by Medal table | Olympic Games Calendar | Olympic News
In what could be his final appearance at Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal left the Paris Olympics without a medal after he and Spanish teammate Carlos Alcaraz were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the doubles tournament by Americans Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek.
Nadal has won 14 titles at Roland Garros, but he and Alcaraz lost to Ram and Krajicek in three sets (6-4, 6-4).
“Honestly, it’s a team effort,” Ram told Yahoo Sports’ Kendall Baker after the match. “We talk a lot about helping each other and encouraging each other, not necessarily tennis. We all know how to play. On the court, it’s more about whether you can get yourself and your partner in the right frame of mind.”
“There are certain shots that help in doubles – the serve, the net game, that kind of thing – that we work on a lot. But a lot of it is teamwork, which I think is cool.”
Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, is on the verge of winning Olympic gold, the only title that has eluded him throughout his career. The Serb beat Germany’s Dominik Koepfer 7-5, 6-3 on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals.
His next opponent will be Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, and there’s a bit of history between the two. They’ve faced each other 13 times in the last six years, with Djokovic winning their last 10 matches for 11 wins overall, compared to Tsitsipas’ two. Their most famous match came in the 2021 French Open final, when Djokovic came back from a 2-0 deficit and almost certain defeat to win the title.
But what about the other Americans? Let’s see how they fare as the Olympic tennis events enter their final stretch.
Taylor Fritz loses, Tommy Paul advances to quarterfinals
Fritz, the world’s No. 12 singles player (and American No. 1), had looked fantastic in the first two rounds but failed to overcome Lorenzo Musetti in the third round. The Italian has been playing well of late (he reached the semifinals at Wimbledon last month, where he lost to Djokovic), and managed to beat Fritz 6-4, 7-5 in three sets.
There’s one American left in the men’s singles: Tommy Paul, ranked No. 13 in the world. He beat Frenchman Corentin Moutet in three sets on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals, but his next opponent could be the immovable object that stops him in his tracks: Alcaraz. The Spanish heir to Nadal (who also happens to be a clay-court god) won the French Open in June and then beat Djokovic in the Wimbledon final a few weeks later. He’ll now face Paul in the quarterfinals at the Olympics after beating Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday. It’s going to take a lot of work for him to overcome Alcaraz, but we’ve seen stranger things at the Olympics.
Iga Swiatek qualifies for the semi-finals
Iga Swiatek qualified for the semi-finals after Danielle Collins retired in the third set of their match (6-1, 2-6, 4-1).
Swiatek easily won the first set before Collins equalized. Collins briefly unsettled Swiatek in the third set with a crushing backhand to the rib cage. After Swiatek took a 4-1 lead in the final set, Collins retired. The two men appeared to exchange a few words at the end of the match.
Swiatek will now face Zheng Qinwen in the semi-final.
Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula lose to Czech team in women’s doubles
Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula were the No. 1 seeds in women’s doubles at the Olympics. Less than two months ago, they won their first Grand Slam doubles title at Roland Garros, where they played on Wednesday. Unlike at Roland Garros, Gauff and Pegula failed to prevail. They lost to Czechs Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova after splitting the first two sets 6-2, 4-6 and then losing the tiebreak 5-10.
Gauff, eliminated in women’s singles on Tuesday, also lost in mixed doubles alongside Taylor Fritz later Wednesday afternoon. That officially ended her hopes of winning a medal this summer. Gauff and Fritz lost to Canadians Gabby Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (2), 3-6, 10-8.
