Rafael Nadal

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Rafael Nadal

Nickname	Rafa, Zurdo
Country	Spain
Residence	Manacor, Mallorca
Date of birth	June 3, 1986 (age 20)
Place of birth	Manacor, Mallorca
Height	185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	85 kg (188 lb)
Turned Pro	2001
Plays	Left; Two-handed backhand
Career Prize Money	$9,096,784[1]
Singles
Career record:	200-56
Career titles:	18
Highest ranking:	No. 2 (July 25, 2005)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	QF (2007)
French Open	W (2005, 2006)
Wimbledon	F (2006)
U.S. Open	QF (2006)
Doubles
Career record:	51-32
Career titles:	3
Highest ranking:	No. 26 (August 8, 2005)
Infobox last updated on: April 2, 2007.

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera (IPA: [rafa'el na'ðal]) (born June 3, 1986, in Manacor, Mallorca) is a Spanish tennis player.

As of March 2007, he is ranked second in the world. Nadal's clay-court winning streak stands at 62 matches, the longest among male players in the open era.^[2] He has won two consecutive French Open singles titles, having never lost a match at the event.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Career 2.1 2002 - 2004 2.2 2005 2.3 2006 2.4 2007 3 Equipment 4 Trivia 5 Streaks and records 6 Grand Slam singles finals 6.1 Wins (2) 6.2 Runner-up (1) 7 ATP Masters Series singles finals 7.1 Wins (7) 7.2 Runner-up (1) 8 All ATP finals (21) 8.1 Singles wins (18) 8.2 Singles runners-up (3) 8.3 Doubles wins (3) 9 Singles performance timeline 10 Ranking 11 ATP Tour career earnings 12 Davis Cup 13 See also 14 References 15 External links

Early years

Nadal was born in Manacor, Mallorca to his parents, Sebastián and Ana María; he also has a younger sister named María Isabel. His father owns a restaurant and a glass-making business. His uncle, Miguel Ángel Nadal, is a retired footballer who played for RCD Mallorca, FC Barcelona, and the Spanish national team.^[3] His other uncle, Toni, is his current coach and introduced him to the sport when Nadal was three-years-old.^[4]

Although Nadal plays left-handed, he is naturally right-handed. When he was younger, his 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.^[5]

It was not until Nadal was 12 that he decided to pursue a career in tennis, instead of football.^[3] In May 2001, when Nadal was 14-years-old, tennis great Pat Cash played a clay-court exhibition match against him. Cash was reluctant to play against Nadal, because Boris Becker was originally scheduled to be his opponent, and took this rearranged match as an offense. In the end, he was surprised to find himself losing by a close margin.^[3]

Career

2002 - 2004

In 2002, the 15-year-old Nadal won his first ATP match, defeating Ramon Delgado in Majorca to become the ninth player in the open era to win an ATP match before his 16th birthday.^[6]

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, Nadal, then 17, became the youngest male player to reach the third round since 16-year-old Boris Becker in 1984.^[7]

2005

2005 was Nadal's breakthrough year. At the Australian Open, he reached the fourth round and pushed the eventual runner-up, Lleyton Hewitt, to five sets. Two months later, he reached the final of the Miami Masters tournament — indeed, was two points away from victory in straight sets — but was defeated in five sets by the world's number one player, Roger Federer.

Shifting to the clay court season, Nadal won 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, Nadal had reached the top 5 in the world rankings, becoming the youngest player to break into the top 10 since Andrei Medvedev in 1993.

Nadal entered his first French Open among the favorites. He beat two of France's local hopes, Sebastien Grosjean and Richard Gasquet, to reach the semifinals. On his 19th birthday, he defeated Federer in the semifinals, preventing the Swiss from achieving a career Grand Slam. Two days later, he became the fourth-youngest French Open champion in the open era, defeating Argentina's Mariano Puerta in the final.^[8] He became the seventh player to win a Grand Slam in his first appearance at the event and the first since Agassi at the 1995 Australian Open. He also became the first teenager to win a Grand Slam singles title since Pete Sampras won the 1990 U.S. 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.

Three days after his victory in Paris, his winning streak was snapped on the grass courts of Halle, Germany, where he was beaten by German Alexander Waske in the first round.^[9] He suffered another disappointment at Wimbledon, where he was eliminated in the second round by Gilles Müller of Luxembourg.^[10]

Nadal started his 2005 hardcourt season by defeating Agassi in the final of the Canada Masters. Nadal was seeded second at the U.S. Open but was eliminated in the third round by American James Blake in four sets. Despite the loss, his second seeding and third round performance were both career highs. After the U.S. 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 Madrid Masters. He then suffered a foot injury that 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, eleven, 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 Roger Federer continued into 2006. In March 2006, Nadal handed Federer his first loss of the year 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 final. 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 Soderling 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 has refused to acknowledge Nadal's feat as more impressive than his own (which was accomplished in a single season).

The French Open final was hotly anticipated, pitting No. 1 Federer against No. 2 Nadal. 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 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 Series tournaments. Yet, the first two sets were hardly competitive, as the rivals traded 6-1 sets. Nadal steamrolled over Federer through set 3 and most of 4, when Federer finally broke Nadal's serve deep in the fourth set as he was serving for the match and forced a tiebreak, which Nadal won.^[11]

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 able to beat Federer consistently.

Nadal withdrew due to a shoulder injury against Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals of Queens Club, a Wimbledon tune-up tournament. Seeded No. 2 going into Wimbledon, Nadal reached the finals, securing a match against Federer by beating Marcos Baghdatis 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 match at Wimbledon. All seven of the previous Nadal/Federer encounters had been played on either clay or hard courts; however, Wimbledon is played on grass, which is Federer's preferred surface, having won the title for three consecutive years. Though Nadal played well in the final after a sluggish start, he fell in four sets, 6-0, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, cementing Federer's position at the top of the world rankings. Despite the loss, Nadal well-exceeded most expectations by reaching the finals, winning more matches at the tournament than he had ever won on grass before (he had been 3-3 on grass before the tournament).

At the 2006 U.S. Open, Nadal achieved his best result at the tournament by reaching the quarterfinals, where he lost to Russian Mikhail Youzhny in four sets.

Nadal failed, however, to reach the third round of his next tournament, the Stockholm Open, where he lost to Joachim Johansson 6-4, 7-6. Nadal also lost in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Masters, where he was defeated by Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-6 for the third time. After the tournament, Nadal blamed mental and physical exhaustion for his recent losses.

During the round robin stage of the Tennis Masters Cup, Nadal lost to James Blake but defeated Nikolay Davydenko and Tommy Robredo. Nadal reached the semifinals as the second place finisher in his group, where he lost to Federer 7-5, 6-4. This was Nadal's third loss in nine career matches with Federer.

2007

Nadal started 2007 by reaching the semifinals of the tournament in Chennai, India, where he lost to Xavier Malisse 6-4, 7-6. At his next tournament in Sydney, Australia, Nadal retired from his first match with a groin injury. At the 2007 Australian Open, Nadal defeated Andy Murray 6-7(3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals, where he lost to Fernando Gonzalez 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.

In the quarterfinals of the 2007 Dubai Tennis Championships, Nadal lost to Mikhail Youzhny, 7-6, 6-2. After that loss, he played at the 2007 Pacific Life Open, defeating Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals and Novak Djokovic 6-2, 7-5 in the final. However, at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Nadal was defeated in the quarterfinals by tenth seeded Djokovic 6-3, 6-4.

Equipment

Nadal uses a Babolat racket known as Aero Pro Drive and his string of choice is known as Babolat Pro Hurricane Tour.^[12] Nadal wears Nike sportswear, most notably Capri (3/4) pants.

Trivia

• Although it is not known why, Rafael Nadal has met considerable hostility from fans during his matches at the French Open. 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 television, 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," referring to his sleeveless shirts. After the 2006 French Open 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. No apology was made.
• Nadal's record-setting 62-match clay court win streak has been belittled by the man whose record he broke--Guillermo Vilas. Vilas reasons that Nadal's streak is not as impressive as his 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."^[13]

• 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 at the same time.

• Nadal's nickname is "The King of Clay."^[14]
• Nadal has "Vamos Rafa" ("Let's go Rafa") written on his shoes, a common exhortation by his fans.^[15]
• Nadal wears distinctive pantaloons, a trademark of his in preference of traditional shorts.
• He can curl 30 kg with his left hand and 25 kg with his right.
• The asteroid 128036 Rafaelnadal is named in his honour.^[16]
• He supports Real Madrid and RCD Mallorca football teams.^[17]

Streaks and records

• Nadal has been ranked No. 2 for more consecutive weeks than any player in the history of the computer rankings maintained by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). ^[18]
• Nadal is one of only two people to win the French Open on the first attempt, the first being Mats Wilander in 1982. By successfully defending his title in 2006, he is a perfect 14-0 in the tournament.^[4]
• At age 19 years, 1 month, and 22 days, Nadal became the third teenager in the history of the ATP computer rankings (since 1973) to reach World No. 2, joining Boris Becker (age 18 years, 9 months, and 17 days) and Björn Borg (age 18 years, 10 months, and 2 days) as the only teenagers to be ranked No. 2.^[4]
• Nadal has held two winning streaks of at least 20 consecutive matches. The first was a 24-match winning streak in mid-2005. The second was 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 in 2006.
• Nadal is the only player who has won a Grand Slam singles final against World No. 1 Roger Federer. That win came at the 2006 French Open by a score of 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6. Federer is 10-1 in Grand Slam singles finals (including a victory over Nadal in the 2006 Wimbledon final).
• Nadal is the only active player who has a winning head-to-head record against Federer after five career meetings. He currently enjoys a 6-3 advantage (4-0 on clay, 2-2 on hard courts, and 0-1 on grass).

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2005	French Open	Mariano Puerta	6-7(6), 6-3, 6-1, 7-5
2006	French Open (2)	Roger Federer	1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(4)

Runner-up (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2006	Wimbledon	Roger Federer	6-0, 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 6-3

ATP Masters Series singles finals

Wins (7)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2005	Monte Carlo	Guillermo Coria	6-3, 6-1, 0-6, 7-5
2005	Rome	Guillermo Coria	6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(6)
2005	Montreal	Andre Agassi	6-3, 4-6, 6-2
2005	Madrid	Ivan Ljubičić	3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3)
2006	Monte Carlo (2)	Roger Federer	6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(5)
2006	Rome (2)	Roger Federer	6-7(0), 7-6(5), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(5)
2007	Indian Wells	Novak Djokovic	6-2, 7-5

Runner-up (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2005	Miami	Roger Federer	2-6, 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-1

All ATP finals (21)

Singles wins (18)

Legend

Grand Slam (2)

Tennis Masters Cup (0)

ATP Masters Series (7)

ATP Tour (9)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	9 August 2004	Sopot, Poland	Clay	José Acasuso	6-3, 6-4
2.	14 February 2005	Costa do Sauípe, Brazil	Clay	Alberto Martín	6-0, 6-7(2), 6-1
3.	21 February 2005	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Álbert Montañés	6-1, 6-0
4.	17 April 2005	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Guillermo Coria	6-3, 6-1, 0-6, 7-5
5.	24 April 2005	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Juan Carlos Ferrero	6-1, 7-6(4), 6-3
6.	2 May 2005	Rome, Italy	Clay	Guillermo Coria	6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(6)
7.	5 June 2005	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Mariano Puerta	6-7(6), 6-3, 6-1, 7-5
8.	4 July 2005	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Tomáš Berdych	2-6, 6-2, 6-4
9.	18 July 2005	Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Gastón Gaudio	6-3, 6-3, 6-4
10.	14 August 2005	Montréal, Canada	Hard	Andre Agassi	6-3, 4-6, 6-2
11.	18 September 2005	Beijing, China	Hard	Guillermo Coria	5-7, 6-1, 6-2
12.	23 October 2005	Madrid, Spain	Hard (I)	Ivan Ljubičić	3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3)
13.	4 March 2006	Dubai, UAE	Hard	Roger Federer	2-6, 6-4, 6-4
14.	23 April 2006	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Roger Federer	6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(5)
15.	30 April 2006	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Tommy Robredo	6-4, 6-4, 6-0
16.	14 May 2006	Rome, Italy	Clay	Roger Federer	6-7(0), 7-6(5), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(5)
17.	11 June 2006	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Roger Federer	1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(4)
18.	18 March 2007	Indian Wells, California, USA	Hard	Novak Djokovic	6-2, 7-5

• 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 runners-up (3)

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

Doubles wins (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	August 21, 2003	Croatia Open Umag, Umag, Croatia	Clay	Álex López Morón	Todd Perry Thomas Shimada	6-1, 6-3
2.	January 5, 2004	Chennai Open, Chennai, India	Hard	Tommy Robredo	Jonathan Erlich Andy Ram	7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3
3.	January 3, 2005	Qatar ExxonMobil Open, Doha, Qatar	Hard	Albert Costa	Andrei Pavel Mikhail Youzhny	6-3, 4-6, 6-3

Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, which ended on April 1, 2007.

Tournament	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Career SR	Career Win-Loss
Australian Open	A	A	3R	4R	A	QF	0 / 3	9-3
French Open	A	A	A	W	W		2 / 2	14-0
Wimbledon	A	3R	A	2R	F		0 / 3	9-3
U.S. Open	A	2R	2R	3R	QF		0 / 4	8-4
Grand Slam SR	0 / 0	0 / 2	0 / 2	1 / 4	1 / 3	0 / 1	2 / 12	N/A
Grand Slam Win-Loss	0-0	3-2	3-2	13-3	17-2	4-1	N/A	40-10
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	3R	A	SF	W	1 / 3	12-2
Miami Masters	A	A	4R	F	2R	QF	0 / 4	9-4
Monte Carlo Masters	A	3R	A	W	W		2 / 3	14-1
Rome Masters	A	A	A	W	W		2 / 2	12-0
Hamburg Masters	A	3R	A	A	A		0 / 1	2-1
Canada Masters	A	A	1R	W	3R		1 / 3	8-2
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	1R	1R	QF		0 / 3	3-3
Madrid Masters	A	1R	2R	W	QF		1 / 4	8-3
Paris Masters	A	A	A	A	A		0 / 0	0-0
Tennis Masters Cup	A	A	A	A	SF		0 / 1	2-2
ATP Tournaments Played	1	11	18	21	16	6	N/A	73
ATP Finals Reached	0	0	2	12	6	1	N/A	21
ATP Tournaments Won	0	0	1	11	5	1	N/A	18
Hard Win-Loss	0-0	1-2	14-10	28-6	23-8	17-5	N/A	83-31
Clay Win-Loss	1-1	11-6	14-3	50-2	26-0	0-0	N/A	102-12
Grass Win-Loss	0-0	2-1	0-0	1-2	8-2	0-0	N/A	11-5
Carpet Win-Loss	0-0	0-2	2-4	0-0	2-2	0-0	N/A	4-8
Overall Win-Loss	1-1	14-11	30-17	79-10	59-12	17-5	N/A	200-56
Year End Ranking	200	49	51	2	2		N/A	N/A

A = did not participate in the tournament

SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played

Davis Cup and World Team Cup matches are included in the statistics.

Ranking

Highest Rankings:

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

ATP Tour career earnings

Year	Majors	ATP wins	Total wins	Earnings ($)	Money list rank
2002	0	0	0	23,975	345
2003	0	0	0	243,238	87
2004	0	1	1	447,758	50
2005	1	10	11	3,874,751	2
2006	1	4	5	3,746,360	2
2007*	0	1	1	692,845
Career	2	16	18	9,029,784	31

* As of March 19, 2007.

Davis Cup

Nadal was on Spain's victorious 2004 Davis Cup team.

First round versus the Czech Republic

• Singles: Nadal lost to Jiří Novák 7-6, 6-3, 7-6.
• Doubles: Nadal and Tommy Robredo lost to Jiří Novák and Radek Štěpánek 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-3.
• Singles: Nadal defeated Radek Štěpánek 7-6, 7-6, 6-3.

Quarterfinal versus the Netherlands

• Doubles: Nadal and Robredo lost to John van Lottum and Martin Verkerk 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

Semifinal versus France

• Singles: Nadal defeated Arnaud Clement 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
• Doubles: Nadal and Robredo defeated Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

Final versus the United States

• Singles: Nadal defeated Andy Roddick 6-7, 6-2, 7-6, 6-2.

See also

• List of Grand Slam Men's Singles champions

References

External links

• Rafael Nadal's Official Site
• ATP Tour profile for Rafael Nadal

Preceded by Paul-Henri Mathieu	ATP Newcomer of the Year 2003	Succeeded by Florian Mayer
Preceded by Joachim Johansson	ATP Most Improved Player 2005	Succeeded by n/a
Preceded by Liu Xiang	Laureus World Newcomer of the Year 2006	Succeeded by Incumbent

Association of Tennis Professionals | Top ten male tennis players as of April 2, 2007
1. Roger Federer 2. Rafael Nadal 3. Andy Roddick 4. Nikolay Davydenko 5. Fernando González 6. Tommy Robredo 7. 3 Novak Đoković 8. 1 Ivan Ljubičić 9. 1 James Blake 10. 1 Tommy Haas