Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz have been named to Spain’s roster for the Davis Cup finals Monday, elevating the opportunity of a renewal of their “Nadalcaraz” doubles partnership from the Paris Olympics.
Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion who’s 38, hasn’t competed wherever because the Paris Video games, the place he misplaced within the second spherical of singles to longtime rival Novak Djokovic and paired with Alcaraz to get to the quarterfinals of males’s doubles earlier than exiting in opposition to People Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.
Nadal then withdrew from the US Open and the Laver Cup whereas nonetheless coping with well being points which have restricted him to competing solely sparingly over the previous two seasons.
Alcaraz earned the lads’s singles titles on the French Open in June and Wimbledon in July to lift his profession Slam whole to 4 on the age of 21.
Spain will tackle the Netherlands within the quarterfinal spherical of the Davis Cup finals, an eight-team occasion Nov. 19-24 in Malaga, Spain.
The opposite opening matchups are: defending champion Italy vs. Argentina; america vs. Australia; and Germany vs. Canada.
Italy will likely be led by No. 1-ranked Jannik Sinner, who gained the Australian Open in January and the US Open this month. The Italian roster additionally consists of Lorenzo Musetti, a semifinalist at Wimbledon and bronze medalist on the Olympics.
The U.S. roster options Taylor Fritz, the runner-up to Sinner at Flushing Meadows, together with previous main semifinalists Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton, plus doubles specialists Krajicek and Ram.
The Italy-Argentina winner will face the U.S.-Australia winner within the semifinals, with the winners of Germany-Canada and Netherlands-Spain assembly within the different semifinal.
Italy gained its first Davis Cup title since 1976 a yr in the past in Malaga.