The Spanish duo have confirmed they will play together as Spain’s official men’s doubles team at the Paris 2024 Olympics next month

It’s official. Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz will team up to represent Spain in the men’s doubles event at this year’s upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.

After months of speculation, Spain’s Olympic tennis captain David Ferrer today confirmed what many in Spain and beyond had been hoping to hear for some time – two of the biggest names in the sport will unite to form an inter-generational doubles team to be reckoned with.

At the same time as announcing the Nadal/Alcaraz combination, Ferrer confirmed that Nadal will not be participating in this year’s Wimbledon. The Spaniard will instead focus on his Olympics preparation.

It is a major coup both for Spanish sport and the Paris Olympics, as the marketing of the tennis event will be made much easier with the added prospect of watching Nadal and Alcaraz play alongside each other acting as a powerful incentive for potential spectators.

On the court, while 38-year-old Nadal and 21-year-old Alcaraz have never played doubles together on tour, the pair possess a joint clay-court pedigree that will be a frightening prospect for their opponents in Paris.

Nadal is a 14-time Roland-Garros champion, while Alcaraz has just won his first title at the same competition in only his fourth main-draw appearance.

They are both supreme clay-courters, who bring very different attributes to the tennis court.

With three Grand Slam titles already under his belt, current world No 2 Alcaraz will be hoping to add another prestigious feather to his cap at the Olympics this year as he enters both the singles and the doubles as one of the favourites for the gold medal.

Nadal, meanwhile, is competing in his final Olympics and will be hoping to sign off his extraordinary career at the Games with yet more success on the clay courts of Paris.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion is already an Olympic gold medallist in the singles (in 2008) and in the doubles (in 2016).

Watching the pair compete together on clay this summer should be some spectacle.