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Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz launched their blockbuster partnership in style with victory over sixth seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni at Roland Garros.
Fresh from his starring role at the opening ceremony, Nadal was back doing what he does best on the stage he knows so well as he and Alcaraz claimed a 7-6 (4) 6-4 first-round victory in the men’s doubles.
He still had strapping on his right thigh and it remains to be seen whether the 14-time French Open champion will contest his scheduled singles match against Marton Fucsovics on Sunday but, on this evidence, Nadal and Alcaraz will take some stopping.
Nadal had played 116 matches at Roland Garros before this one, winning 112 of them, but none quite like this.
For a start it was his first doubles match on the Parisian clay, with his friend and heir by his side, and in front of a crowd as hyped as any for a French Open final.
There was a reminder this was a French not Spanish audience when Gonzalez and Molteni were booed as they walked onto court, tarnished by association with their disgraced football compatriots.
Nadal may be best known for his singles achievements but he is an experienced doubles campaigner, winning Olympic gold eight years ago with Marc Lopez.
Alcaraz, on the other hand, is a novice in the format and that was obvious at the start, with the 21-year-old dropping serve immediately and finding himself trying to play shots from among the court-side geraniums.
Gonzalez and Molteni are regular partners who reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals this month but Nadal’s star power helped draw the Spanish pair level and they took the opening set on a tie-break, which was interrupted briefly by a big cheer for France’s win in the rugby sevens.
Nadal and Alcaraz made a slow start to the second set as well but clawed their way back from 0-3, Alcaraz, who has proved himself an exceptionally quick learner, now looking a lot more at ease.
It was the French Open and Wimbledon champion’s thumping return that earned his team the crucial break for 5-4, and Nadal comfortably served out the victory.
