Rafael Nadal played (and won) his first ATP match on this day 20 years ago

Earlier this week, Rafael Nadal’s record Top 10 streak officially reached 17 years, and today we celebrate the Spaniard again, as it’s been exactly 20 years since he played—and won—his first ATP match, beating Paraguay’s Ramon Delgado in the first round of his home tournament in Mallorca on April 29th, 2002.

Delgado was a quality opponent—he was ranked No. 81 at the time and had gone as high as No. 52 a few years earlier. He had also been to the second week of a major before, at Roland Garros in 1998—beating No. 1 Pete Sampras along the way.

Going into the ATP event in Mallorca in 2002, he was looking to build momentum.

“I had just lost some first rounds and when the draw came out I thought it would be a good opportunity to gain confidence,” Delgado told news outlet Teller Report in 2020. “If I get solid, a 15-year-old is not going to hold me—but soon enough, from the beginning, the consistency of his shots caught my attention.”

Nadal had only played three matches before that, one at the Futures level and two at the Challenger level, but he broke through in his ATP debut, breaking serve five times to defeat the 25-year-old Paraguayan, 6-4, 6-4, in an hour and 23 minutes.

“I really wanted to go out there and play well,” Nadal said afterwards.

“I knew it was going to be difficult, but I held my game. I thought I played well, keeping the ball deep and maintaining the power.”

At 15 years and 10 months, Nadal was—at the time—the ninth man in the Open Era to win an ATP match before turning 16. Since then a 10th name has been added to that group in American Ryan Harrison, who achieved the feat at Houston in 2008.

Nadal lost in the second round of Mallorca that year to a No. 70-ranked Olivier Rochus, 6-2, 6-2, and would spend the next 11 months exclusively playing Challengers and Futures again—winning 60 of the 70 matches he played. He returned to ATP-level competition ranked No. 109 in Monte Carlo in April of 2003, then made his way into the Top 50 by August, and the rest is history.

YOUNGEST PLAYERS TO WIN AN ATP MATCH (Open Era):
Franco Davin (ARG) [15 years & 1 month at 1985 Buenos Aires]
Tommy Ho (USA) [15 years & 2 months at 1988 Rye Brook]
Jimmy Arias (USA) [15 years & 6 months at 1980 Palm Harbor]
Michael Chang (USA) [15 years & 6 months at 1987 US Open]
Andre Agassi (USA) [15 years & 9 months at 1986 La Quinta]
Bjorn Borg (SWE) [15 years & 10 months at 1972 Madrid]
Mats Wilander (SWE) [15 years & 10 months at 1980 Bastad]
Richard Gasquet (FRA) [15 years & 10 months at 2002 Monte Carlo]
Rafael Nadal (ESP) [15 years & 10 months at 2002 Mallorca]
Ryan Harrison (USA) [15 years & 11 months at 2008 Houston]