Rafael Nadal has seen his Olympic gold medal hopes disappear after his exit in the men’s doubles event.
Nadal crashed out of the Olympics singles at the second round stage, losing 6-1, 6-4 to old rival Novak Djokovic.
His hopes of a podium finish then rested on the doubles alongside Carlos Alcaraz, but they have now fallen at the quarter-final stage.
It was always going to be difficult against doubles specialists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, who ran out 6-2, 6-4 winners.
The American fourth seeds soared into the semi-finals with relative ease, leaving Alcaraz and Nadal with plenty of regrets.
Rafael Nadal analyses Olympics loss with Carlos Alcaraz
It was a poor start from the Spanish pair on the Paris clay, who couldn’t make the most of their loyal supporters in the crowd, with Nadal having loved the Olympics atmosphere.
The match was never in their grasp, with Nadal now looking back on where it went wrong for him and his compatriot.
“I haven’t been at the level I needed to fight for medals on an individual level and in doubles we were playing at a very good level but today we weren’t on target,” Nadal said after the match, as quoted by Marca.
“As I’ve been saying every day, in doubles the matches go by very quickly and every detail has its impact. Today we didn’t start well and we weren’t able to take the match to the limit.”
What comes next for Rafael Nadal after his Olympics exit?
The veteran deserves huge credit for even playing in the competition, with Nadal having been ‘suffering’ for two years.
His injury issues forced him to miss Wimbledon, which did in turn allow him to fully prepare himself for the Olympics.
But with his dream now over, retirement now looms, with the 38-year-old potentially unable to compete at the US Open.
The fourth and final Grand Slam of the season gets underway later this month, but Nadal may have called it a day before then.
Whatever decision the Spaniard makes, he will go down in history as one of the greatest athletes the sporting world has ever seen.
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