Rafael Nadal only found out about Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony role "five minutes before": "It was super secret"

Olympic Games opening ceremonies are usually planned down to the last second, and rehearsed thoroughly beforehand.

But not everyone who took part in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 knew what they were going to be doing – at least not until right before they went out on stage. Just ask Rafael Nadal.

The Spanish tennis legend was the first torchbearer on the Olympic Torch's final leg, receiving it from French football great Zinedine Zidane.

"Five minutes before, 10 minutes before," is when he was first told exactly what he would be doing, Nadal told former U.S. tennis player Andy Roddick on the latter's podcast "Served".

"It was super secret. When I arrived there, honestly, I didn't know what was going to happen because they wanted it to be completely secret, like a surprise," Nadal said. "When it was time, when we were talking there, they started explaining to me, 'you're going to be there, you're going to pick up the torch'.

"When we see the image, I'm going up stairs, going to the stage to pick up the torch, in that moment I had like two minutes of waiting there. When I realised the moment I started to cry a little bit and when I started to cry I said, 'Shut up, stop it, it is not the moment to cry, it's the moment to enjoy'. Try to not be too emotional, just enjoy the moment, let's go out, do the thing, and let's have fun.'"

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