Paris 2024: Pain for Spain as Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz exit in quarter-finals

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz's dreams of an Olympic medal in doubles were ended by a quarter-final loss to American fourth seeds Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.

The Spanish duo have been one of the star attractions of the tennis event at Roland Garros and another packed crowd cheered them on under the roof on Court Philippe Chatrier.

But this time they met their match as Krajicek and Ram, two of the best doubles players in the game, showed their prowess in the format to claim a 6-2 6-4 victory.

Nadal has been tight-lipped about his future but this could be the 14-time French Open champion’s farewell to Paris, and the crowd stood to applaud as he waved to all sides of the court before walking off.

Alcaraz stayed on course for a gold medal clash with Novak Djokovic in singles earlier after both reached the quarter-finals.

Djokovic was first out on Chatrier on Wednesday against German Dominik Koepfer and defied the hot and humid conditions to claim a 7-5 6-3 victory.

The Serbian is the first player in the modern era to reach the quarter-finals in singles at four different Olympics but he is yet to make a final and has only one bronze medal, from Beijing 16 years ago, to show for his efforts.

Alcaraz, meanwhile, became the youngest man since Djokovic in the Chinese capital to reach the last eight, beating Roman Safiullin 6-4 6-2.

Djokovic next faces eighth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas while Alcaraz will play American Tommy Paul in a rematch of their Wimbledon quarter-final.

Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti, meanwhile, conjured up a repeat of his SW19 upset by knocking out seventh seed Taylor Fritz 6-4 7-5, while fourth seed Daniil Medvedev was beaten by Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime but defending champion Alexander Zverev advanced.

Andy Murray