New Delhi: Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz’s dream-run ended on Wednesday after the pair suffered defeat to American players Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in the men’s doubles quarterfinals at the Court Philippe-Chatrier. It was an alliance of The Master and his Apprentice which allured millions of tennis fans across the globe before their campaign wrapped up.
Although Alcaraz will remain in contention for an Olympics medal in the men’s singles event, it was probably curtains on Nadal’s illustrious Olympics career with the 38-year-old clinching two gold medals – men’s singles gold at 2008 Beijing Games and men’s doubles gold at 2016 Rio Games along with Marc Lopez.
The embellished Spanish duo, who share a total of 26 Grand Slam titles between them, gave some life-time memories for the Indian tennis contingent at the Olympic village in Paris.
Though the Indian men’s doubles pair of Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji bowed out in the first round of men’s doubles, the pair will certainly have some incidents to share with their closed ones as Nadal and Alcaraz make a significant presence in one of those incidents.
Ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, a bunch of Indian athletes and support staff members posted pictures with Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz at the village. Among the many was Balachandran Manikkath, who was the designated coach of Bopanna-Balaji at the Summer Games. This was the first instance for the Bengaluru-based coach in his 34-year coaching career to meet one of the elite athletes in the world thanks to Bopanna’s proximity to the Spaniard.
“I have seen him (Rafael Nadal) many times standing next to me but we haven’t spoken ever. Yesterday (July 25), there was an opportunity where only he, me and Rohan were there. So Rohan introduced me to him and then I took a picture with him. I told him ‘what a great role model he is’,” the 56-year-old tennis coach told News9 Sports from Paris.
The Spanish tennis team comprising Nadal, Alcaraz, Pablo Carreno Busta, and Marcel Granollers had a moment of chatting with Bopanna and his coach when all of them were waiting for a bus under a roof as drizzles slackened the transportation facility in the French capital at that point. Coach Balachandran, who is fondly known as Balu Sir in the Indian tennis circuit, observed that Nadal was very patient and obliged to each of the photograph requests by supporters who passed from there.
For N Sriram Balaji, who has been a regular at the Grand Slam events in the last couple of years, watching Nadal is something the Coimbatore-based player is accustomed to. However, Sriram’s shy personality asked him against approaching the Spanish legend. But it was Nadal himself who went and shook hands with the Indian player when the two were training in a gym session.
“It’s always like Hi and Bye. We never had like a normal conversation. I was little hesitant to go and say ‘Hi’ because he was warming up before his practice. He came up to me and shook hands…. you see the level for what he’s played and achieved and he is still so down to earth. It’s amazing,” Sriram told News9 Sports about the ‘Down to Earth’ personality of Nadal.
Sriram understands the desire of his fellow Indian Olympians to get clicked next to the Spanish sporting icon. He said:
“We are talking about Rafa. He is a legend of the sport. We all respect what he has done for the sport and what he has achieved in the past. It’s natural for athletes of other sports to click picture with Rafa as he is not only a tennis star but a superstar.
When Carlos Alcaraz asked for the Indian Olympic pin
Carlos Alcaraz has set the stage for becoming the next tennis icon post the ‘Big Three’ era involving Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. At just the age of 21, the Spanish prodigy has accounted for four Grand Slam titles with the Wimbledon 2024 being the latest of the trophies in his cabinet after rallying past Djokovic 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) in their successive finals at the Centre Court.
Alcaraz, surprisingly, asked Balachandran for an Indian Olympic pin in what is an unofficial tradition of ‘pin exchange’ at the Games village. Athletes from two contingents give and take olympic pins of their countries just as footballers exchange shirts after matches.
Although Alcaraz wasn’t carrying a Spanish Olympic pin at that point, coach Balachandran handed him the pin in exchange for a picture, though he traded the Olympic pins with Pablo Carreno Busta.
New Delhi: Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz’s dream-run ended on Wednesday after the pair suffered defeat to American players Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in the men’s doubles quarterfinals at the Court Philippe-Chatrier. It was an alliance of The Master and his Apprentice which allured millions of tennis fans across the globe before their campaign Tennis Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
