The Spanish text translated to: “The tennis girlies and I when we saw that Nadal and Alcaraz are out of the Olympics.”
After Nadalcaraz’s loss, Alcaraz posted a photo of himself and Nadal smiling together on the court, a tribute to the brief existence of Nadalcaraz.
Alcaraz’s caption, written in Spanish, thanked Nadal for sharing the court with him. The younger player wrote that the experience was special, as well as a learning experience.
Alcaraz
Among all of Nadalcaraz’s opponents, Alcaraz was the youngest, and he was one of two Olympic first-timers.
As the team’s less experienced doubles player, Alcaraz was the weaker link, even though he appeared to put his maximum effort into every point.
NBC’s commentators noted that throughout Nadalcaraz’s matches, Alcaraz continually struggled with his positioning and at-the-net reactions — two crucial elements of doubles.
After the defeat of Nadalcaraz, Alcaraz plowed on through the Olympic singles. He reached the championship round but lost to 37-year-old tennis superstar Novak Djokovic.
During an on-court interview with Eurosport’s Alex Corretja, Alcaraz appeared too emotional to speak. Alcaraz later said he felt he had let the people of Spain down. Fans could not disagree more.
Despite his Olympic losses, Alcaraz is a still-rising star and already an incredibly successful player.
At just 21 years old, he is ranked #3 in the world in men’s singles and has won four Grand Slam titles.
Alcaraz beat Djokovic in the Wimbledon championship in three sets last month. In June, he won his first French Open.
As Nadal put it, Alcaraz may be becoming one of the best tennis players in history. Nadal also took to X to express support for Alcaraz after his loss to Djokovic.
Nadal
In the early Olympic singles rounds, Nadal met the same fate as Alcaraz later would, losing to Djokovic two days before Nadalcaraz’s quarterfinal defeat.
Nadal is 38 years old, and injuries have limited his tennis abilities for the past two years. He is admittedly winding his career down.
Fans and commentators have speculated that this year’s Olympics may have been Nadal’s last appearance at Roland Garros, or possibly his last match ever.
The 2024 Olympic tennis matches took place on the clay courts of Roland Garros. The venue, also home to the annual French Open, is meaningful for Nadal. He is known for his unmatched French Open successes: A record 14 tournament wins earned him the nickname “King of Clay.”
But this year, the King of Clay did not even come close to lifting a French Open trophy.
In a video posted by Eurosport, fans voiced their love for Nadal after his first-round French Open loss in May. Many of them were dressed in Nadal’s merchandise. Others were dressed as him.
@eurosport “Tennis 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅” The fans thoughts on Rafael Nadal ❤️🇪🇸 #RolandGarros #Rafa #Kingofclay #fans #love
♬ original sound – Eurosport
When asked, “What is Nadal for you,” one fan had an enthusiastic answer: “Everything! The whole world!”
Nadal’s fans may have been rooting for him more fervently than ever during the Olympics. Between the location of Roland Garros and Nadal’s late-stage career, the conditions seemed just right for one last hurrah.
Even after Nadal lost in singles, fans clung to the dream that Nadalcaraz would win the gold in doubles. There was much disappointment when the team lost without any medal at all.
“Is that the last time we will ever see Rafael Nadal [on a French Open court]?” NBC commentator Mary Carillo asked after Nadalcaraz’s loss.
“I would say yes, Mary,” answered the other commentator, Rennae Stubbs.
Nadal has not officially announced plans to retire, but he is said to make a decision after the Olympics end.
One thing is for certain: Whatever Nadal’s next move is, his loyal fans will be by his side.
“Rafa,” read one supporter’s sign at Nadalcaraz’s quarterfinal match, “Siempre serás mi número 1 (Translation: You will always be my number one).
During an interview with NBC after Nadalcaraz’s defeat, Nadal’s fans could be heard in the background chanting, “Rafa! Rafa! Rafa!”
Despite Nadal’s fame, he is known to be level-headed, humble, and philosophical — perhaps why he is so widely admired.
In an interview with Corretja after the loss of Nadalcaraz, Nadal offered a piece of wisdom:
“It has not ended in the way that we had dreamed,” Nadal said in Spanish, “But that’s sports, isn’t it? You win, you lose.”
Gary
August 13, 2024 at 3:23 am
I thorough enjoyed reading this journey through the brief but legendary Nadalcaraz. All the best to both Nadal and Alcaraz!