Rafa Nadal's first big farewell: end of his Olympic career after a fall against Alcaraz in the doubles | Paris 2024 Olympic Games

A hug ends an era. Rafa Nadal embraces Carlos Alcaraz as Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram beat them in the quarterfinals of the Paris Games with 6-2 and 6-4 in 1h 38m. At 38, the Spaniard leaves his Olympic career behind him. There will no longer be another Villa, nor another parade, nor other summer battles on the track. It is the first big farewell for the 22-time major champion, who doubts whether to extend his career, as long as his body allows it. There will be no more games and the last dance was with his heir Alcaraz.

The couple discovers the second that a wall rises in front of them. Krajicek and Ram go up the lines and attack the net with a ferocity that surprises Nadal and Alcaraz. The Americans, placed fourth, are a wall that returns everything very quickly and in a synchronized manner. The points fly and the Balearic player gives up the service. The clash against the specialists requires refining the strategy and perfecting the tactics. It is necessary to increase the flow of attack together with the tape and to vary the script of the plays, because in the exchange of short rallies the Americans, more accustomed to small spaces and more types of automatisms, rule. Krajicek and Ram seem like a single player playing double, an eight-armed octopus.

It is difficult to find gaps in the concrete, and it is not a question of strength, as the Spanish sometimes claim. There is a rush and that does not allow us to drop the ball on the ground and use intelligence to change the dynamics. The Americans dance more than they play, because they repeat their movements by heart, something that the Nadalcaraz couple, who have just met in doubles, cannot possibly imitate. Krajicek and Ram know how and where to place their bodies and their rackets against the shots that come at them from the other side of the court. The Americans repeated a break in the seventh game, helped by two double faults in a row from Alcaraz, and closed the first set 6-2 on service.

It's a steep mountain to climb a herd that has just been born. Nadal is aiming to start the second set with some comfort in his service. The Spaniards are quickly inferior in terms of boiling points, they don't have as many tools. And his rivals don't let it last too long. They attack the spaces at a very high pace and Alcaraz makes a few mistakes. The Murcian is not used to such a fear of heights, compared to Nadal and the doubles players (there are only six matches he has played in this way in his entire career up to this Olympic event). At the back of the court, this year's double major winner is suffering more than usual. The oxygen runs out sooner.

Resist the service. It is the nail to which the Spanish couple clings. When Nadal exchanges a cross rally with Ram, the match returns to one on one, and there the Spaniard brings out his experienced weapons to provoke the opponent's mistake, who is facing the greatest musketeer of Paris. Thus the second part progresses, each duo strong as they take the initiative. It is Nadal who takes a step forwardand this time he connects a long parallel right hand, on the corner, and that stimulates the center court, a sauna. It is Alcaraz who hesitates, and his ball hits the cushion and is at the mercy of Krajicek, and in the next point Ram adapts so well to the line that the chair umpire comes down and can chat pleasantly with the Spaniards, where he gives a millimeter here or there. The point falls and the match is for the Americans, again in the lead.

Neither Nadal nor Alcaraz understands surrender separately, nor together. They row, they suffer, they sweat to earn a chance, to open a door. Krajicek and Ram are 5-4 and serving. The first trembles and starts with a double fault, with the Chatrier on, and it is clear for which side he sings. Pull Nadal off with his soul and it is 15-30. He does not want to say goodbye. Pull Alcaraz off the hole and it is 15-40. He does not want the story to end either. The center does not keep quiet. The Americans come back and waste a match point. Not the second anymore. It is 6-4.

Alcaraz concludes a marathon. He defeated Roman Safiullin in the morning 6-4, 6-2 in 1h 30m and meets Tommy Paul on Thursday (not before 14:00) in the quarterfinals of the individual draw. Nadal concludes an era, a wonderful Olympic adventure.

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