NEW YORK — With Rio in the rearview mirror and another Olympic gold medal around his neck (this one from doubles with Marc Lopez), Rafael Nadal still can’t quite understand why a host of tennis players chose not to go to the Olympics earlier this month.

“Olympics are once every four years and is something that is an experience you can’t miss,” the world No. 5 said after a first-round win at the U.S. Open on Monday. “Even if you are young, you need to have the right people around you to advise you that have to go there. You know, because then when you are older you appreciate a lot these events and these experiences that are completely special and unique.”

Milos Raonic, Dominic Thiem, the doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan (gold medalists in 2012), Simona Halep, John Isner, Sam Querrey, Feliciano Lopez and others missed the Games for a variety of reasons, though for some players there was a complaint over absent ranking points and prize money, which have been awarded previously at the Games.

Nadal, a gold medalist in singles in Beijing in 2008, was forced to miss the 2012 London Olympics because of injury. Another injury nearly knocked him out of Rio, as well.

“For me personally, Olympics is the closest thing to a Grand Slam,” he said. “That’s my feeling, no? And I can understand some players that are a little bit older that they decided to not go because … they have been there. If they believe that there is no chances for medals I could understand, but some young players that choose to not go there, it’s difficult to understand, no?”

Monica Puig shocked the sporting world with her Olympic gold in women’s singles, the world No. 34 stunning three Grand Slam winners en route. Men’s sentimental favorite Juan Martin Del Potro upset world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the first round, then beat Nadal in the semis before losing to Andy Murray in the final.

Nadal placed fourth in the singles event as Japan’s Kei Nishikori won the men’s bronze.

He argued that the Olympic platform — regardless of tennis’ role on the global scale — gave the sport a new and different audience.

“But (the Olympics are) something that makes the sport bigger, no?” Nadal said. “I think if the star (players) are going to Olympics, it makes the Olympics bigger. … It is true that we help to have the Olympics bigger, but the Olympics help us to be bigger” in the sports world.

He continued: “Because there is a lot of fans around the world that they don’t follow tennis normally, but during the Olympics everybody see the Olympics, no? So you have a lot of visibility during that week. In my opinion we should promote that.”

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE U.S. OPEN