Age
34
Country
Spain
Residence
Manacor, Spain
Turned Pro
2000
2020 Earnings
$1,354,342
Known as “The King of Clay,” Rafael Nadal became the winningest French Open champion of the Open Era in 2012 with his seventh Roland Garros title. He won his first French Open in 2005, and went on to win Wimbledon in 2008 and the the Australian Open in 2009. In 2010, the Spaniard completed the career Grand Slam by defeating Novak Djokovic in the U.S. Open final. That year, in addition to winning in Flushing Meadows, Nadal won the French Open and Wimbledon. In 2008, Nadal won a gold medal in singles at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. As strong as any player on tour, Nadal plays a behind-the-baseline game and hits heavy, topspin ground strokes. He’s speedy, consistent and covers the court as well as anyone in the world. Nadal, with his incredible athleticism and defensive skills, has long established himself as one of the most exciting players in tennis.
- Career-high is No.1 (first reached on August 18, 2008)
- Began seventh stint (and 178th career week) at No.1 on June 25, 2018
- First 177 career weeks at No.1 came in six stints: August 18, 2008 to July 5, 2009 (46 weeks); June 7, 2010 to July 3, 2011 (56 weeks); October 7, 2013 to July 6, 2014 (39 weeks); August 21, 2017 to February 18, 2018 (26 weeks); April 2 to May 13, 2018 (6 weeks); and May 21 to June 17, 2018 (4 weeks)
- His 17 Grand Slam titles are second-most all-time (Federer leads with 20)
- Only man in tennis history to win the same major 11 times (French Open); no other man has even won the same major nine times; only woman to win the same major 10 or more times is Margaret Court (who won 11 Australian Opens)
- Completed his Career Grand Slam at 2010 US Open (was seventh man in tennis history to achieve the feat after Fred Perry, Don Budge, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer - Novak Djokovic has since done it too); and at age 24 at the 2010 US Open, he was the youngest man in the Open Era to do it
- He’s one of only two men in tennis history to have a Career Golden Grand Slam (winning all four majors plus Olympic gold - Agassi is the only other man to do it)
- Only man in Open Era to win the same ATP World Tour event 10 or more times
(has done it at three events - Monte Carlo 11, Barcelona 11, French Open 11)
- Holds the men’s record for most clay court titles in the Open Era (57)
- Holds record for most Masters 1000 titles with 33 (Djokovic is next with 32)
- From start of 2017 French Open through 3rd Rd win at 2018 Madrid, won 50 straight sets on clay (the longest single-surface set streak in ATP World Tour history, beating John McEnroe’s 49-set winning streak on carpet in 1984); the streak was book-ended by losses to Thiem (2017 Rome QFs & 2018 Madrid QFs)
- One of only three tennis players, male or female, to have earned over $100M in career prize money (Djokovic and Federer were the first two players to do it)
- Has finished as year-end No.1 four times (2008, 2010, 2013 and 2017)
- Plays tennis left-handed but writes right-handed - also used to play with two hands both sides (uncle Toni made him change to one-handed forehand at age 9)
