Rafael Nadal: 21 Stats For His 21st Grand Slam Title

Rafael Nadal had an absolutely historic two weeks at the Australian Open this year, punctuated by an electric 2-6, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Daniil Medvedev in the final after seemingly being down and out trailing two sets to love, and even facing triple break point serving at 2-3, 0-40 in the third set.

But he came back, and he came through—and to celebrate it, here’s a deep dive into 21 things the legendary Spaniard achieved in Australia this year:

He won his 21st Grand Slam title, breaking the men’s all-time record for most career Grand Slam titles. He was previously tied with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic at 20.

This is actually the first time Nadal has had sole possession of the men’s Grand Slam record. Until now he had always been behind Federer, tied with Federer, or tied with Federer and Djokovic.

He now has a Double Career Slam, which is winning each of the four majors at least twice each. He’s only the fourth man in tennis history to do it, after Roy Emerson (pre-Open Era), Rod Laver (a combination of Open Era and pre-Open Era) and Djokovic (Open Era).

He’s now won 21 of the 63 Grand Slams he’s ever played. That’s exactly one third.

He’s also reached the final at 29 of the 63 Grand Slams he’s played. That’s 46%.

He’s now 21-8 in his career in Grand Slam finals (72%). Federer and Djokovic have identical 20-11 records in major finals (65%).

He’s the first player in the Open Era, male or female, to win multiple Grand Slam titles in three different decades. His 21 career majors include six in the 2000s, 13 in the 2010s and now two in the 2020s. Three other players—Martina Navratilova, Serena Williams and Djokovic—have won majors in three different decades, but they all have one decade with just one major.

He’s now won his last four Grand Slam finals in a row, starting at Roland Garros in 2019. He’s also won seven of his last eight major finals and 11 of his last 14.

He’s also won his last 10 tour-level finals in a row, starting at Rome in 2019. He’s also won 15 of his last 16 tour-level finals and 21 of his last 23.

At 5:24, Nadal won the second-longest Grand Slam final in the Open Era. And it was vindication, too—the Spaniard lost the longest Grand Slam final in the Open Era exactly 10 years ago to the day on the very same court, falling to Djokovic, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5, in 5:53 in the 2012 Australian Open final.

It was the first 0-2 comeback in an Australian Open final in the Open Era. Before this, players who won the first two sets were 31-0 in that match.

It was also Nadal’s first 0-2 comeback in almost 15 years. He did it once as a 19-year-old (2005 Madrid), once as a 20-year-old (2006 Wimbledon) and once as a 21-year-old (2007 Wimbledon), but never in the quarterfinals or later at a major, let alone at age 35 in a major final against the No. 2 player in the world.

At 35, he’s the third-oldest man to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era. Ken Rosewall won the 1972 Australian Open at age 37, while Federer won the 2018 Australian Open at age 36.

He’s now won seven Grand Slam titles since turning 30. He won one as a teenager, 13 in his 20s and now seven in his 30s.

He won the 90th tour-level title of his career. He’s the fourth man in the Open Era to reach that milestone, after Jimmy Connors (109), Federer (103) and Ivan Lendl (94).

His win over Medvedev was his first win over a Top 2 player on hard courts since 2015. He beat a No. 2-ranked Murray in the round robin of the ATP Finals that year.

His win over Medvedev was also his first win over a Top 2 player at a hard-court major since 2013. He beat a No. 1-ranked Djokovic in the US Open final that year.

Hard is now his second-best surface by winning percentage. He’s 464-43 on clay (.915) and 71-20 on grass (.780), and coming into the Australian Open he was 494-140 on hard (.779), but with his seven wins in Melbourne he’s now 501-140 (.782).

He also became the fourth man in the Open Era to surpass 500 career wins on hard courts en route to the title. Only Federer (783), Djokovic (634) and Andre Agassi (592) are ahead of him.

He became the first man to 10 wins in 2022. Going into the final, Nadal (9-0) was tied with Medvedev (9-1) and Maxime Cressy (9-3) for ATP match wins leader.

The 16 years and 7 months between 2005 Roland Garros and the 2022 Australian Open represent the second-longest span between first and most recent Grand Slam titles for a player in the Open Era. Only Serena Williams has a longer span: 17 years and 5 months between the 1999 US Open and 2017 Australian Open.