"Don't meet your heroes" - Rafael Nadal & Carlos Alcaraz's doubles win at Paris Olympics prompts stunning new ad from sponsor Nike

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz's sponsor Nike created a brilliant ad to honor the cross-generational doubles pairing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Spaniards started their campaign with a win against No. 6 seeds Andres Molteni and Maximo Gonzalez. The match did not start the way they would have wanted as their serve got broken in the first game. But they quickly broke back and held their serve for the entire set, eventually winning it in the tiebreak.

The second set started in a similar fashion, as their serve got broken and the Argentines got a 3-0 lead. The Nadal-Alcaraz pairing managed to break back and level the set. Later, they won three straight games to clinch the match and keep their medal hopes alive with a final score of 7-6(4), 6-4.

To celebrate their special victory, Nike created an advertisement for Carlos Alcaraz's adoration for Rafael Nadal as the World No. 3 looked up to him growing up. The ad's tagline was:

"Don't meet your heroes, win with them."

The Spaniards are also playing in the singles draw, with Alcaraz already into the second round after a victory over Lebanon's Hady Habib. Nadal, on the other hand, is playing Marton Fucsovics (at the time of writing the article) and could face arch-rival Novak Djokovic in the second round if he wins.

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Carlos Alcaraz on playing doubles with Rafael Nadal: "Difficult to deal with the nerves"

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz at Olympic Games Paris 2024 (Source: Getty)

Carlos Alcaraz talked to the media about dealing with nerves during his first-round doubles match with Rafael Nadal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The young Spaniard said:

"It wasn't Rafa himself that was imposing on me, but the situation. In the end, seeing the Philippe-Chatrier stadium full, playing with Rafa, my first Olympics... It was a moment, I'll say, that was difficult to deal with the nerves."

The World No. 3 added that as the match progressed, his nerves eased and he started playing better tennis.

"I was quite nervous at the beginning but then, as the match progressed, I managed them (nerves) in a more appropriate way. And in the end we ended up playing great tennis and thoroughly enjoying the moment," Alcaraz said.

The duo will now face either the Dutch pair of Wesley Koolhao and Tallon Griekspoor or Hungarians Marton Fucsovics and Fabian Marozsan in the second round.