Rafael Nadal brings 15-0 start to the year, all on hard courts, into Indian Wells

Though his results on clay have been out of this world, Rafael Nadal has also been one of the best players in the world on hard courts throughout his career, so his 15-0 start to 2022—which has come entirely on the surface—should come as no surprise.

What’s unique about this hard-court run, though, is that it’s come so early in the year.

Typically, he doesn’t hit his hard-court peak until the summer. While he’s the only member of the Big 3 who hasn’t pulled off the Sunshine Double of winning Indian Wells and Miami back to back, he’s the only member of the Big 3 who has pulled off the Masters 1000 Summer Sweep of winning Canada and Cincinnati back to back.

But regardless of when Nadal's hard-court peak comes, it’s here now—and it's actually the third-longest hard-court winning streak of his entire career.

NADAL’S BEST HARD-COURT WINNING STREAKS (tour-level)
~ 30 wins in a row in 2012 and 2013 (4-0 to reach SFs at 2012 Miami before walkover to Murray, 5-0 to win 2013 Indian Wells, 5-0 to win 2013 Canada, 5-0 to win 2013 Cincinnati, 7-0 to win 2013 US Open and 4-0 en route to F of 2013 Beijing—l. to Djokovic)
~ 18 wins in a row in 2019 (4-0 to reach SFs of Indian Wells before walkover to Federer, 4-0 to win Canada, 6-0 to win US Open, 1-0 at Laver Cup, 3-0 to reach SFs of Paris before walkover to Shapovalov—l. to Zverev in first round robin match at ATP Finals)
~ 15 wins in a row in 2022 (3-0 to win Melbourne-1, 7-0 to win Australian Open and 5-0 to win Acapulco)

(Note: There would have been a 16-match hard-court winning streak from 2017 on the list until Laver Cup began counting as tour-level competition—that year he went 7-0 to win the US Open, then went 1-1 at Laver Cup, then 5-0 to win Beijing and 4-0 to reach the Shanghai final, where he fell to Roger Federer.)

More reasons his start to 2022 stands out in terms of his hard-court stats:
~ It’s just the second time in his career that he’s won three straight hard-court events he’s played (he won four straight in 2013 at Indian Wells, Canada, Cincinnati and the US Open).
~ It’s just the third time in his career that he’s won three hard-court titles in a season, and we’re only in the second week of March (he won three in 2005 at Canada, Beijing and Madrid and the aforementioned four in 2013).

So this is one of Nadal’s best stretches on hard courts… but how does he compare to everyone else on this surface, and at Indian Wells in particular?

Quite well, actually.

He’s one of only five men to win 10+ Masters 1000 titles on hard courts:
27: Novak Djokovic
22: Roger Federer
14: Andre Agassi
12: Andy Murray
10: Rafael Nadal

He’s one of only four men in the Open Era with 500+ career wins on hard courts:
783: Roger Federer
636: Novak Djokovic
592: Andre Agassi
506: Rafael Nadal

And he’s one of only five men to win Indian Wells three or more times:
5: Roger Federer (2004, 2005, 2006, 2012, 2017)
5: Novak Djokovic (2008, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016)
3: Jimmy Connors (1976, 1981, 1984)
3: Michael Chang (1992, 1996, 1997)
3: Rafael Nadal (2007, 2009, 2013)

Nadal will be making his 15th career appearance at Indian Wells this year. He's 54-10 at the event, reaching the semifinals or better in 10 of his 14 previous appearances—his best results are his aforementioned three titles (2007, 2009 and 2013), one more final (2011) and six more semifinals (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016 and 2019).

The Spaniard is the only multiple former champion in the men's draw this year. The only other former champion in this year's men's draw is 2021 winner Cam Norrie.