Two days ago Rafael Nadal fell to his historic nemesis Novak Djokovic in what was the 60th match between the two.

This Wednesday he fell again, this time in the doubles competition with the young Carlos Alcaraz, who has previously said that he is living a dream playing alongside his idol.

Facing them were the Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram who advanced to semi-finals in Paris by beating the Spanish pair 6-2, 6-4.

They started by losing serve early on and easily surrendered the first set. The second was closer, but the Spaniards lost serve again in the seventh game and, despite having three set points in the final game to extend the match, they bowed to Ram and Krajicek, who did not lose serve once.

Now, Carlos Alcaraz, competing in his first Olympic Games, will face American Tommy Paul for a ticket to the singles semi-finals.

Nadal, a 14-time French Open singles champion, is competing in just his seventh tournament of 2024, a year marked by injuries that have dropped his ranking to 161. He wanted a third Olympic gold, adding to his 2008 singles title and 2016 doubles triumph.

He announced that he will decide on his future in tennis after the Olympics following a crushing straight-sets loss to long-time rival Novak Djokovic at the Paris Games on Monday. He lost 6-1, 6-4, in the second round of the Paris 2024 singles competition.

The Spaniard, who won Olympic gold in singles in 2008 and doubles in Rio eight years later, claimed his last of 22 Grand Slam titles with his 14th French Open victory in Paris in 2022.