Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz lost to the fourth-seeded American duo of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in the men's doubles quarterfinals on Wednesday night. Many are stating that this loss has not only ended Nadal's run in the ongoing edition of the Paris Olympics 2024 but most likely has put a full stop to his Olympic career. Nadal lost the match at Court Philippe Chatrier, the same venue where he has won a record 14 French Open titles from his 22 Grand Slam trophies.
Nadal won gold medals for Spain in the singles back in 2008 during the Beijing Olympics and one in the doubles events at Rio de Janeiro 2016. However, this time around, he was crushed in singles competition by rival Novak Djokovic. Now, his doubles journey has come to an end as well. The result of the doubles event appeared to be essentially settled when Smash smacked a return off a serve by Alcaraz to break him at love and lead 4-3 in the second set.
The Spaniards thought landed out and bent down to get closer to the court while pushing for their situation with umpire Morgane Lara. However, the call did not alter. Nonetheless, Nadal has never been one to back down, so it was only right that he and Alcaraz got a breakpoint, a chance to extend the match, as Krajicek tried to keep the win. But that didn't happen for the Spaniards, and before long, Ram and Krajicek were hugging on the other side of the net and Alcaraz and Nadal were hugging on the other side.
Novak Djokovic creates historic record
Novak Djokovic remained serenely on course for a potential first Olympic gold medal to add to his record-breaking assortment of titles on Wednesday. Djokovic became the first man to reach four Olympic singles quarterfinals by defeating German left-hander Dominik Koepfer 7-5, 6-3. Djokovic has won three of his 24 Grand Slam titles on Roland Garros' clay courts. The 37-year-old Serbian star only have a bronze at the Olympics which he won back in 2008 at Beijing.
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