Carlos Alcaraz may have shut down the prospect of playing a doubles tournament with Rafael Nadal leading up to the Paris Olympics as the reigning French Open champion says he doesn’t think that there is “enough time” to train alongside his idol for the Olympics doubles event.

Just lately, Alcaraz, 21, and 37-year-old Nadal publicly announced that they will play doubles together in the Paris Olympics unless something unforeseen happens.

But the Paris Olympics arrive at a tough moment as the event is starting on July 26th on the clay courts at Roland Garros. Now, the tough aspect is that after winning the French Open, Alcaraz is now poised to play on grass and then return to clay for the Olympics.

On the other hand, Nadal is likely intending to forego the entire grass season, which means he won’t have to bother himself about making a rapid turnaround between surfaces.

This week, a report from Spanish media stated Nadal might use an ATP 500 clay tournament in Hamburg as a preparation for the Paris Olympics. Also, a source indicates Nadal may try to convince Alcaraz to attend the Hamburg doubles competition with him. But since Hamburg is starting just a day after Wimbledon ends, the natural question is how much sense it makes.

However, while Alcaraz agrees there likely won’t be time to practice for doubles with Nadal, he acknowledges that the 22-time Grand Slam champion has the capacity to swiftly adjust to any setting, which means they probably wouldn’t need much time to create chemistry on the court.

“Well, in principle my calendar, now, is Queen’s, Wimbledon, and the Olympic Games. I don’t think we have time to prepare for the doubles with Nadal,” Alcaraz told Radio Marca.

“Rafa knows how to pick up the pace in the doubles. He knows what it is to compete and win the gold in both singles and doubles, we will strive to adjust in the best way possible ahead of the games.”

Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal© Getty Images Sport – Clive Brunskill

Alcaraz and Nadal openly revealed the huge news in Madrid

Throughout 2023, there was a lot of speculation about whether Nadal and Alcaraz would play doubles together in what would presumably be the 22-time Grand Slam champion’s Olympic farewell While Alcaraz made it plain from the start that he would have nothing against that, Nadal didn’t want to make any concrete pronouncements.

And at this year’s Madrid Masters, Alcaraz stated he and Nadal will play doubles at the Paris Olympics.

“If everything goes to plan, like I have already said, we will play the doubles together at the Olympics. But there is a long way to go till it gets underway,” Alcaraz stated at the Madrid Masters.

Carlos Alcaraz© Getty Images Sport – Marcelo Endelli

In Madrid, Nadal also confirmed the doubles news and also disclosed he would prefer to play a doubles competition with Alcaraz before the Paris Olympics.

“Carlos doesn’t have to ask me anything, if everything goes good, we will play. It’s also really exciting for me. If I’m not mistaken, I’ve heard that this is also the case for him,” Nadal remarked at the Madrid Masters

“So it would be great to play a tournament before the Olympics to prepare and to come to grips with the court. We could have the chance to establish a fantastic team and strive to big things.”

Alcaraz remarked right away playing a doubles tournament with Nadal before would be ‘tough’

In Madrid, Alcaraz stated it would probably be good to play a warm-up doubles with Nadal. However, Alcaraz remarked that would be something “difficult” to foresee as they were struggling with physical difficulties and playing doubles at the Rome Masters and French Open wasn’t an option.

“We have said how wonderful it would be to play a tournament before the Olympics,” Alcaraz said in Madrid.

“But that will be difficult. On clay the next two tournaments are Rome and Roland Garros, which are incredibly important to both of us in terms of the singles. Considering we are not at our physical prime, it will be tough to play both a tournament and the Olympics.”

A few of days after Alcaraz made this declaration, he backed out of Rome due to a right forearm ailment. That’s when Nadal conceded it would be “difficult” to play a doubles competition with Alcaraz before the Paris Olympics.

“Looks difficult. I don’t know yet. He got injured in Madrid. I was not with enough good physical conditions to play before. Looks challenging because not remaining plenty of competitions that we can play together before Olympics. Only Roland-Garros remains, and that will not be the case. I don’t know later. Looks difficult, but let’s see,” Nadal said in Rome.