Paris Olympic journey ends for Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz in men’s doubles

Rafael Nadal’s dream of a third and likely final Olympic medal ended on Wednesday when the 22-time Grand Slam champion and illustrious countryman Carlos Alcaraz bowed out of the men’s doubles event at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris on Wednesday. One win shy of the medal rounds, Nadal and Alcaraz lost to No. 4 seeds Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

The Spanish dream team roared into the last eight after a hard-fought second-round victory on Tuesday but their relative lack of doubles reps caught up against Krajicek and Ram, who knocked out the unseeded duo in 98 minutes under the Court Philippe-Chatrier roof.

Nadal is a two-time Olympic champion, winning gold in singles and doubles in 2008 and 2016 (with Marc Lopez) respectively, and appeared set to make his final Olympic appearance in Paris, the site of his greatest career triumphs as a 14-time Roland Garros champion. After losing in men’s singles to former world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, Nadal, who has suggested he would retire at the end of the year, put all his focus on doubles with Alcaraz, who has rarely played doubles through what has been a meteoric rise to the top of the men’s game.

The 21-year-old, who surged into the quarterfinals of men’s singles earlier in the afternoon with a win over Roman Safiullin, is coming off back-to-back major victories at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. But Alcaraz has only ever competed in seven doubles tournaments prior to the Olympics. Nadal’s wealth of experience helped close the gap through the first two matches as “Nadalcaraz” upset No. 6 seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni of Argentina and battled through a 10-point tiebreaker to defeat Dutch duo Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof.

Krajicek and Ram proved an entirely different challenge: both Americans have captured major titles in men’s doubles in the last four years—Krajicek at 2022 Roland Garros with Ivan Dodig, Ram winning three straight US Open titles with Joe Salisbury—and have been similarly efficient as a pair, rolling through their first two matches without dropping a set.

Carrying that momentum to a drama-free first set, the No. 4 seeds appeared en route for a decisive victory against their vaunted challengers. Down a break in the second, Nadal and Alcaraz shook off a frustrating exchange with umpire Miriam Bley and made a valiant last stand, holding on to force the Americans to serve for the match.

Nadal jammed Krajicek into a missed volley that lit up the pro-Spanish crowd, who cheered them into three break point opportunities. Krajicek and Ram saved all three, improving to four for four on break point saves, and got to match point off a slick stab volley from Ram.

The Spaniards saved it in kind but Krajicek and Ram were undeterred, engineering a second match point thanks to a strong lefty serve. An ace ultimately edged them over the finish line in just over 90 minutes.

Nadal bid a fond farewell to the Chatrier crowd, unlikely to compete on the court again but not entirely sure that he will make good on the idea that he will retire at the end of 2024.

Awaiting the Americans in the semifinals are Czechs Tomas Machac Adam Pavlasek, who stunned No. 2 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz in a match tiebreaker.