ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. — Austin Krajicek is now one step closer to his dream of becoming an Olympic gold medalist.
Wednesday Krajicek and his doubles partner, Rajeev Ram, pulled off the upset of the Olympics, beating Spain in a doubles matchup.
"This will be a big day, and he's very qualified to win today. I really do expect him to win today," said Rick Klotz, Krajicek’s uncle, hours before the matchup.
Klotz’s words of affirmation came to fruition Wednesday afternoon.
He told WPTV he knew his nephew and Team USA tennis star Austin Krajicek would be special as a kid.
"My brother-in-law said maybe you better not bring a tennis racket. Austin may be a little bit above your son's level, and I don't want him to play down," he told WPTV.
Olympics
What a Florida native is saying ahead of his Olympic tennis matches
Krajicek and Ram beat a Spanish team led by future Hall of Famer Rafael Nadal, and his partner, in straight sets.
Krajicek, a Tampa native, spoke with WPTV earlier this month, sharing how he is using his fourth-place finish in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as motivation.
"I talk about it all the time," he said. "It was probably one of the harder losses in my career, that third and fourth loss in Tokyo, but a lot of good learnings from that, we took away some good lessons."
Krajicek and Ram are keeping their gold medal dreams alive, while his uncle Klotz sends his support from Royal Palm Beach.
"Congrats and go Austin and go USA," said Klotz. "We try not to do too much before. You always have that jinx factor, you know."