Carlos Alcaraz is usually the crowd darling and for good reason. The Spaniard has a showstopping game full of touch and power and has just completed one of the toughest doubles in sports: winning the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back.  

But on Saturday, the opening day of the Olympic tennis tournament, the packed house in the Suzanne Lenglen Court was chanting a different name: “Habib! Habib! Habib!”

The French have long had a soft spot for the underdog at Roland Garros, and though these are the Olympics not the French Open, the public’s taste has not wavered.

Hady Habib is an underdog to be sure: ranked 275th in the world, with no sponsorship and no experience at this lofty level.

Born in Houston and a graduate of Texas A&M, where he was one of the leading college tennis players in the nation, he proudly and eloquently represents Lebanon because of his family’s heritage. But until just a few weeks ago, he had no expectation of competing in the Olympics, much less facing a superstar like Alcaraz on the Suzanne Lenglen Court, one of the sport’s main stages, with the crowd chanting his surname on break points.

“I was smiling, I don’t know if you guys saw that,” Habib said to a small group of us after the match. “I was just incredibly surprised, and I got a little emotional. It’s such an honour to play on that court against such an amazing player and represent Lebanon, a small country which I adore. My dreams are coming true right now.”

Coming true even in defeat, which seems like the Olympic spirit in action. Alcaraz won this first round comfortably 6-3 6-1 but Habib surprisingly made him sweat, nailing first serves on the lines at over 200 kilometers per hour and high-kicking second serves that also forced the gifted Spaniard to stretch outside his comfort zone.

He could never manage to break Alcaraz’s serve, failing to convert any of his four break points. But he did keep his cool and hold serve four times against one of the game’s best returners: all the more remarkable when you learned about Habib’s training methods.

“To be honest, it’s tough for me to find practice, because I don’t really have a coach,” Habib said. “I just go out there and serve baskets on my own.”

Alcaraz, a 21-year-old with lucrative, long-term sponsorship contracts and a soccer-sized support team, has no such constraints.

Habib, a 25-year-old struggling to fund his career, has to find a way.

“Now that I’ve gotten more exposure, hopefully I’ll be able to get a sponsor or something to be able to help me boost my career,” he said. “At this level, as I’m sure you guys know, with my ranking it’s hard to finance everything.”

Four weeks ago, he was training in Houston when he received an email from Lebanon’s Tennis Federation informing him that he would be able to play doubles in the Olympics as the partner of Benjamin Hassan, the highest-ranked Lebanese player. Hassan had been awarded a “universality place", the Olympic tennis event’s version of a wild card. Habib got into the doubles through Hassan.

“I was just incredibly excited to be an Olympian,” Habib said. “I was just at a loss for words.”

But his longshot opportunity to play in Paris became something even more unlikely when world No. 7 Hubert Hurkacz, the Polish star, withdrew from the Olympics because of an injury picked up at Wimbledon. If Hurkacz had withdrawn a few days earlier, his singles slot would surely have been filled by a player in the top 100. But because it came after the hard deadline of July 19th for bringing new tennis players into the Olympics, the singles slot went to the player in the doubles draw with the highest singles ranking.

That turned out to be Habib.

“I found out Tuesday afternoon,” he said. “Then I’m, like, panicking. I’m like I need to get my credential, and I need to start practicing. I’m creating scenarios in my head. I could play Rafa, Djokovic, Alcaraz. I need to start hitting balls.”

One of those scenarios came true after Thursday's draw, and though it was the first Olympic match for both young men, Alcaraz has a great deal more experience at this level and this venue. Though Habib has faced players in the top 100 in Davis Cup for Lebanon and recently reached a Challenger singles final, he has never played in a Grand Slam tournament and had never set foot inside Roland Garros until his arrival in Paris.

“I try to play it cool, but I’m like ‘Holy crap, look at all these legends around me,’” Habib said. “I’m trying to play it cool, so I don’t seem, like, creepy or anything. I see Djokovic walk by me and just fricking my heart skips a beat. The first day I got here, I was trying to figure out where everything is. I am opening a door and going somewhere else. You know how big this place is.”

Before facing Alcaraz, he consulted with a mental coach and tried to visualise all the scenarios he might experience.

“So, I wasn’t just going to go out there and just choke and get tight,” he said. “I felt like I was playing my game and did everything I could. The guy’s the best player in the world right now. He’s beaten every guy and will probably go down as one of the legends of the sport, so such an honor to play against him.”

It was often a treat to watch as well with the capacity crowd fully engaged and performing the wave between points or on changeovers. Alcaraz even joined in at one stage as he waited for Habib to serve and pointed high in the stands in appreciation of a group of fans who were waving the Spanish flag and shouting “Vamos Carlitos!”

But it was, for much of the way, an intense and competitive match, which was not as consistently the case on the main Philippe Chatrier Court, where Djokovic lost just one game on his way to steamrolling Matthew Ebden of Australia. Ebden, a 36-year-old, doubles specialist, was also an alternate but unlike Habib, he did not even have a singles ranking.

Ebden enjoyed the experience, which he called the last singles match of his career. Djokovic was gracious during the match and at the net for the handshake, but he later questioned the rule that granted Ebden access to the singles draw.

“It’s not a good look for the sport,” he said.

It is not as easy to resolve as it might appear to be, in large part because of the complexity of making late roster changes at the Olympics.

“We’re part of a much bigger operation here,” said Alex Hughes, the executive director of major events at the International Tennis Federation. “There’s nothing like it really in sport, and so in terms of logistics, we’re not as agile as at an ordinary tennis tournament. We can’t just swap and change things as we would like.”

Hughes said there was significant resistance from national Olympic committees (NOCs) to bringing forward the cut-off date for adding new players to Olympic teams in the case of withdrawals. He said potential substitutes were often committed to other tournaments and not available to change plans and travel to the Games on short notice.

“We try to pick a time in the schedule and calendar that is fair to everyone,” Hughes said. “We landed on one week before the Games, and this came after plenty of discussion with the NOCs and national associations and the players themselves.”

Hughes said the only other viable option at this stage in the case of a very late withdrawal would be to grant walkovers in the Olympic draws.

“But our preference would always be to play tennis,” Hughes said.

It is a debate worth renewing. Perhaps only players ranked inside, say, the top 500 should be allowed to serve as singles alternates. Perhaps a certain number of singles alternates should be given space on the Olympic tennis rosters.  

But Habib was clearly delighted to get the chance to play tennis and putting a country like Lebanon in the tennis spotlight on opening day also seemed in tune with the Olympic ideal of bringing the youth of the world together.

“It’s good to get some positive news to Lebanon,” he said. “We’ve been struggling with a lot of things lately, and we’ve battled our way back. And I feel like our culture’s so strong, we always find a way to come back. That’s what I want to represent, just fighting through adversity and challenges that I have to deal with. It’s extremely difficult playing for a small country with limited financial help, but I’m doing the best I can.”

Habib did not squander the opportunity on Saturday and when he and Alcaraz met at the net, the Spaniard shook his hand and said, “Very good level.”

“Which is surprising coming from him,” Habib said. “But I take his words to heart.”