On Friday night, Rafael Nadal caused one of the biggest sighs of the opening ceremony when he unexpectedly appeared to accept the Zinedine Zidane’s Olympic torch.
On Saturday, however, Nadal was overshadowed by a man who wasn’t even present. The biggest cheer of the day at Roland Garros broke out spontaneously when fans found out Antoine Dupont’s three extraordinary attemptsand France’s first gold medal at these Games.
No matter. Nadal enjoyed a standing ovation simply for coming out, and his tennis – in a 7-6, 6-4 victory over Argentine pair Andres Molteni and Maximo Gonzalez – was exemplary. Despite concerns about his right thigh, which he had wrapped in bandages after recent soreness, he moved freely and was comfortably the strongest player on court.
Roland Garros looked different on Saturday in its Olympic blue and pink, and so did Nadal’s partner, world No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz. He had played just six previous doubles matches on the circuit, and it showed.
In the pairs format, you always look to beat the weaker player. The irony here is that the weaker player has just won Wimbledon and the French Open, one after another. But that was a solo competition, where sight lines and tactics are very different. At least Alcaraz improved towards the end of these 105 minutes, so reminding everyone what a great player he is. fiercely fast learner he is.
On a rain-affected opening day of Olympic tennis, this was one of only two doubles matches played, and the Spaniards will have to wait to see whether they face the Dutch or Hungarian pair in the next round.
Nadal, meanwhile, remains in the singles schedule on Sunday, with Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics in his sights, which will give us a better idea of his fitness, although it must be said that his doubles performance was very encouraging.
Earlier, top singles seed Novak Djokovic had won his first-round match in just 53 minutes, dropping just one game along the way.
The Serbian was not entirely satisfied, however. After the match, he wondered why he had found himself up against Australian Matthew Ebden, a doubles specialist who had last played a singles match on the circuit more than two years ago.
“Look, I don’t really understand the rules, they’re not very logical for me,” Djokovic said after his 6-0, 6-1 victory. “If someone withdraws or cancels before or when the draw is made, then the doubles players are called to play singles.
“To be honest, I don’t think it’s a good image for the sport. There were a lot of individual players who had a lot of time, who were substitutes, who could have been called up to participate.”
In response, organisers pointed to the complexities surrounding the event. “Tennis is one of 32 sports participating in the Olympic Games,” said an International Tennis Federation spokesperson. “With 10,500 athletes and 206 National Olympic Committees, it is logistically extremely difficult, and there has to be a cut-off point for off-site replacements. We have worked hard with the IOC to push the deadline back as far as possible given the tennis schedule.”
The last day on which it would have been possible to bring in new singles players was July 19. Since then, four men – Andy Murray, Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune and Herbert Hurkacz – have withdrawn, leaving the event with some unexpected faces in the draw.
In an Instagram post, Ebden said: “I was lucky in my singles career to have played against Federer, Nadal, Murray and I played on all the big centre courts in the world but I never played on (Court Philippe) Chatrier and I never played against Novak so a miracle happened… (It was a) perfect way to retire from my singles career.”
