It has been confirmed that Nadal will miss Wimbledon to prepare for the Games as a consequence.
The announcement comes three days after the 21-year-old Alcaraz won the French Open, his third grand-slam trophy, for the first time.
Alcaraz is widely seen as the heir to the throne in Spanish tennis, and has frequently described Nadal as his childhood hero, but the pair have never played together in a match.
The 38-year-old Nadal already owns Olympic gold medals in singles (2008) and doubles (2016 with Marc Lopez) to go alongside his 22 grand-slam titles.
Of those, a record 14 have come at the French Open, played on the same Roland Garros clay-courts that will host tennis at the Games.
"Rafa and Carlos will be playing together in Paris," Spain captain David Ferrer said, adding Nadal would skip Wimbledon as it would not be good for his body to switch surfaces from clay to grass and back again.
With Nadal expected to retire at some point this year, it appears his final match at Wimbledon will be a quarter-final win over Taylor Fritz in 2022, following which he withdrew from the semi-final with Nick Kyrgios because of an abdominal injury.
Nadal won Wimbledon in 2008 and 2010.
The other players in Spain's men's Olympic team will be Pablo Carreno Busta, Alejandro Davidovich and Marcel Granollers.
with PA
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