Paris 2024 tennis: Rafael Nadal reaches end of incredible Olympic journey after men’s doubles defeat with Spanish partner Carlos Alcaraz
Spanish tennis great Rafael Nadal has reached the end of his Olympic journey.
Nadal exited the Court Philippe-Chatrier, the venue of many career triumphs, waving pensively to the fans after he and doubles partner Carlos Alcaraz’s quarter-final defeat at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Wednesday, 31 July.
Nadal and Alcaraz caught the imagination of tennis fans at these Games as they partnered for the first time as a doubles pairing.
But the ‘Nadalcaraz’ frenzy came to an end in the quarter-finals following a 6-2, 6-4 loss to U.S. doubles supremos Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.
The defeat edged Nadal closer to a decision over his future, as the Spanish great said he would make a call after the Olympics. Roland-Garros is his spiritual home, where he won a record 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles.
Nadal’s singles campaign came to a crushing end on Monday, 29 July, suffering a 6-1, 6-4 defeat by rival Novak Djokovic in their 60th head-to-head clash.
The 38-year-old Nadal bows out of his fourth Olympics having won singles gold in Beijing 2008 and the doubles title at Rio 2016.
The ‘Nadalcaraz’ pairing has gone through a radical transformation from looking uncomfortable competing together for the first time on Saturday, 27 July to reaching the last eight.
But as much as the two singles aces have improved over the past few days, they were up against a formidable pair in Krajicek and Ram, who boast a combined five Grand Slam doubles titles between them.
Team USA pair turn up the heat
The Americans flaunted their doubles credentials as they went on a two-game run in the first set, breaking the Spanish duo from the get-go.
Krajicek was a nuisance at the net as he pounced on the Spanish returns, while Alcaraz covered a lot of ground as a counterweight.
Nadal and Alcaraz clawed their way back into the contest, but they were still a break down as they approached the end of the first set. Two consecutive double-faults by Alcaraz gave the Americans their second break to take the sting out of the Spanish fightback.
The second set got off to a better start for the Spaniards, but the momentum swung back in Krajicek and Ram’s favour as they broke serve for a 4-3 advantage.
Ram served in the eighth game to strengthen their hold on the contest and, with each winner, Nadal’s frustrated roars became more intense.
The Americans slapped palms as they held serve in the next game and they looked set to bring the curtain down on Nadal’s Olympic run.
With each big winner to save the set, Alcaraz pumped his fist and nodded to the approving fans as if they had contributed to the point. The Spanish held serve but needed to break the Americans in the next game to enforce the tiebreak.
Nadal and Alcaraz came agonisingly close to doing exactly that as they battled to three break points. But the tenacious Americans held firm to deny Nadal a dream comeback.
The Spanish duo smiled at each other as the defeat was confirmed and walked to the net to congratulate Krajicek and Ram.