Tired Nadal downsizes his golden aspirations

Rafael Nadal gave up his ambitious dream of an Olympic golden treble on Thursday after spending an exhausting four hours on court to reach the singles quarterfinals and the doubles final.

The 30-year-old Spaniard was set to partner with French Open champion Garbine Muguruza in the mixed but withdrew just moments before they were to face Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek in the first round.

The effort of downing Gilles Simon in the singles followed just a couple of hours later by teaming with lifelong friend Marc Lopez to beat Canada's Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil to make the doubles final proved too much.