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 17 Grand Slam singles titles which ranks him second on the all-time list only to Roger Federer’s record of 20 majors. Nadal has also won a record 33 Masters 1000 titles.

Nadal has appeared in 24 Grand Slam finals which is second only to Federer’s record of 30 finals. He has appeared in at least four finals at each major and has won multiple majors on hard, grass, and clay courts, the latter of which distinguishes him from his contemporaries as Federer and Djokovic have both managed only 1 clay slam each. Nadal completed the Career Grand Slam, and is the youngest player to achieve this feat, having won all four majors by the age of 24 years, 3 months and 10 days, three years younger than second youngest, Roger Federer, who completed it at the age of 27.

Known as the “King of Clay”, Nadal won the French Open 9 times in his first 10 attempts, with a match record of 66-1 (98.5% win rate), and 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 then world No. 1 Roger Federer in three consecutive finals from 2006 to 2008 (he also defeated Federer in the 2005 semi-finals) and again in the 2011 final (Nadal is the only player to defeat Federer in four finals at the same major. Nadal is also the only player to beat Federer in the finals of 3 different grand slams, Roland Garros, Australian Open, and Wimbledon). His sole loss at Roland Garros during this period came at the hands of Sweden's Robin Söderling in 2009 in the round of 16. Nadal then went on to avenge his loss to Söderling by defeating him in the 2010 Roland Garros final, and then notched four consecutive title defences from 2011 to 2014 (an Open Era record). Rafa furthered his legend in history when he won "La Decima", a 10th title in Paris in 2017, where he didn't drop a set and lost only 35 games, only three shy of Borg's record of 32 games lost. He holds a match record of 86–2 at Roland Garros (never taken to five sets in the final) from 2005 to 2018 achieving a win percentage of 97.7%, 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 11 times and is the first, and only, player in the Open Era, male or female, to win 11 grand slams at a single major (no other male player has won more than 8 titles at a single major in the Open Era).

Nadal has won all-time records of 33 Masters 1000 titles, 24 clay Masters 1000 titles, 11 Grand Slam singles titles on clay, as well as an Open Era record 57 titles on clay. He won at least 1 Masters 1000 title for ten consecutive 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 by a male having won 81 consecutive matches on clay courts from 2005 to 2007, 16 better than Federer's record on grass. Nadal also won a record 8 consecutive Monte Carlo Masters 1000 titles from 2005 to 2012, and a record overall 11 titles including his three-peat from 2016 to 2018. Nadal has also won an all-time record 8 Masters 1000 titles in Rome, and 11 titles at the ATP 500 Barcelona Open. In 2010, Nadal won the French Open plus all three clay court Masters 1000 events (Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid) in the same calendar year, thus becoming the first, and only, player to complete the "Clay Slam".

Nadal won at least one Grand Slam tournament for 10 consecutive years (2005 – 2014) having broken the previous men's record of 8 consecutive years. Nadal has achieved a record 11 titles at each of three different tournaments: French Open, Monte Carlo, and Barcelona. That means he holds the record for most titles at 3 different levels, ATP500 (Barcelona-11), Masters 1000 (Monte Carlo-11), and Grand Slams (Roland Garros-11).

Nadal’s success does not hold strictly to the clay courts. Over the course of his career, he has won 400+ hard court matches as well as 400+ clay court matches. He is the only player, regardless of gender, to have recorded 400+ match wins on both hard and 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 3 US Open (hard) titles. This fact sets him apart from the other Career Grand Slam winners as none of them have won multiple slams on clay, hard, and grass courts (Federer, Djokovic, and Agassi each only have 1 clay slam & Laver never played on hard courts). Even if you were to exclude Nadal's 11 Roland Garros titles, he would still have 6 grand slam titles, which is the same amount as Hall of Famers Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg. Furthermore, Nadal is the second Spaniard to win Wimbledon, and in 2008 he became only the third player in the Open Era, after Rod Laver in 1969 & Bjorn Biorg in 1980, to win the French Open and Wimbledon crowns in the same year, also known as the "Channel Slam", which he would repeat in 2010 (Federer would join the club in 2009). 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 three times (French Open 2008-Wimbledon 2008-Australian Open 2009, French Open 2010-Wimbledon 2010-US Open 2010, and Wimbledon 2010-US Open 2010-French Open 2011) Federer joined the club twice (US Open 2008-French Open 2009-Wimbledon 2009 and French Open 2009-Wimbledon 2009-Australian Open 2010) Djokovic also joined the club once (Wimbledon 2015-US Open 2015-Australian Open 2016-French Open 2016). Nadal is the only male player in tennis history to win the French Open and the US Open in the same calendar year three times (2010, 2013, 2017). 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 9 Masters 1000 titles [spread out over four different tournaments. He won 4 Canada, 3 Indian Wells, 1 Cincinnati, 1 Madrid (2005)]. Nadal dominated the North American hard court season in 2013, having already won the Indian Wells title earlier in the year, he would win his first 22 matches on hard courts by winning the Canadian Masters, Cincinnati Masters as well as the US Open, thus joining Patrick Rafter (1998) and Andy Roddick (2003) in completing the "Summer Slam".

Nadal is tied with Federer for the most consecutive years winning 1+ ATP Tour titles, 15 years. Nadal's streak runs from 2004 through 2018, while Federer's streak was 2001 through 2015, which means that a title in 2019 would give him the outright record with 16 consecutive years. Additionally, Nadal holds the record for most consecutive years winning 2+ titles, 14 years, which is also an active streak from 2005 through 2018.

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.

• Nadal is one of only two players in the Open Era to make 5+ finals on clay (11), grass (5), and hard courts (8). The only other player is Roger Federer; clay (5), grass (11), hard (14).
• Nadal is one of only three players in the Open Era to make 4+ finals at each of the grand slams, 4 Australian Open, 11 Roland Garros, 5 Wimbledon, and 4 US Open. The other two are Federer (7, 5, 11, 7) and Novak Djokovic (6, 4, 4, 7).
• Rafa is one of only seven men to have won the US Open at least 3 times.^[3]

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 player in the Open Era to win 11 titles at the same major.
• 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 11-0 in French Open finals and surpassed Björn Borg'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.

• Andy Murray accomplished this feat at the Australian Open by finishing runner-up 5 times without winning a title.
• Novak Djokovic also reached the quarter-finals, or better, in all 9 Masters 1000 events of the year in 2009. They met in 6 out of the 9 tournaments with each winning 3 of the matches. Nadal prevailed in the Monte Carlo final, Madrid semi-final, and Rome final, while Djokovic bested him in the Cincinnati semi-final, Shanghai final, Paris semi-final, where he would go on to win the title.

Records at each ATP 500 Series & Masters 1000 tournaments

• Nadal was the first player to win 25 Masters 1000 titles in the Open Era, he surpassed Ivan Lendl's record of 22 in 2013.

Rankings records and achievements

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 fastest to win ATP Masters Titles (since winning the first title):
  5 titles: 8 tournaments/1 year: 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

Wins over No. 1 players

Nadal shares the record for most wins against No. 1-ranked players, 19, with Boris Becker. He recorded 13 wins over Roger Federer and 6 wins over Novak Djokovic. Nadal recorded his first win over a No. 1-ranked player when he was only 17 years old, and ranked No. 34, when he beat Federer in straight sets in the third round of the 2004 Miami Open.^[9]

#	Player	Event	Surface	Rd	Score
1.	Roger Federer	2004 Miami, United States	Hard	3R	6–3, 6–3
2.	Roger Federer	2005 French Open, Paris, France	Clay	SF	6–3, 4–6, 6–4, 6–3
3.	Roger Federer	2006 Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	F	2–6, 6–4, 6–4
4.	Roger Federer	2006 Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	F	6–2, 6–7(2–7), 6–3, 7–6(7–5)
5.	Roger Federer	2006 Rome, Italy	Clay	F	6–7(0–7), 7–6(7–5), 6–4, 2–6, 7–6(7–5)
6.	Roger Federer	2006 French Open, Paris, France	Clay	F	1–6, 6–1, 6–4, 7–6(7–4)
7.	Roger Federer	2007 Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	F	6–4, 6–4
8.	Roger Federer	2007 French Open, Paris, France	Clay	F	6–3, 4–6, 6–3, 6–4
9.	Roger Federer	2008 Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	F	7–5, 7–5
10.	Roger Federer	2008 Hamburg, Germany	Clay	F	7–5, 6–7(3–7), 6–3
11.	Roger Federer	2008 French Open, Paris, France	Clay	F	6–1, 6–3, 6–0
12.	Roger Federer	2008 Wimbledon, London, England	Grass	F	6–4, 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 6–7(8–10), 9–7
13.	Roger Federer	2010 Madrid, Spain	Clay	F	6–4, 7–6(7–5)
14.	Novak Djokovic	2012 Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	F	6–3, 6–1
15.	Novak Djokovic	2012 Rome, Italy	Clay	F	7–5, 6–3
16.	Novak Djokovic	2012 French Open, Paris, France	Clay	F	6–4, 6–3, 2–6, 7–5
17.	Novak Djokovic	2013 French Open, Paris, France	Clay	SF	6–4, 3–6, 6–1, 6–7(3–7), 9–7
18.	Novak Djokovic	2013 Montreal, Canada	Hard	SF	6–4, 3–6, 7–6(7–2)
19.	Novak Djokovic	2013 US Open, New York, United States	Hard	F	6–2, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1

Awards

This is a list of awards Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal has won in his career.

• ATP Player of the Year (4): 2008, 2010, 2013, 2017
• ITF World Champion (3): 2008, 2010, 2017
• Best Male Tennis Player ESPY Award (2): 2011, 2014
• L'Équipe World Champion of Champions (2): 2010, 2013
• US Open Series Champion (2) 2008, 2013
• ATP Most Improved Player: 2005
• ATP Comeback Player of the Year: 2013
• ATP Star of Tomorrow: 2003
• Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award: 2010
• Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year: 2011
• Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year: 2014
• Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year: 2011
• Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year: 2006
• BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year: 2010
• Prince of Asturias Award: 2008

See also

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

Notes

References