Carmel's Rajeev Ram beats Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz in tennis doubles at Olympics

Carmel’s Rajeev Ram beats Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz in tennis doubles at Olympics

Posted by author July 31, 2024 Tennis

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David Woods
| Special to IndyStar

PARIS – Hoosier Rajeev Ram moves on. Two of the world’s most famous athletes, Spanish tennis players Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal, are out.

Ram, a 40-year-old from Carmel, and Austin Krajicek won a quarterfinal in men’s doubles tennis 6-4, 6-2 Wednesday in the Olympic Games at Roland Garros.

Alcaraz, 21, recently won his second Wimbledon title, and the 38-year-old Nadal has won 14 French Opens on this court. They have a collective 26 Grand Slam singles titles.

But the Americans have doubles credentials.

Doyel: Carmel’s Rajeev Ram used lessons of father to reach No. 1 world ranking in tennis

Ram has won four Grand Slam doubles titles. The 34-year-old Krajicek has been ranked No. 1 in the world in doubles, most recently in March, for a total of 26 weeks. They were NCAA champions at Illinois and Texas A&M, respectively.

The fourth-seeded Americans will play a semifinal Thursday against Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic.

The bronze-medal match is Friday and the gold-medal match Saturday.

Ram won a silver medal in mixed doubles with Venus Williams at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Krajicek served out the match at 5-4. With the crowd loudly supporting the two Spaniards, the Americans survived three break points.

Afterward, Alcaraz and Nadal hugged each other before all four players embraced each other at the net.

After qualifying for a quarterfinal, Nadal acknowledged he and Alcaraz are not doubles players.

“We are not used to playing doubles, so the only way to make that work well is to play with happiness, with energy, with high energy,” Nadal said. “That’s what we are trying to do.”

Earlier Wednesday, Alcaraz advanced to the singles quarterfinals by beating Roman Safiullin of Russia 6-4, 6-2. Safiullin is playing here as a neutral athlete. Russia is banned from the Paris Olympics because of the war in Ukraine.

Alcaraz, coming off wins in the French Open and Wimbledon, is the youngest player to make the singles quarterfinals at an Olympics since Serbia’s Novak Djokovic at Beijing in 2008. Nadal lost to Djokovic in the second round at the Paris Olympics.

Contact IndyStar correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.