After winning the men’s doubles gold medal at the Rio Olympic Games, Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez will once again join forces at the Brisbane Open in January.
Nine-time French Open champion Nadal has only played in one doubles match (the Davis Cup) since striking gold at the Rio Games in August. The future plans were revealed during a recent interview Lopez conducted with the official site of the Barcelona Open. Lopez opted to team up with Nadal due his regular doubles partner, Feliciano Lopez, participating in the Hopman Cup the same week.
This season has already come to a close for Nadal, but Lopez will have a chance to end his on a high at next week’s ATP Finals. He and Felciano will be the fourth seeds at the tournament following their success on the tour this season. Together they have won the Doha Open and French Open this year.
“The year has been extraordinary. I could not have asked more,” said Marc. “It is the best way to finish off a fantastic season, especially with the Olympic gold medal and the victory at Roland Garros.”
The upcoming end-of-year tournament will be the fourth time that doubles specialist Marc has participated in. At the 2012 championships, Lopez and Marcel Granollers stunned a trio of top team’s to become the first Spanish team to win the title since 1975. On route to the title, the duo defeated the first, third and fifth seeds.
This year the two Lopez’s have a tough task ahead of them after being drawn in the same group as top seeds Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Their other opponents in the Fleming/McEnroe Group are Henri Kontinen/John Peers and Raven Klassen/Rajeev Ram.
“Everything is very even. The truth is that the group that we are in is good, but everything is very equal. We’ll see how it goes, but I really want to go back to London. Competing there is already a great prize,” Marc said about his title hopes.
Marc and Feliciano will start their campaign at the London event on Monday evening against Kontinen and Peers.
