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Rafael Nadal shared a friendly greeting with Carlos Alcaraz during their respective practice sessions ahead of the 2024 Madrid Open. Both Spaniards are currently gearing up for the upcoming Masters 1000 tournament.
Nadal made his much-awaited return to clay at the Barcelona Open with a dominating performance against Flavio Cobolli in the opening round. However, he lost to Alex de Minaur in the second round.
On the other hand, Carlos Alcaraz is yet to play his first match in the European clay court season. The 20-year-old was slated to kick off his clay season at the Monte-Carlo Masters but had to withdraw due to an injury in his right arm. The same injury persisted, which led to the Spaniard missing the Barcelona Open.
Nadal, who entered the tournament with his protected ranking, will play 16-year-old Darwin Blanch in the first round. If the 37-year-old wins, he will get another crack at de Minaur who awaits the winner of the match in the second round.
Novak Djokovic's withdrawal from the Madrid Open means that Alcaraz will enter the tournament as the second seed and will receive a bye in the first round. The Spaniard, who is going for an unprecedented three-peat this year, will begin his title defense against the winner of the match between Arthur Rinderknech and Alexander Schevchenko.
Nadal recently shared a friendly greeting with Alcaraz when they met each other during their respective practice sessions. The two gave each other a high five and shared a few words before returning to practice.
Here is the clip of their meet-up below.
"It would be a great thing to play a final with Rafael Nadal in Madrid" - Carlos Alcaraz
While Carlos Alcaraz is the top seed in the bottom half of the Madrid Open draw, Rafael Nadal finds himself in the top half. This means that the only possible place the two Spaniards can meet is the final.
Alcaraz recently said that he would love to play Nadal, his idol, in the final of the Madrid Open and believes a lot of people would want to as well. Though he said that he knew it was not going to be easy, he added that both the Spaniards would give their 100 percent to make it happen.
“It would be a great thing to play a final with Rafa in Madrid. Many people would like to see that match, I hope it happens. But tennis is complicated, every day you can feel a certain way, every match is different and you can never take anything for granted.
"He will fight every match, he would be excited to be in a final in Madrid again. Like me, I'm going to try to be at my 100% and play at a good level to try to reach that final,” Alcaraz said ((via mutuamadridopen.com).
The duo have met each other two times in the Madrid Open and have each won a match.
What is the foot injury that has troubled Rafael Nadal over the years? Check here
