Rafael Nadal sparks Olympics panic after suffering injury ‘setback’ before Alcaraz doubles

Rafael Nadal has been dealt a fresh injury blow on the eve of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nadal had been set to compete in the Summer Games for the final time in France, entered into both the men’s singles and the doubles with Carlos Alcaraz. His partnership with the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion had been billed as one of the upcoming highlights at Roland Garros, with an all-time great teaming up with the sport’s newest star.

However, that prospect could now be in jeopardy after Nadal, 38, reportedly cancelled a practice session on Thursday after picking up a thigh injury. According to Metro, the 2008 Beijing gold medalist has been seen with the upper part of his leg bandaged just a day before the opening ceremony takes place. The development comes on the same day that the Spanish icon learnt he would face Hungarian Marton Fucsovics in the first round of the singles event.

And winning that would in all likelihood, pave the way for a huge second round clash with Novak Djokovic. The Serbian has made no secret of his desire to win a first Olympic gold in Paris, one of the few accomplishments to have evaded him in his esteemed career. In the doubles, Nadal and Alcaraz are currently set to take on the Argentine duo Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni first up. But speculation over whether the 22-time Grand Slam champion will be seen in either format is now set to be rife after calling off his proposed training session with Alexander Zverev.

Nadal’s coach, Carlos Moya, explained to Radioestadio Noche: “It was a setback and we decided that today Rafa would rest and not train to recover.” We are going to give ourselves 48 hours, we have to wait. The Nadal-Alcaraz double is something to fall in love with” Nadal skipped Wimbledon this year in order to focus on being fit for Paris, and showed glimpses of form this month when he made the final of the Bastad Open in Sweden. However, after his final defeat to Nuno Borges, he admitted he had struggled with the physical demands of the tournament.

And organisers will now be panicking over the prospect of another high-profile withdrawal. The news of Nadal’s injury comes on the same day that both top seed Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune withdrew from the men’s events. Andy Murray, who will retire after the tournament, is also out of the men’s singles. The Scot will compete in the doubles with Dan Evans, but has not fully recovered from the back problem that also reduced his participation at Wimbledon.

And to compound matters, Polish player Hubert Hurkacz has also failed to recover from a knee injury picked up at SW19. The world No.7 has stated that although he targeted being fit for Paris, he is now unlikely to return to action until 2025.