Rafael Nadal's Paris Games -- and, almost certainly, his Olympic career -- ended Wednesday night when he and Carlos Alcaraz were eliminated in the men's doubles quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-4 loss to the fourth-seeded American duo of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.
The match was played at Court Philippe Chatrier, the same stadium where Nadal has won his record 14 French Open titles, part of his haul of 22 Grand Slam trophies. The full house roared and sang to support Nadal and Alcaraz -- well, mainly Nadal -- especially as they tried to stave off defeat in the final game.
The 38-year-old Nadal has not announced anything about his plans or possible retirement, but given his age and recent history of injuries, an appearance at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics seems far-fetched. He might not even compete at all beyond the Paris Games, but that is far less clear.
Nadal won gold medals for Spain in singles at Beijing in 2008 and in doubles at Rio de Janeiro in 2016. This time around, he was defeated in singles on Monday by rival Novak Djokovic.
The doubles outcome seemed pretty much decided when Ram smacked a return winner off a serve by Alcaraz to break him at love and lead 4-3 in the second set. The Spaniards thought the ball landed out and bent down to get closer to the clay while arguing their case with French chair umpire Morgane Lara. But the call did not change. And soon, Krajicek was serving to close it out.
Still, Nadal never has been one to concede a thing, and so it was fitting that he and Alcaraz earned a break point there, a chance to extend the evening. Didn't happen, though, and soon Alcaraz and Nadal were hugging on one side of the net -- and Ram and Krajicek were doing the same on the other.
