Rafael Nadal

He played singles and doubles at this grass court tournament as a warmup for Wimbledon. Being one of the top eight seeds, he received a bye in the first round. In the second round, where he played his first match on grass since winning Wimbledon 2008, he defeated Marcos Daniel easily, 6–2, 6–2. In the third round, he played Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, whom he defeated 7–6, 4–6, 6–4, to advance to the quarterfinals. However, he was defeated by compatriot Feliciano López 6–7, 4–6.

At the Wimbledon, Nadal beat Kei Nishikori 6–2, 6–4, 6–4. Nadal was taken to the limit by Robin Haase winning 5–7, 6–2, 3–6, 6–0, 6–3. He defeated Philipp Petzschner in the third round. The match was a 5-set thriller, with Nadal triumphing 6–4, 4–6, 6–7, 6–2, 6–3. During his match with Petzschner, Nadal was warned twice for receiving coaching from his coach and uncle, Toni Nadal, resulting in a $2000 fine by Wimbledon officials. Allegedly, encouraging words for Nadal shouted during the match were some sort of coaching code signal. He met Paul-Henri Mathieu of France in the round of 16 and comfortably beat Mathieu 6–4, 6–2, 6–2. In the quarterfinals, he got past Robin Söderling of Sweden in four sets 3–6, 6–3, 7–6, 6–1. He defeated Andy Murray in straight sets 6–4, 7–6, 6–4 to reach his fourth Wimbledon final. Read Less

Nadal then defeated longtime rival Roger Federer 6–4, 7–6, avenging his 2009 finals loss to Federer. The win gave him his 18th Masters title, breaking the all-time record. He became the first player to win all three clay-court Masters titles in a single year and the first player to win three consecutive Masters events. Nadal moved back to No. 2 the following day.

Entering the French Open, many were expecting another Nadal-Federer final. However, this became impossible when rival Robin Söderling defeated Federer 3–6, 6–3, 7–5, 6–4 in the quarterfinals. The failure of Federer to reach the semifinals allowed Nadal to regain the world No. 1 ranking if he were to win the tournament. Nadal advanced to the final and defeated Soderling 6–4, 6–2, 6–4 to win the French Open. The win gave Nadal his seventh Grand Slam tournament title, tying him with John McEnroe, John Newcombe, and Mats Wilander on the all-time list, and allowed Nadal to reclaim the position of world No. 1, denying his biggest rival Roger Federer the all-time record for weeks at No. 1. By this win, Nadal became the first man to win the three Masters series on clay and the French Open. This was dubbed by the media as the "Clay Slam". This victory at Roland Garros marked the second time (2008) that Nadal had won the French Open without dropping a single set (tying the record held by Björn Borg). Read Less

Nadal also competed in the doubles with Djokovic in a one-time, high-profile partnership of the world No. 1 and No. 2, the first such team since the Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe team in 1976. However, Nadal and Djokovic lost in the first round to Canadians Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil. The next week, Nadal was the top seed at the Cincinnati Masters, losing in the quarterfinals to 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis. Read Less

He defeated Teymuraz Gabashvili, Denis Istomin, Gilles Simon, number 23 seed Feliciano López, number 8 seed Fernando Verdasco, and number 12 seed Mikhail Youzhny all without dropping a set, to reach his first US Open final, becoming only the eighth man in the Open Era to reach the final of all four majors, and at age 24 the second youngest ever to do so, behind only Jim Courier. In the final, he defeated Novak Djokovic 6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 6–2 which completed the Career Grand Slam for Nadal and he became the second male after Andre Agassi to complete a Career Golden Slam. Nadal also became the first man to win majors on clay, grass, and hard court in the same year, and the first to win the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open in the same year since Rod Laver in 1969. Nadal and Mats Wilander are the only male players to win at least two Grand Slams each on clay, grass, and hardcourts in their careers. Nadal also became the first left-handed man to win the US Open since John McEnroe in 1984. Read Less

This is the first time that Nadal achieved three wins in the round-robin stage. In the semifinal, he defeated Murray 7–6, 3–6, 7–6 in a hard-fought match to reach his first final at the tournament. In only their second meeting of the year, Federer beat Nadal in the final by a score of 6–3, 3–6, 6–1. After the match, Nadal stated: "Roger is probably the more complete player of the world. I'm not going to say I lost that match because I was tired." This was a reference to his marathon victory over Murray on Saturday. "I tried my best this afternoon, but Roger was simply better than me." Read Less

Next up for Nadal was a two-match exhibition against Federer for the Roger Federer Foundation. The first match took place in Zürich on 21 December 2010, and the second in Madrid the next day. Read Less

At the Shanghai Masters, Nadal was top seed with the absence of Novak Djokovic, but was upset in the third round by no. 23 ranked Florian Mayer in straight sets, 6–7, 3–6. Read Less

Nadal is the first male player in tennis history to simultaneously hold Grand Slam tournament titles on clay, grass and hardcourts. He is also the first (and only player to date) to win three consecutive Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces. Nadal was ranked world No. 2, behind Federer, for a record 160 consecutive weeks before earning the top spot, which he held from 18 August 2008 to 5 July 2009. He regained the world No.1 ranking on 7 June 2010, after winning his fifth French Open title. He held it until 3 July 2011, when Novak Djokovic replaced him as world No. 1. Nadal has held the No. 2 ranking for an ATP record 241 weeks (as of 9 July 2012).

Rafael Nadal was born in Manacor, Majorca, Spain to 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. Read Less

Nadal drew 47th ranked veteran Jarkko Nieminen in the first round and comfortably dismissed him 6–4 6–3. He went on to clinch his 8th consecutive Monte Carlo trophy by beating Qualifier Mikhael Kukushkin, easing through Stanislas Wawrinka, and defeating Gilles Simon in the Semifinal, before topping World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in a surprisingly one-sided final 6–3 6–1. This ended a streak of 7 straight final losses to Djokovic, which began at the 2011 Indian Wells Masters Final. Djokovic stated that Nadal "was just a better player" during the match when asked whether the death of his grandfather early at the beginning of the tournament was affecting his whole play.

A day after the Monte Carlo Masters Final, Nadal traveled to Barcelona where he received a 'bye' in the first round. His tremendous record on clay continued as he beat compatriot David Ferrer in a hard fought final 7–6 (1) 7–5 to clinch his seventh title in eight years at the Barcelona Open. Read Less

In the semi final he faced a friend and compatriot in David Ferrer. Unlike their previous 2 encounters in Barcelona and Rome, Nadal showed almost no flaws, dismantling Ferrer 6–2 6–2 6–1 to set up another Championship title fight with World Number One Novak Djokovic. This marked the first time where two opposing players faced each other in four consecutive Grand Slam tournament finals. They also became the only players to have faced the same opponent in the finals of all four Majors. Nadal won the first two sets rather handily 6–4 6–3 and was up 2–0 in the third. In a combination of Djokovic's stellar play, a drop in Nadal's level, and the continuing drizzle of rain Nadal lost 8 straight games to Djokovic. With the score at 2–1 Djokovic in the fourth play was called for the day because of rain. When play resumed Monday Nadal was all business and held his serve very easily each game. Nadal defeated Djokovic 6–4 6–3 2–6 7–5 as Djokovic double faulted on match point, sealing a record 7th Roland Garros title for Nadal. Throughout the tournament, Nadal lost only one set, occurring in the final. By winning his seventh title at Roland Garros, Nadal surpassed Borg's overall titles record to become the most successful tennis player in French Open history. Read Less

In his first grass court tournament of the season at Halle, Nadal advanced to quarterfinals, where he lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber 3–6, 4–6. At Wimbledon, Nadal faced Thomaz Bellucci in the first round, beating the Brazilian 7–6, 6–2, 6–3. Nadal met Czech player Lukáš Rosol in the second round, a player who was then ranked 100th in the world and had never advanced beyond the first qualifying round in his five previous Wimbledons. In one of the biggest upsets in Grand Slam history, Nadal was defeated by Rosol in a five-set thriller 7–6 (9), 4–6, 4–6, 6–2, 4–6. This was the first time since the Wimbledon 2005 championships that Nadal had failed to progress past the 2nd round of a Grand Slam tournament. Read Less

On the 15th of August, Nadal announced his withdrawal from the US Open in New York, as he felt he still wasn't healthy enough to compete. On 11th September 2012, Nadal fell to a World No.4 ranking, his lowest since 2010, as 2012 US Open winner Andy Murray climbed to No. 3.

They held the top two rankings on the ATP Tour from July 2005 until 14 September 2009, when Nadal fell to World No. 3 (Andy Murray became the new No. 2). They are the only pair of men to have ever finished four consecutive calendar years at the top. Nadal ascended to No. 2 in July 2005 and held this spot for a record 160 consecutive weeks before surpassing Federer in August 2008.

They have played 28 times, and Nadal leads their head-to-head series 18–10 overall and 8–2 in Grand Slam tournaments. Fourteen of their matches have been on clay, which is statistically Nadal's best surface and statistically Federer's worst surface. Federer has a winning record on grass (2–1) and indoor hard courts (4–0) while Nadal leads the outdoor hard courts by 5–2 and clay by 12–2. Read Less

This was the longest Grand Slam tournament final in Open era history at 5 hrs, 53 mins. Read Less

Nadal and Andy Murray have met on 18 occasions since 2007, with Nadal leading 13–5. Nadal leads 4–0 on clay, 3–0 on grass and 6–5 on hard courts. The pair regularly meet at Grand Slam level, with eight out of their eighteen meetings coming in slams, with Nadal leading 6–2 (3–0 at Wimbledon, 1–0 at the French Open, 1–1 at the Australian Open & 1–1 at the US Open). Seven of these eight appearances have been at Quarter-final and Semi-final level, making the rivalry an important part of both men's careers. They have never met in a Slam final, however, Murray leads 2–1 in ATP finals, with Nadal winning at Indian Wells in 2009 and Murray winning in Rotterdam the same year and Tokyo in 2011. Murray lost three consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals to Nadal in 2011 from the French Open to the US Open. Amazingly, of the past 19 Grand Slam drawsheets, they have been drawn in the same half 16 times. Read Less

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 2012 US Open.

Finals: 16 (11 titles, 5 runners-up)

Finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Finals: 1 (1 gold medal)

Nadal generally plays an aggressive, behind-the-baseline game founded on heavy topspin groundstrokes, consistency, speedy footwork and tenacious court coverage, thus making him an aggressive counterpuncher. Known for his athleticism and speed around the court, Nadal is an excellent defender who hits well on the run, constructing winning plays from seemingly defensive positions. He also plays very fine dropshots, which work especially well because his heavy topspin often forces opponents to the back of the court.

Nadal employs a full western grip forehand, often with a "lasso-whip" follow through, where his left arm hits through the ball and finishes above his left shoulder – as opposed to a more traditional finish across the body or around his opposite shoulder. Nadal's forehand groundstroke form allows him to hit shots with heavy topspin – more so than many of his contemporaries. San Francisco tennis researcher John Yandell used a high-speed video camera and special software to count the average number of revolutions of a tennis ball hit full force by Nadal. "The first guys we did were Sampras and Agassi. They were hitting forehands that in general were spinning about 1,800 to 1,900 revolutions per minute. Read Less

With almost 11 million Facebook fans and 2.4 million Twitter followers, Nadal is ranked 9th among all athletes in social networking sites.

128036 Rafaelnadal is a main belt asteroid discovered in 2003 at the Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca and named after Nadal. Read Less