As Rafael Nadal lost his men's doubles match at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, the dreaded question followed. Has Nadal played his last match at the Roland Garros? (Olympics Full Coverage | More Sports Stories)
“Maybe,” he would say after the match. “I don't know.”
Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz formed a super pair for Team Spain at the Paris Olympics but their run came to a screeching halt in the quarterfinal on Wednesday. The Spanish duo lost to the American pairing of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in straight sets.
Nadal, a record 14 time champion at the Roland Garros, is struggling with his body and a final goodbye seems imminent. If not now, some time later. He knows it and so do the fans who have watched his superhuman efforts at the Parisian clay year after year. But this year seems to be the final one. The question writ large after Nadal's defeat on Wednesday was that will Nadal return to his beloved Parisian clay?
Nadal exited the arena but not before he got another standing ovation, perhaps the last, perhaps not. The great himself does not know. He greeted the crowd that had roared "Ra-fa, Ra-fa" not just in this match but throughout his career in Paris.
“If that's the last time (here) for me, it's an unforgettable feeling and emotions. They give me the love and support every single second that I have been on court,” Nadal said about the spectators, who clapped and yelled and sang for him throughout the quarterfinal match.
“It's super, super special to feel that, particularly in this place. So I can't really thank all of them enough for giving me the feelings I have inside myself and the emotions they make me feel,” he continued. “I don't know what's going to happen in the future, but if that's the last time, I enjoyed it.”
Nadal might go but the legacy and a steel statue of him that stands just outside Chatrier will stand tall.
