Ben Pawlowski
RAFAEL Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz could be set to reunite to represent Spain at the finals of the Davis Cup, just months after teaming up for the men’s doubles tournament at the Paris Olympics.
The tantalising prospect of the dream duo, christened by tennis fans as ‘Nadalcaraz’, returning to the court together was raised after Nadal, 38, was named in the five-player preliminary squad to represent Spain at the Davis Cup finals on Spanish soil this November.
Despite pulling out of last weekend’s Laver Cup event in Berlin through injury amid rumours of retirement, the 22-time grand slam champion has vowed to continue playing tennis at the highest level for as long as his body allows.
If he remains injury-free until November, Nadal could reunite with Carlos Alcaraz, the 21-year-old four-time grand slam champion and World No.3, with whom he competed as a doubles pairing at the Paris Olympics earlier this summer.
On that occasion, the highly-anticipated pairing lit up the competition, sweeping aside Argentina in straight sets before defeating the Dutch pair of Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof in a 10-point tiebreaker.
However, the duo were comprehensively defeated 6-2, 6-4 in the quarter-finals by American fourth seeds Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, spelling the end to Nadal’s illustrious Olympics career which included gold medals in the singles at Beijing 2008 and the doubles at Rio 2016.
Spain will play the Netherlands in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup, with the final stage of the competition set to be held in Malaga.
If they progress, Spain will face off against Germany or Canada in the semi-finals, before a potential match-up against the USA, Australia, Italy or Argentina in the final.
The quarter-finals will begin on November 19, with the final taking place on November 24.
The other Spaniards named in the five-man squad are Roberto Bautista Agut, Pablo Carreno Busta and Marcel Granollers.
Murcia-born Alcaraz has had a superb year so far, including a pair of grand slam triumphs at Wimbledon and Roland-Garros.
