Rafael Nadal

For other people named Nadal, See Nadal (disambiguation).

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera (born June 3, 1986 in Manacor, Mallorca) is a Mallorcan Spanish tennis player ^*. He is the nephew of former F.C. Barcelona footballer Miguel Ángel Nadal. He is currently the world's No. 2 male tennis player and is the first man since Boris Becker to reach this ranking in his teenage years.

Nadal is the premier counterpuncher in the men's game, his pace and fitness helping to establish him as the top defensive player in tennis today. Playing with a full Western grip, Nadal is able to achieve heavy top spin on his forehands, which, combined with his counterpunching ability, has seen him become the player to beat on clay courts, above even World No. 1 Roger Federer.

Although Nadal plays left-handed, he is naturally right-handed. When he was younger, his uncle and coach, Toni Nadal, decided that his two-handed backhand would benefit from a strong right arm, so he taught Rafael to play with his left. ^*

Nadal's current clay-court winning streak (after defeating Roger Federer 1-6 6-1 6-4 7-6(4) in the final of the 2006 French Open) stands at 60 consecutive matches, the longest clay court winning streak among male players in the Open Era, having broken the previous record of 53 matches (set by Guillermo Vilas) in the first round of the 2006 French Open against Robin Soderling.

Career

In 2002, he won his first ATP match at Majorca at the age of 15, defeating Ramon Delgado to become the ninth player in the Open Era to win an ATP match before his 16th birthday.

In 2003, Nadal became the second-youngest player to be ranked among the world's top 100 singles players. He finished the year in the top 50, winning two Challenger titles. At his Wimbledon debut in 2003, he became the youngest player (at age 16) to reach the 3rd round since 16-year-old Boris Becker in 1984.

2005 was Nadal's breakthrough year. At the Australian Open, Nadal was able to progress to the fourth round and pushed the eventual runner-up, Lleyton Hewitt, to five sets before eventually losing. He continued his strong performance a couple of months later in March by reaching the final of the Miami Masters tournament, in which he, despite being three points away from victory in straight sets, was eventually defeated in five sets by the world's #1 player, Roger Federer. Shifting to the clay-court season, Nadal proceeded to win two ATP Masters Series events in Monte Carlo and Rome. At one point in the year, Nadal won 24 consecutive matches, the longest winning streak of any teenager in the Open Era, topping Andre Agassi's run of 23 matches in 1988. By May 2005, he had reached the top 5 in world rankings, becoming the youngest player to break into the Top 10 since Andrei Medvedev in 1993, and was one of the favorites entering the French Open tournament.

In his Roland Garros debut, Nadal proceeded to make the semifinals (defeating two of France's local hopes, Sebastien Grosjean and Richard Gasquet, along the way), and, on his 19th birthday, defeated world No. 1 Roger Federer, preventing Federer from achieving a career Grand Slam. Two days later, sporting his trademark white Nike head band, sleeveless shirt, and three-quarter length 'pirata' trousers, he became the fourth-youngest Roland Garros champion in the Open Era defeating Argentina's Mariano Puerta in the final. He became the seventh player to win a Grand Slam in his first appearance at the event, and the first since Andre Agassi at the 1995 Australian Open. He also became the first teenager to win a Grand Slam since Pete Sampras won the 1990 US Open at age 19. Nadal is the first teenager to win at least six titles in a year since Agassi in 1988 at the age of 18.

The 2005 grass court season was not as promising, however. Three days after his victory in Paris, his winning streak was snapped on the grass of Halle, Germany, where he was beaten by German Alexander Waske in the first round. He suffered another disappointment at Wimbledon, where he was eliminated in the second round of Wimbledon by Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.

Nadal started his 2005 hardcourt season by defeating Andre Agassi in the final of the Canada Masters. However, despite being seeded second overall at the US Open, he was eliminated in the third round by American James Blake in four sets. Despite the loss, his second seed overall and third round U.S. Open performance were both career highs. After the US Open, Nadal won two more hard court tournaments. In September he defeated Guillermo Coria in the final of the China Open in Beijing, and in October, he won his fourth Masters Series event, defeating Ivan Ljubičić in five sets in the final of the Masters Series Madrid tournament, played in Nadal's home country. He then suffered a foot injury which kept him out of the Tennis Masters Cup in 2005 and the start of 2006, causing him to miss the Australian Open. Overall, Nadal matched world No. 1 Roger Federer's standard in ATP titles won in a single season, 11; and Masters Series events won, four. He won 79 matches in 2005, second only to Federer's 81.

2006

The fierce rivalry between Nadal and Federer has continued long into 2006. On March 4, 2006, Nadal handed Federer his first loss of the 2006 season at the final in Dubai, winning 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Nadal defeated Federer again at the Monte Carlo Masters by a score of 6-2 6-7 6-3 7-6.

The two squared off again in the Rome Masters finals. There, it seemed as though Federer might finally defeat his nemesis, thereby ending Nadal's streak of consecutive clay court matches. However, Nadal fought off two match points and won 6-7 7-6 6-4 2-6 7-6.

Nadal broke argentinian Guillermo Vilas's 29-year record of 53 consecutive clay court match victories after defeating Robin Söderling in the first round of the 2006 French Open. Following the victory, Nadal was presented with a trophy containing the cross section of the construction of a clay court. Vilas was on hand for the ceremony although Vilas refuses to acknowledge Nadal's feat as more impressive than his.

The 2006 final of the French Open was one of the most hotly anticipated in the history of the event, pitting No. 1 Federer against No. 2 Nadal in perhaps the most important match of both of their careers. For Federer, the French Open was the missing link in a career Grand Slam, and in holding all four majors simultaneously. For Nadal, the task of defending his French Open title, as well as maintaining a dominant winning record against Federer, was enormous, something that no other player in the ATP has accomplished thus far. Though Nadal was the favorite, based on his clay-court ability, Federer was the overwhelming favorite with the raucous French crowd. Everyone expected a highly competitive match, much like the ones they had played in the last three Masters tournaments. Yet, the first two sets were hardly competitive, as the fierce rivals traded 6-1 sets. Nadal steamrolled over Federer through sets 3 and 4, when Federer finally broke Nadal's serve deep in the fourth set as he was serving for the match and forced a tie-break, which Nadal eventually won.

With an undefeated 2006 clay court season, Nadal firmly stamped himself as the dominant clay-court player in the world and as the only player to be able to convincingly beat Roger Federer. He has said that he hopes to become a better all-court player, but withdrew due to injury against Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals of Queens, a Wimbledon tune-up tournament, citing a shoulder injury. Seeded No. 2 going into Wimbledon, Nadal reached the finals against all expectations, securing a match against Roger Federer by beating Marcos Baghdatis on July 7 in the semifinals. During his run, Nadal was two points from defeat against American qualifier Robert Kendrick in the second round before coming back to win in five sets. Nadal also defeated Andre Agassi in the third round, in Agassi's final performance at Wimbledon before his retirement later in 2006. All seven of their previous encounters had been played on either clay or hard courts; however, Wimbledon is played on a grass surface, which is Federer's preferred surface, having won the title for three consecutive years. Though Nadal acquitted himself well in the final after a sluggish start, victory was not forthcoming, as he fell in four sets, 6-0 7-6 6-7 6-3, cementing any doubts about Federer's position at the top of the world rankings. Despite the loss, Nadal well exceeded all expectations that anyone had in reaching the final of Wimbledon, winning more matches at the tournament than he'd ever won on grass in his entire career (he'd been just 3-3 on grass before the 2006 Wimbledon tournament).

On July 11, after returning to his home island of Mallorca, Nadal was involved in a single-car accident when the vehicle he was travelling in struck an electrical line pylon. He was unharmed, and there is no report that he is in legal trouble over the accident. Residents of the area have complained in the past that the pylon's location alongside the road was very dangerous. ^*

Trivia

Rafael Nadal has met considerable hostility from the Parisian public during his performances at Roland Garros. He is often booed throughout and even after the match, especially when playing against and beating French players such as Mathieu or Gasquet. Commentators on French TV, such as Guy Forget on France 2, openly say they want him to lose during matches, claiming that "we don't need construction worker arms in tennis". After the 2006 Roland Garros final against Federer, Nadal started by praising Federer in his speech. The translator mistranslated the speech, leading the public to think he was praising himself. Nadal was thus booed and whistled at throughout the speech.

It’s common for Nadal to spend as much as 38 seconds, 18 over the limit, between points on his service game. The laws of tennis state that a maximum of 20 seconds is allowed between the time at which the last point is finished to the time at which the next serve is delivered. Nadal has picked up numerous time violations for this breach of the rules and has received a number of warnings from tennis authorities.

Nadal's record-setting 60-match clay court win streak has been consistently belittled by the man whose record he broke--Guillermo Vilas. Vilas reasons that Nadal's streak isn't as impressive as his was because "things were much more difficult in my day," and because Vilas's 53-match win streak all occurred within the same calendar year--not over two seasons as is the case with Nadal. Also, Vilas has decried the publicity given to Nadal's streak, saying that "they didn't give me a trophy in 1973".

Nadal is the nephew of former Spanish footballer Miguel Ángel Nadal, one of Spain's most capped players. Miguel's brother Toni is the coach of Rafael.

In preparation for an event, tennis great Pat Cash played a clay-court match against the then fourteen year-old Rafael Nadal. In the end, he was surprised to find himself losing by a close margin.

In 2006, Nadal and Roger Federer became the only two male players in the Open Era to reach the Wimbledon final after having both played in the French Open final just a month prior. There have been several men to reach the Wimbledon final after making the French Open final, but never had the same two men accomplished such a feat.

Nadals nickname is "The King of Clay"

Streaks and Records

Nadal currently has a 60 match clay court winning streak— an Open Era record for a male player.
He is one of only two people to win the French Open on his first attempt, the first being Mats Wilander in 1982. By defending his title in 2006, he is a perfect 14-0 in the tournament.
At 19 years 1 month and 22 days, Nadal became the third teenager in history (since 1973) to reach world no. 2 in the INDESIT ATP Entry Ranking, joining Boris Becker (18 years, 9 months and 17 days) and Björn Borg (18 years, 10 months and 2 days) as the only teenagers to be ranked no. 2.
He has held two winning streaks of 20 consecutive matches or more. The first one was a 24-match winning streak in mid 2005; the second is a streak of 26 matches dating from his loss to Carlos Moya in March 2006 to his retirement due to injury in the quarterfinals of the Queen's Club tournament against Lleyton Hewitt on 16 June 2006.

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (2)

Mariano Puerta|| 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 7-5 Roger Federer || 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6

'''Year

'''Championship

'''Opponent in Final

'''Score in Final

Runner-ups (1)

Roger Federer || 0-6, 6-7, 7-6, 3-6

'''Year

'''Championship

'''Opponent in Final

'''Score in Final

Titles (20)

Legend
Grand Slam (2)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (6)
ATP Tour (9)

Singles (17)

José Acasuso (Argentina) Alberto Martín (Spain) Álbert Montañés (Spain) Guillermo Coria (Argentina) Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) Guillermo Coria (Argentina) Mariano Puerta (Argentina) Tomáš Berdych (Czech Republic) Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) Andre Agassi (USA) Guillermo Coria (Argentina) Ivan Ljubičić (Croatia) Roger Federer (Switzerland) Roger Federer (Switzerland) Tommy Robredo (Spain) Roger Federer (Switzerland) Roger Federer (Switzerland)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	August 9, 2004	Idea Prokom Open, Sopot, Poland	Clay	6-3 6-4
2.	February 14, 2005	Brasil Open, Costa do Sauípe, Brazil	Clay	6-0 6-7 6-1
3.	February 21, 2005	Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	6-1 6-0
4.	April 17, 2005	Monte Carlo Masters, Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	6-3 6-1 0-6 7-5
5.	April 24, 2005	Open Seat, Barcelona, Spain	Clay	6-1 7-6 6-3
6.	May 2, 2005	Rome Masters, Rome, Italy	Clay	6-4 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-6
7.	June 5, 2005	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	6-7 6-3 6-1 7-5
8.	July 4, 2005	Swedish Open, Båstad, Sweden	Clay	2-6 6-2 6-4
9.	July 18, 2005	Mercedes Cup, Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	6-3 6-3 6-4
10.	August 14, 2005	Canada Masters, Montréal, Canada	Hard	6-3 4-6 6-2
11.	September 18, 2005	China Open, Beijing, China	Hard	5-7 6-1 6-2
12.	October 23, 2005	Madrid Masters, Madrid, Spain	Hard (I)	3-6 2-6 6-3 6-4 7-6
13.	March 4, 2006	Dubai Tennis Championships, Dubai, UAE	Hard	2-6 6-4 6-4
14.	April 23, 2006	Monte Carlo Masters, Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	6-2 6-7 6-3 7-6
15.	April 30, 2006	Open Seat, Barcelona, Spain	Clay	6-4 6-4 6-0
16.	May 14, 2006	Rome Masters, Rome, Italy	Clay	6-7⁰ 7-6⁵ 6-4 2-6 7-6⁵
17.	Jun 11, 2006	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	1-6 6-1 6-4 7-6⁴

Nadal also won 6 entry-level Spanish Futures events in 2002 and 2 Challenger tournaments in 2003 before he fully joined the professional ATP tour.

Singles finalist (3)

2004: Auckland (lost to Dominik Hrbaty)
2005: Miami AMS (lost to Roger Federer)
2006: Wimbledon (lost to Roger Federer)

Performance timeline

Tournament	Career	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002
Australian Open	5-2	-	4r	3r	-	-
French Open	14-0	W	W	-	-	-
Wimbledon	9-3	F	2r	-	3r
U.S. Open	4-3		3r	2r	2r	-
Grand Slam Win-Loss	32-8	13-1	13-3	3-2	3-2	0-0
Indian Wells Masters	6-2	SF	-	3r	-	-
Miami Masters	7-3	2r	F	4r	-	-
Monte Carlo Masters	14-1	W	W	-	3r	-
Rome Masters	12-0	W	W	-	-	-
Hamburg Masters	2-1	-	-	-	3r	-
Canada Masters	6-1		W	1r	-	-
Cincinnati Masters	0-2		1r	1r	-	-
Madrid Masters	6-2		W	2r	1r	-
Paris Masters	0-0		-	-	-	-
Tennis Masters Cup	0-0		-	-	-	-
Finals reached	20	6	12	2	0	0
Tournaments won	'''17	'''5	'''11	'''1	'''0	'''0
Hard Win-Loss	54-21	11-3	28-6	14-10	1-2	0-0
Clay Win-Loss	100-12	24-0	50-2	14-3	11-6	1-1
Grass Win-Loss	11-5	8-2	1-2	0-0	2-1	0-0
Carpet Win-Loss	2-6		0-0	2-4	0-2	0-0
'''Overall Win-Loss	'''167-44	'''43-5	'''79-10	'''30-17	'''14-11	'''1-1
ATP Entry Ranking points	N/A		4360	775	766	165
'''Year End Ranking	'''N/A		'''2	'''51	'''49	'''200

Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-8 finishes (quarter finals up to finalist.)

Doubles (3)

Álex López Morón (Spain) Todd Perry (Australia) and
Flag of Japan.svg Thomas Shimada (Japan) Tommy Robredo (Spain) Jonathan Erlich and
Flag of Israel.svg Andy Ram (Israel) Albert Costa (Spain) Andrei Pavel (Romania) and
Flag of Russia.svg Mikhail Youzhny (Russia)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	August 21, 2003	Croatia Open Umag, Umag, Croatia	Clay	6-1 6-3
2.	January 5, 2004	Chennai Open, Chennai, India	Hard	7-6 4-6 6-3
3.	January 3, 2005	Qatar ExxonMobil Open, Doha, Qatar	Hard	6-3 4-6 6-3

Ranking

Highest Rankings:

INDESIT ATP Race: 2 (June 6-12, 2005)
Entry System: 2 (as of July 25, 2005)

2004 Davis Cup

Nadal was one of the heroes for his team in the 2004 Davis Cup, leading Spain to victory.

R1 vs Czech Republic

Lost to Jiří Novák 7-6, 6-3, 7-6
Lost to Jiří Novák and Radek Štěpánek 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-3 (w/ T. Robredo)
Defeated Radek Štěpánek 7-6, 7-6, 6-3

R2 vs France

Defeated Arnaud Clement 6-4, 6-1, 6-2
Defeated Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 (w/ T. Robredo)

Finals vs USA

Defeated Andy Roddick 6-7, 6-2, 7-6, 6-2

External links

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