List of career achievements by Rafael Nadal

This article lists various career, tournament, and seasonal achievements by the Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal.

Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal has won 14 Grand Slam titles which ranks him second on the all-time list tied with Pete Sampras second to Roger Federer’s record of 17 majors. Nadal has also won 28 Masters 1000 titles, also second but to Novak Djokovic's record of 30 Masters 1000 titles.

Rafael Nadal is widely viewed as one of the greatest tennis players of all time and is viewed by some sports analysts, tennis writers, fans and media pundits as the greatest tennis player of the open era. Nadal has appeared in 20 Grand Slam finals which is second to Federer’s record of 27 finals, he has appeared in at least three finals per major and has won multiple majors on hard courts, clay and grass. Nadal has won the Career Grand Slam and is the youngest player to achieve this feat having won all four majors by the age of 24. Known as the “King of Clay” Nadal’s record of winning the French Open 9 out of 10 attempts (90% win rate), and a match record of 66-1 which is a 98.5% win rate, from 2005 to 2014 is viewed by many analysts as one of the greatest feats in the Open era. Nadal won the French Open on his first attempt as a 19-year-old in 2005 and went on to make three consecutive title defences from 2005 to 2008; he defeated Roger Federer in three consecutive finals from 2006 to 2008 (he also defeated Federer in the 2005 semi-finals) and again in 2011 (Nadal is the only player to defeat Federer in four finals at the same major). His sole loss during this period came to Robin Soderling in 2009. Nadal then went on to win the French Open in 2010 and another four consecutive title defences from 2010 to 2014 (an open era record). He holds a match record of 72–2 in best-of-five matches (never actually taken to five sets in the final) from 2005 to 2016 achieving a win percentage of 97.3%, and is the only player to achieve this type of dominance at any single Grand Slam tournament. Nadal won the French Open an all-time record of 9 times and is the first and only male player to win 9 grand slams at a single major in the Open era (no other player has won more than 7 titles at a single major). Nadal is also undefeated in French Open finals holding a perfect 9–0 record when reaching the finals.

Nadal has won 28 masters 1000 titles of which are 20 Masters 1000 titles on clay and an all-time record 9 Grand Slam titles on clay as well as 49 titles overall on clay. He won at least one Masters 1000 title every year for ten years from 2005 to 2014 and is the only player to achieve this type of consistency in the open era. He owns the longest single surface win streak on any single surface having won 81 consecutive matches on clay courts from 2006 to 2007 which is an all-time record in men’s tennis. Nadal also won a record of 8 consecutive Monte Carlo Masters 1000 titles from 2005 to 2012, and a record nine titles including his 2016 win. Nadal has also won an Open era record 7 titles in Rome and 9 titles at the Barcelona Open, an ATP500 event. Nadal is the only player to have won all three clay court Masters 1000 events in the same calendar year along with the French Open in 2010 thus giving him the "Clay Slam".

Nadal won at least one Grand Slam tournament for 10 years (2005 – 2014) having broken the previous men's record of 8. Nadal has achieved a record 9 titles at three different tournaments: French Open (9), Monte Carlo (9), and Barcelona (9). He has accrued 27 titles from these three clay court tournaments alone. No other player in the Open Era has won more than 8 titles at any one tournament with Federer winning 8 titles in Halle and Vilas also winning 8 titles in Buendia Aires.

Nadal’s success does not hold strictly to the clay courts. He has achieved considerable success on hard courts and grass courts obtaining multiple Grand Slams outside of the French Open having won 1 Australian Open (hard), 2 Wimbledon (grass), and 2 US Open (hard) titles. Furthermore, Nadal is the second Spaniard to win Wimbledon and he is only the third player in the Open era to win the French Open and Wimbledon crowns in the same year, also known as the "Channel Slam", in 2008 and 2010, and the first player since Bjorn Borg, in 1980, to achieve this feat. Nadal is the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open and the first male player in the Open Era to simultaneously hold Grand Slams on clay, grass and hard courts which he has achieved twice. Nadal won the Olympic gold medal in singles in Beijing (2008) on hard courts (defeating Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals), the Olympic gold medal in men's doubles in Rio De Janeiro (2016), and has won 8 Masters 1000 titles [spread out over four different tournaments. He won 3 Indian Wells, 3 Canada, 1 Cincinnati, 1 Madrid] on hard courts. Nadal dominated the North American hard court season in 2013, having won the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Masters as well as the US Open, thus joining Patrick Rafter (1998) and Andy Roddick (2003) in completing the "Summer Slam". Additionally, earlier in the year, Nadal also won his third Indian Wells title, also played on hard courts. He would finish 2013 with a 36-4 record on hard courts, and coupled with his 39-2 record on clay courts, he became the first player in the Open Era to win 35 or more matches on both hard courts and clay courts.

All time tournament records

• These records were attained since the amateur era (1877) and the Open Era of tennis (1968).
• Records in bold indicate peerless achievements.
• Records in italics are currently active streaks.

Grand Slam tournament records

• These records were attained in the Open Era of tennis, since 1968.
• Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.
• Records in italics are currently active streaks.

• Rafael Nadal is the only player in the history of mens tennis to win at least one grand slam for ten consecutive years (2005-2014). He surpassed the previous record of eight years which was held by Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, & Roger Federer.
• Nadal is the only player in the Open Era to win three consecutive grand slams on three different surfaces, he is the only player to achieve this feat which he did in 2010 and is the only player to hold three majors on three different surfaces within the same year. Nadal is also the youngest player to win all four grand slams at least once, having won the US Open in 2010 he achieved the "Career Grand Slam".
• Nadal is only one of three players in the Open Era to make 3+ finals at each of the four grand slam events (Australian Open-3, French Open-9, Wimbledon-5, US Open-3). The other two players are Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
• Rafa is only one of three players in the Open Era to make 20 grand slam finals (20), along with Djokovic (21) and Federer (27).
• Nadal is only one of three players in the Open Era to make 5 consecutive grand slam finals (5), along with Djokovic (6) and Federer (10).

Records at each Grand Slam Tournament

• These records were attained in the Open Era of tennis, since 1968.
• Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.
• Records in italics are currently active streaks.

• Nadal is the first and only player in the Open Era to win eight titles at the same major and the first and only player to win 9 titles at any grand slam tournament.
• Nadal is the first and only player in the open era to be undefeated in his first 8 grand slam finals at the same single major tournament, he is a record 9-0 in French Open finals and surpassed Bjorn Bjorg's record of 6-0 at the French Open and Pete Sampras's finals record of 7-0 at Wimbledon.

ATP Masters 1000 records

• Grand Prix Championship Series began in 1970.
• ATP Masters Series was introduced in 1990.
• Renamed ATP Masters 1000 in 2009.

Records at each ATP 500 Series & Masters 1000 tournament

• Nadal is the first player to win 25+ Masters 1000 titles in the open era, he surpassed Ivan Lendl's record of 22 in 2013.
• Nadal is the only player in the Open Era to win 8 consecutive titles at any single tournament in ATP history (since 1973). There is no other player who has won more consecutive titles at a single tournament than Nadal has in Monte Carlo when he won 8 consecutive titles from 2005-2012.
• Nadal is the only player in Masters 1000 history to win 9 singles, and reach 10 finals at a single Masters 1000 event, having achieved this feat at the 2016 Monte Carlo Masters.
• Nadal is the only player to win all four clay court tournaments in a single calendar season. He won the Monte Carlo Masters 1000, Rome Masters 1000, Madrid Masters 1000, and the French Open in 2010. No other player has achieved what has been dubbed as the "Clay Slam" in the Open Era.

Other significant Records

• The only player to have lost just one game in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final (Monte Carlo 2010: 6–0, 6–1).
• The player had the leading match winning percentage in ATP Masters Tournaments since 1990-2015
• The fastest to win ATP Masters Titles (since winning the first title):
  5 titles: 8 tournaments/1 years: Monte Carlo 2005 – Monte Carlo 2006
  10 titles: 24 tournaments/3 years: Monte Carlo 2005 – Monte Carlo 2008
  15 titles: 34 tournaments/4 years: Monte Carlo 2005 – Rome 2009
  20 titles: 58 tournaments/7 years: Monte Carlo 2005 – Monte Carlo 2012
  25 titles: 65 tournaments/8 years: Monte Carlo 2005 – Montreal 2013

Miscellaneous records

• Nadal joins Australian legend Rod Laver as the only left-handers to win all four Grand Slams.
• Winner of 28 consecutive Grand Slam sets in the year 2010 and 24 in 2008.
• Fourth player to win the same slam (French Open) 4 consecutive times after Borg (FO), Sampras (Wim) and Federer (Wim, USO), during Open Era.
• Nadal has a 49-8 record in clay court tournament finals and an 89–2 record in best-of-five-set matches on clay. Overall Nadal is 365–34 (91.47%) in his career on clay, the best win percentage on clay in the Open Era. The quickest male player (losing fewest matches) in the Open Era to reach 200 clay-court wins (200–16). Vilas leads the all time clay court career win list: 632–162.
• Most consecutive weeks as World Number 2 than any player in the history of the computer rankings maintained by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP): 160 weeks.
• Most weeks at No. 2: 248 weeks (as of September 30, 2013).
• Tied with Federer for most years ended at No. 2: 5 years (as of end 2016)
• Quickest player to reach 400 match wins by playing less than 500 matches (401–91).
• Nadal (9–0), Borg (6–0) and Gustavo Kuerten (3–0) are the only players in the Open Era to never lose a French Open final while appearing in at least 3 finals.
• Nadal has denied an opponent to win a non-calendar Grand Slam a record four times. He defeated Federer in the finals on the 2006 and 2007 French Open and Djokovic in the finals on the 2012 French Open. Nadal himself was denied the possibility of holding the 4 Major Tites at the 2011 Australian Open, when he lost in the quarter-finals to David Ferrer.^[4]

Winning streaks

• Torneo Godó (Barcelona Open): Holds the record for the most consecutive wins – 5 (2005–2009) and most title wins – 9 (2005–2009, 2011–2013, 2016).
• Longest match winning streak combined on clay, grass and hard (32 matches), also most consecutive tournaments (5) won on same three surfaces (2008 Hamburg-Toronto).
• Longest single-surface winning streak in the Open Era: 81 matches on Clay Courts (11 April 2005 – 20 May 2007).

See also

• List of career achievements by Roger Federer
• List of career achievements by Novak Djokovic

Notes

References