Twenty-two Slams, 36 Masters 1000, five Davis Cups and two Olympic gold medals. In between dozens of other ATP tournaments for a total of 92 titles. Rafa Nadal’s numbers are those of a legend: the Spaniard, born in Manacor on 3 June 1986, ends his amazing career which for over two decades saw him dominate world tennis, for a long time as absolute no.1. With Andre Agassi he is the only one to have completed the Career Golden Slam in men’s singles, i.e. to have won each of the four majors and Olympic gold at least once. The Mallorcan champion was number one in the rankings between 2009 and 2020 for 209 weeks: in these periods as leader he won 174 matches and lost 34, winning 15 titles and reaching another 12 finals. He has the record for remaining in the top 10: 912 weeks (from 25 April 2005 to 19 March 2023), ahead of Jimmy Connors who remained in the top 10 continuously for 789 weeks, from 23 August 1973 to 2 October 1988. In third place there is Roger Federer with 734 weeks.
Nadal remains in the history of tennis as the king of clay. On this surface he won 63 of the 71 finals played. He triumphed in all 14 finals played at Roland Garros (record), won 12 titles in Barcelona, 11 in Monte Carlo and ten at the Italian Internationals. He always won at least one of the Masters 1000 on clay between 2005 and 2014. On clay, he also signed the longest streak of victories by a player on a single surface in the Open era, 81 between April 2005 and May 2007. L he love with Roland Garros is indisputable: Nadal is the only tennis player who has won five times in a row in Paris, one more than Paul Aymé and Borg. He is the only one to have completed the Roland Garros-US Open double at least four times in the same year in men’s singles (2010, 2013, 2017, 2019). 22 Slams won out of 30 finals played, only Djokovic better than him who stands at 24 major titles.
The only trophy missing from the inimitable trophy cabinet of the left-handed man from Menorca is the ATP Finals: Nadal qualified 17 times, made his debut in the tournament at the age of 19 in 2005 in Shanghai and reached the semi-finals. At most, however, he reached the final twice, beaten by Federer in 2010 and Djokovic in 2013 without ever being able to write his name in the Masters Tournament. His bond with Spain is strong (the country where he resides and pays taxes): with the national team Nadal won two Olympic golds, one in singles in Beijing in 2008 and one in doubles in Rio in 2016. He has won five Davis Cups (2004, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2019). Married since 2019 to his lifelong partner, Maria Francisca Perello, the couple had a two-year-old child: Rafa jr. In his native Mallorca he founded the Rafa Academy, a structure with 45 courts to train and make aspiring racket champions dream.