Rafael Nadal
Full name: Rafael Parera Nadal
Nickname: Rafa, Spain's Raging Bull, El Nino, King of clay
Alias: Parera
Nickname: Rafa, Spain's Raging Bull, El Nino, King of clay
Alias: Parera
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Bio | Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player from Mallorca currently ranked world No. 6 in men's singles tennis. His success on clay has earned him the nickname "The King of Clay" and has led many sports journalists and commentators, as well as former and current players, to regard him as the finest clay court player in history. Furthermore, his evolution into an all-court threat has established him as one of the best ever all-rounders in tennis, with some – including former world No. 1 and singles Career Golden Slam winner Andre Agassi – considering Nadal to be the greatest player of all time. Nadal has won a joint-record 22 Grand Slam men's singles titles, the most in history for a male player as well as 36 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles (second most in history for a male player), 21 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments, 2 Olympic gold medals (one each for singles and doubles in 2008 and 2016 respectively). In addition, Nadal has held the world No. 1 ranking for a total of 209 weeks, including being the year-end No. 1 five times. In majors, Nadal has won a record 14 French Open titles, 4 US Open titles, 2 Wimbledon titles, and 2 Australian Open titles and won at least one Grand Slam every year for a record ten consecutive years (2005–2014). Nadal has won 92 career titles overall, including the most outdoor titles in the Open Era (90) and a record 63 titles on clay. With 81 consecutive wins on clay, Nadal holds the record for the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era. He also holds the all-time male record for the most Grand Slam titles won without losing a set with four, all at the French Open, as well as the all-time record (male or female) for the most titles at a single Grand Slam tournament. Winning his 2nd Australian Open singles title in 2022, he joined Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Novak Djokovic who completed the double career Grand Slam. Nadal has been involved in five Davis Cup titles with Spain, and currently has a 29-win streak and 29–1 record in singles matches at the event. (He was a member of the winning Spain Davis Cup team in 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2019.) At the international level, he has won the 2017 and 2019 editions of the Laver Cup with Team Europe. In 2010, at the age of 24, he became the seventh player in history and youngest of four in the Open Era to achieve the Career Grand Slam. He is the second male player, after Andre Agassi, to complete the singles Career Golden Slam, as well as the second male player after Mats Wilander to have won at least two Grand Slams on all three surfaces (grass, hard court and clay). Nadal was one of the most successful teenagers in ATP Tour history, reaching No. 2 in the world and winning 16 titles before his 20th birthday, including his first French Open and six Masters events. Nadal became No. 1 for the first time in 2008 after his first major victory off clay against his rival, the longtime top-ranked Roger Federer, in a historic Wimbledon final. He also won an Olympic gold medal that year in singles in Beijing. After defeating Novak Djokovic at the 2010 US Open final, then 24-year-old Nadal became the youngest man in the Open Era to achieve the career Grand Slam, and the first man to win three majors on three different surfaces (hard, grass and clay) in the same year (Surface Slam). With his Olympic gold medal, he is one of only two men to complete the career Golden Slam in singles. Nadal is the only male player in history to complete the career Grand Slam and win an Olympic gold medal in both singles and doubles. Since 2010, Nadal has continued to dominate at the French Open, winning at least four consecutive titles twice, while also winning three more US Open titles and another Australian Open title. He surpassed Djokovic and Federer's record for the most major men's singles titles at the 2022 Australian Open, and became one of four men in history to complete the double career Grand Slam in singles. He also became the first and only man to win multiple majors in three separate decades. From 2005 to 2017, Nadal was coached by his uncle Toni Nadal. He is the only Spanish player, male or female, to win all four Major singles titles twice, to rank world No. 1 for more than 200 weeks, and to win more than 20 Majors. Nadal's winning rate in Grand Slam finals, 22–8 (73.33%), is second only to Pete Sampras' 14–4 (77.78%) for male players contesting at least 10 finals. As of June 2022, Nadal holds the Open Era record for the highest career winning percentage (minimum 500 wins) at 83.3% (1058–212 record). Nadal is the only left-handed member of the Big Three in men's singles. One of his main strengths is his forehand, which he routinely hits with extremely heavy topspin at difficult angles. He is one of the best at breaking serve, regularly appearing among the tour leaders in percentage of return games, return points, and break points won. Nadal has won the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award five times, has been named the ATP Player of the Year five times, and the ITF World Champion four times, and was the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year in 2011 and 2021. He is also a recipient of the Grand Cross of the Order of Dos De Mayo, the Princess of Asturias Award, and the Medal of the City of Paris. Nadal has also opened a tennis academy in Mallorca, and is an active philanthropist. By winning the 2020 French Open, Nadal became the only player -male or female - to win a single Grand Slam tournament thirteen times and the first to win at least one Grand Slam tournament for ten consecutive years (2005-2014), breaking the record of eight consecutive years previously shared by Björn Borg, Pete Sampras, and Roger Federer. His victory at the 2014 French Open brought him level with Sampras at 14 Grand Slam singles titles, second only to Federer's record of 17 that time. He broke the tie with Sampras by winning 2017 French Open, then later that year he added 2 more US Open trophy (2017, 2019) to his collection as well as the 2018, 2019 and 2020 Roland Garros. At that latter major he tied with Roger Federer the top on the all-time rank list with 20 singles Grand Slam titles. Novak Djokovic joined this exclusive club after winning Wimbledon in 2021. Nadal surpassed Djokovic and Federer's record for the most major men's singles titles at the 2022 Australian Open, where he also became the second male player in the Open Era to complete the double career Grand Slam. Nadal is the only male player in tennis history to win one Grand Slam and at least one Masters 1000 title for ten consecutive years from 2005–2014. He beat Guillermo Vilas's Open Era record of 49 clay-court titles by winning the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2017. Nadal became the only man to win the same tournament 10 times by winning the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2017. He repeated this historic achievement by winning the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell for a 10th time just a few weeks later. By winning the 2017 French Open, Nadal became the only male and second overall to win a single Grand Slam tournament 10 times after Margaret Court. By winning his 11th Monte Carlo Masters title in 2018, he became the first and only male player in the Open Era to win a single tournament 11 times. Soon after, he would replicate the feat in winning his 11th Barcelona title and 11th Roland Garros crown, which means he owns records for most titles at the ATP 500 and Masters 1000. He also owns the longest single-surface winning streak in the Open Era, having won 81 consecutive matches on clay from April 2005 to May 2007. As well as Nadal broke John McEnroe's 34-year-old record for consecutive set wins on a single surface by winning 50 sets on clay: his streak started at Roland Garros first round of 2017 and ended at Madrid Masters quarterfinal in 2018. At the Rome Masters'18, Nadal captured his 8th title in the Italian capital as well as his 78th career title, thus overtaking John McEnroe in the fourth place on the list of most titles won in the Open Era. It was Nadal's 32nd Masters title - most of any player in the Open Era. With his victory in Rome, Nadal also regained the No. 1 spot from Federer. Also In the semifinals, he faced his arch-rival Novak Djokovic for the record 51st time, beating him in two sets after a tight first set tiebreak. By winning the French Open in 2018, Nadal tied Margaret Court‘s record for singles titles at a Grand Slam event (Court won 11 Australian Opens, but seven came when it was the Australian Championships, an amateur event.). It was Nadal's 17th Grand Slam title. En route to the title, Nadal dropped only one set, beating Dominic Thiem in the final in three sets. Nadal became just the fourth man in the Open Era to win three or more major titles after turning 30. It is an exclusive club that also includes Federer, Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall. He was seeded second at the 2019 Australian Open, and recorded straight-sets wins against James Duckworth, Matthew Ebden, Alex de Minaur, Tomáš Berdych, first-time quarterfinalist Frances Tiafoe and first-time semifinalist Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach his fifth Australian Open final. This was the first time that Nadal had advanced to an Australian Open final without losing a set; he had also lost only two service games during this run, both in his first-round match against Duckworth. Nadal lost the final in straight sets to Novak Djokovic, winning only eight games for the match, and marking Nadal's first straight-sets loss in a Grand Slam final. He finally won his first tournament of the year'19 in Rome, with a three set win over Djokovic in the final. By beating the reigning No.1, Nadal broke the tie with Boris Becker and now he holds the all-time record by defeating the world No.1 20 times! At the 2019 French Open, Nadal defeated Yannick Hanfmann, Yannick Maden, David Goffin, Juan Ignacio Londero, Kei Nishikori and Roger Federer (their first meeting at the tournament since 2011), dropping only one set along the way, to set up his twelfth French Open final. In a rematch of the previous year's final against Thiem, Nadal prevailed in four sets to claim his record-extending 12th French Open title. He now has broken the previous all-time record set by Margaret Court at the of most championships by singles player, man or woman, at a Grand Slam tournament. She had won 11 singles championships at the Australian Open. Nadal next played at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships and reached the semifinals again where he faced Federer for the first time at Wimbledon since the 2008 Wimbledon final, a match regarded by some as the greatest match in the history of tennis. Nadal then lost the semifinal to Federer in four sets. At the Rogers Cup, Nadal was the defending champion and top seed. By defeating Fabio Fognini in the quarterfinals, he took over the record for the highest number of Masters 1000 match wins of any active player, surpassing Roger Federer's previous record of 378 victories. In the semifinal, he received a walkover over Gaël Monfils, and in the final, he yielded just three games to Daniil Medvedev, winning in straight sets. This successful title defense was the first he had ever achieved on a surface other than clay. For the second year in a row, Nadal withdrew from Cincinnati Masters afterwards to focus on his US Open preparations. At the 2019 US Open, Nadal lost only one set (against Marin Čilić) en route to the final, which he won against Daniil Medvedev in five sets; in doing so, Nadal claimed his fourth US Open title and 19th Grand Slam title (placed him only one behind Roger Federer in overall standings that time), won his first five-set Grand Slam final since the 2009 Australian Open final and completed his second-best season in terms of Grand Slam singles results. At Paris Masters, Nadal reached semi-final stage of the tournament, but pulled out due to an abdominal injury. At the 2019 ATP Finals, Nadal played in the Andre Agassi group and defeated Tsitsipas and Medvedev in the round-robin stage, but it was not enough to progress to the semifinals. Despite his elimination, Nadal secured the year-end no. 1 ranking when Djokovic was also eliminated in the round-robin stage. This was Nadal's fifth time as the year-end no. 1 player, drawing level with Jimmy Connors, Federer and Djokovic behind Pete Sampras (six), and in doing so, he broke a number of the records he set in 2017: -At the age of 33, Nadal is the oldest person to finish as year-end no. 1 player. Nadal became the first player to hold, lose and regain the year-end no. 1 ranking on four occasions. -Nadal became the first player to finish as the year-end no. 1 five times in non-consecutive years. -The eleven-year gap between Nadal's first year-end no. 1 season (2008) and his last (2019) is also a record. At the 2019 Davis Cup Finals, Nadal helped Spain win its sixth Davis Cup title. Nadal won all eight of his matches in singles and doubles, extending his winning streak in Davis Cup singles matches to 29 (29–1 record overall) without dropping a set or losing a game on serve; he also won the tournament's most valuable player award. Nadal began his 2020 season by playing at the inaugural 2020 ATP Cup and helped Spain reach the final where they lost to Serbia, with Nadal losing to Djokovic in straight sets. Nadal then played at the 2020 Australian Open and won his first three matches in straight sets against Hugo Dellien, Federico Delbonis and Pablo Carreño Busta. In the fourth round, he defeated Nick Kyrgios in four sets and reached the quarterfinals where he lost to Dominic Thiem in four sets. Afterwards, Nadal went on to win his third Mexican Open title, defeating Taylor Fritz in straights sets in the final. Nadal lost in quarter-final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia after Diego Schwartzman beat him in straight sets. Nadal won his 13th French Open title, beating Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the tournament's final, only losing seven games. In doing so, he won his 20th Grand Slam title, equalling Roger Federer's record as the man with the most Grand Slam titles. It also marked his 100th win at the tournament, losing only twice in 16 years. His straight-sets victory over Djokovic marked also the 4th time that he won a Grand Slam without losing a set, all at the French Open, doing it also in 2008, 2010 and 2017. At the Paris Masters, Nadal defeated compatriot Feliciano López in the second round to get his 1,000 victory in the ATP Tour, becoming the fourth man in the Open Era to achieve that milestone. He then reached the semifinals where he lost to Alexander Zverev in straight sets. On November 9, 2020, Nadal reached his 790th back to back week as one of the ten highest placed players on the ATP rankings and surpassed the record held by Jimmy Connors. At the 2020 ATP Finals, Nadal played in the London 2020 group. He defeated Rublev and defending champion Tsitsipas progressing to the semifinals and securing ending the year as no. 2. It was the first time since 2015 that Nadal reached the semifinals. Nadal then lost his semifinal match to eventual champion Daniil Medvedev in three sets. This was the seventh time that Nadal had finished Year-end No. 2 and now leads the "Big Three" with 12 Top 2 finishes. At the 2021 Australian Open, Nadal lost in the quarterfinals to World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas, despite being two sets to love up. This marked only the second time Nadal had lost a Grand Slam match after being two sets up. Nadal next played at the Monte Carlo Masters and defeated Federico Delbonis and Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals, where he lost to Andrey Rublev in three sets. On April 25, Nadal won a record-extending twelfth Barcelona Open trophy with a three-set victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final, saving a championship point in the third set. At 3 hours and 38 minutes, this was the longest best-of-three-set ATP Tour final since statistics started being tracked in 1991. He followed up in May by making the quarterfinals at the Madrid Open and winning his record-extending tenth Italian Open title. In the latter, he saved two match points against Denis Shapovalov and defeated Novak Djokovic in the final. At the French Open, Nadal entered as the heavy favorite seeking to become the first man to win 21 majors. He reached the semifinals after wins over Jannik Sinner and Diego Schwartzman, where he encountered Novak Djokovic in a rematch of the previous year's final. There, Nadal was upset by eventual champion Djokovic in four sets, in only his third-ever loss at the French Open. Following his loss, Nadal withdrew from both Wimbledon and the Olympics, citing schedule reasons. Nadal returned to action at the 2021 Citi Open, revealing that his recent withdrawals were actually due to a recurring left foot injury that returned at the 2021 French Open. He defeated home favorite Jack Sock in a tight 3 set match before being upset by 50th ranked Lloyd Harris in the 3rd round. He was then set to defend his title at the National Bank Open, but withdrew from the tournament before his first match, citing the same foot injury. He also withdrew from the Cincinnati Masters. On August 20, 2021, just 10 days out from the US Open, Nadal announced that would be ending his 2021 season due to the left foot issue that had been troubling him for most of the year. Therefore, his ranking fell to No.6, due to his injury. Nadal returned to the court on December 17, 2021, in an exhibition match at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi. Receiving a bye in the quarterfinals, Nadal lost to Andy Murray in the semifinals in straight sets. In the third place play-off, he lost to Denis Shapovalov in three sets. In January of 2022, Nadal won his 89th ATP singles title at Melbourne Summer Set 1, defeating first time finalist Maxime Cressy in the final. Following wins over Karen Khachanov, Denis Shapovalov, and Matteo Berrettini, Nadal won his second Australian Open title and a 21st major title overall by defeating Daniil Medvedev in a five-set final, coming back from two sets down. With the win, Nadal surpassed a tie held with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer for the most men's singles major titles of all-time. Nadal also became the second man in the Open Era, after Djokovic, to complete the double career Grand Slam. At the Mexican Open, Nadal won the title without dropping a set, which included a win over Medvedev, who that week had clinched the world No. 1 ranking. He also extended his winning streak to 15 matches, his best start to a season in his career. Nadal next entered the 2022 Indian Wells Masters as the fourth seed. After seeing off a final set tie-break from Sebastian Korda in the second round, Nadal beat Dan Evans, Reilly Opelka, Nick Kyrgios, and Carlos Alcaraz to reach his fourth final of the season and extend his winning streak to 20 matches. Nadal was beaten by Taylor Fritz in straight sets in the final, ending his winning streak. On March 22, it was reported that Nadal will be unable to play for between four and six weeks, due to a rib stress fracture that occurred during Indian Wells. At the 2022 French Open, Nadal recorded his 106th win defeating Jordan Thompson in the first round in straight sets. With a 106-3 record at the French Open, he became the player with the most wins at a single Major. He recorded his 300th career win at Grand Slam tournaments, defeating Corentin Moutet in straight sets in the second round. In the third round, he defeated Botic van de Zandschulp also in straight sets. He faced Felix Auger Aliassime in the fourth round where the latter is coached by Nadal's uncle Toni, and defeated him in five intense sets. Nadal met Djokovic for a record-extending 59th time in the quarterfinals, making it the first singles match in tennis history to feature two players holding at least 20 Grand Slam titles and 1000 career match wins. Nadal emerged victorious in four sets to advance to his 15th French Open semifinal. He faced Alexander Zverev in a gruelling battle lasting over three hours with only two sets played, and ended with Zverev's retirement due to a foot injury. As a result, Nadal advanced to his record-extending 14th French Open final. In the final, Nadal defeated Casper Ruud in three dominant sets to win his 14th French Open title and 22nd Grand Slam title overall. In doing so, he became the oldest champion at the French Open. In the process, he became the third male player to earn four Top 10 wins en route to a Grand Slam title since the ATP Rankings started in 1973, after Mats Wilander at Roland Garros in 1982 and Roger Federer at the Australian Open in 2017. He ascended to World No. 4 on June 6, 2022. Rafael Nadal was born in Manacor, Balearic Islands, Spain. His father Sebastián Nadal, a businessman who owns an insurance company, a glass and window company, Vidres Mallorca and manages his own restaurant, Sa Punta. His mother is Ana María Parera, a housewife. He has a younger sister named María Isabel. His uncle, Miguel Ángel Nadal, is a retired professional footballer, who played for RCD Mallorca, FC Barcelona, and the Spanish national team. Nadal supports football clubs Real Madrid and RCD Mallorca. Recognizing that Nadal had a natural talent for tennis, another uncle, Toni Nadal, a former professional tennis player, introduced him to tennis when he was three years old. At age eight, Nadal won an under-12 regional tennis championship at a time when he was also a promising football player. This made Toni Nadal intensify training, and at that time he encouraged Nadal to play left-handed for a natural advantage on the tennis court, as he noticed Nadal played forehand shots with two hands. This may be due to the fact he is ambidextrous, playing tennis with his left hand, and writing with his right. When Nadal was 12, he won the Spanish and European tennis titles in his age group and was playing tennis and football all the time. Nadal's father made him choose between football and tennis so that his school work would not deteriorate entirely. Nadal said: "I chose tennis. Football had to stop straight away." When he was 14, the Spanish tennis federation requested that he leave Mallorca and move to Barcelona to continue his tennis training. Nadal's family turned down this request, partly because they feared it would hurt his education, but also because Toni said that "I don't want to believe that you have to go to America, or other places to be a good athlete. You can do it from your home." The decision to stay home meant that Nadal received less financial support from the federation; instead, Nadal's father covered the costs. In May 2001, he defeated former Grand Slam tournament champion Pat Cash in a clay-court exhibition match. Nadal turned professional at the age of 15, and participated in two events on the ITF junior circuit. In 2002, at the age of 16, Nadal reached the semifinals of the Boy's Singles tournament at Wimbledon, in his first ITF junior event. By the age of 17, he beat Roger Federer the first time they played and became the youngest man to reach the third round at Wimbledon since Boris Becker. At 18, he helped pace Spain over the US in the junior Davis Cup in his second, and final, appearance on the ITF junior circuit. At 19, Nadal won the French Open the first time he played it, a feat not accomplished in Paris for more than 20 years. He eventually won it the first four times he played at Roland Garros. In 2003, he had won the ATP Newcomer of the Year Award. Early in his career, Nadal became known for his habit of biting the trophies he won. |
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