Nadal threatens to withdraw from Olympics after scheduling debacle

Spain’s Rafael Nadal is not happy with the scheduling of the Olympics tennis events in Paris, and the former world No.1 has suggested that he might drop out of the singles event as a result.

Nadal’s Olympics campaign began on Saturday evening at Roland-Garros, with the 38-year-old winning his opening doubles clash alongside countryman Carlos Alcaraz.

However, following the victory, Nadal learned that his next match would be at 2pm (CET) on Sunday, giving him only 18 hours to recover.

Nadal calls Olympics scheduling “outrageous”

“A 2:00 p.m. game? I don’t understand the schedule,” Nadal said on Saturday evening.

“It seems outrageous to me that I’m playing at two o’clock, when it’s 10 pm now.

“I don’t know if I’ll play tomorrow.

“I’ll have to go back to the village and talk to the team, I’ll make the decision that I think is most appropriate to have a chance of getting results for Spain.

“Sometimes less is more.”

Nadal is due to play Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics in his first singles match.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion is a $1.44 favourite with top tennis betting sites to win the match, and sits in the fifth line of betting overall at $15 to claim a gold medal in Paris.

Promising signs in the doubles for Nadal

Concerns over Nadal’s health had arisen in the days before the Olympics tennis events beginning, with the Spaniard missing several practice sessions and sporting a bandaged right thigh.

While Nadal wore the bandage in his doubles match on Saturday, the 38-year-old’s movement was not impaired at all.

In fact, he was the better of the pair initially, with Alcaraz looking nervous and dropping his opening service game against sixth seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.

The duo went on to win the match 7-6 (4), 6-4, with Nadal calling their performance “of the highest level”.

“I think we played well and in the decisive moments we played with the right determination,” Nadal shared afterwards.

“The match was of the highest level, the rivals were a very consolidated pair, one of the best in the world.

“It was a difficult match, we enjoyed it but also suffered at times.”

Djokovic, Alcaraz through with ease at Olympics

Elsewhere in Olympics tennis action, top seeds Novak Djokovic and Alcaraz breezed through their opening singles matches with no issues.

Djokovic played Australia’s Matthew Ebden, who is currently retired from singles tennis and exclusively plays doubles.

That much was obvious, with Djokovic racing past him 6-0, 6-1 in well under an hour.

Alcaraz’s win was similarly one-sided, as he took on world No.275 Hady Habib from Lebanon. The 21-year-old prevailed 6-3, 6-1 to book his place in the second round.

Alcaraz remains the bookies’ favourite to win gold in Paris, returning $1.72.

Djokovic is on the second line of betting at $3.50, with the Serb set to play Nadal in the second round, if the Spaniard opts to play and can get past Fucsovics.

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