‘Nadalcaraz’ win on Olympics doubles debut

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz’s highly-anticipated Olympic pairing started with a first-round win over Andres Molteni and Maximo Gonzalez in the men’s doubles.

The Spanish duo beat the Argentine sixth seeds 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 in front of a packed Court Phillipe Chatrier in Paris.

Nadal was Alcaraz’s childhood hero and the two have paired up in what is expected to be Nadal’s final season on tour.

Alcaraz has long been described as Nadal’s heir, having won his first French Open title in June before defending his Wimbledon crown just two weeks ago.

Nadal is the more experienced in doubles, winning Olympic silver in Rio in 2016, and it showed, with Alcaraz taking longer to adjust to the movement needed.

However, ‘Nadalcaraz’ came back from a break down in both sets to reach the second round.

A deft touch at the net from Alcaraz secured victory for the pair, who shouted “vamos!” and embraced before sending spare balls flying out to fans in the stands.

They received vocal support from the crowd, which was full of Spanish flags – although even they were held up by the cheer that rang out after news of France’s gold in the rugby sevens filtered through.

Heavy rain meant there was no play on the outside courts on Saturday.

Earlier on Chatrier – which has a roof – Novak Djokovic’s bid for a much-wanted Olympic gold medal began in style with a 6-0 6-1 demolition of Matthew Ebden.

Serbia’s Djokovic has won almost everything there is in tennis but has never bettered his bronze from Beijing 2008.

He needed just 53 minutes to beat Australia’s Ebden, who was playing his first singles match for two years.

Ebden, primarily a doubles player, knew he was facing one of the toughest tasks in tennis – as his social media post on the day of the draw showed.

And it was exactly as he’d feared: after 30 minutes, he was 6-0 2-0 down and looked to be out of ideas.

He tried everything – including an underarm serve that Djokovic still returned – before jokingly offering his racquet to a group in the crowd to see if they could do any better.

The biggest cheer of the afternoon came when Ebden finally got on the board for 4-1 in the second set.

Ebden put his shirt over his head and celebrated towards the crowd, who gave him a standing ovation, before an amused Djokovic patted him on the shoulder as they went to their chairs.

Djokovic may have wished for slightly tougher opposition to find his rhythm on the court, but he will welcome a quick victory nonetheless.

He could potentially play long-time rival Nadal next, although the Spaniard will need to beat Hungary’s Marton Fuscovics to progress.

Alcaraz made quick progress in his singles match, beating Lebanese Hady Habib 6-3 6-1, while Daniil Medvedev saw off Australia’s Rinky Hijikata 6-1 6-2.

With no play possible on the outside courts on Saturday, Britons Jack Draper, Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans and Katie Boulter have to wait an extra day to begin their singles campaigns.