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 19 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 35 Masters 1000 titles.

Nadal has appeared in 27 Grand Slam finals which is second only to Federer’s record of 31 finals. He has appeared in at least five finals at each major (a feat equaled only by Federer) 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 the Career Golden Slam, becoming the youngest player in the Open Era to achieve this feat, having won all four majors and the Olympic title by the age of 24 years, 3 months and 10 days.

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, the French Open, the Australian Open, and Wimbledon). His sole loss at the French Open 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 French Open 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 93–2 at the French Open (never taken to five sets in the final) from 2005 to 2019 achieving a win percentage of 97.9%, 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 12 times and is the first, and only, player in history, male or female, to win 12 grand slams at a single major (no other male player has won more than 8 titles at a single major in the Open Era). Additionally, Nadal is 25-0 in best of 5 matches on clay at other events, bringing his total match record in best of 5 on clay to 118-2, a win percentage of 98.3%. Nadal didn't lose a single semifinal on clay courts for 12 years (52-0) from the 2003 Croatia Open (lost to Carlos Moya) to the 2015 Rio Open (lost to Fabio Fognini).[1]

Nadal has won all-time records of 35 Masters 1000 titles, 25 clay Masters 1000 titles, 12 Grand Slam singles titles, as well as an Open Era record 59 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 Open era records of most consecutive years of winning 1+ ATP singles titles (17 years from 2004-2020) and most consecutive years of winning 2+ ATP singles titles (15 years from 2005-2019). 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, and 25 better than Federer's record on hard courts. 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 9 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. He holds the record for most titles at 3 different ATP Tour levels: ATP500 (Barcelona-11), Masters 1000 (Monte Carlo-11), and Grand Slams (French Open-12).

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 won 468 matches on hard courts, which is fifth in the Open Era behind only Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, Novak Djokovic, and Jimmy Connors. He has won 5 hard court Grand Slam titles, which makes him fifth place all-time behind only Federer, Djokovic, Pete Sampras, and Agassi. 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 4 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). 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 Borg 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 four times (2010, 2013, 2017, 2019). 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 10 Masters 1000 titles [spread out over four different tournaments. He won 5 Canada, 3 Indian Wells, 1 Cincinnati, 1 Madrid indoor (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 26 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" [winning the Canada Masters, Cincy Masters, and the US Open in the same calendar year, something only 3 men have accomplished].

Nadal was ATP year-end number 1 in 2008, 2010, 2013, 2017, and 2019, tied for second all-time with Connors, Federer, and Djokovic. He is the oldest year-end number 1 and the first man to be year-end number 1 twice after turning 30 years old (2017 and 2019). The gap between his first and most recent year-end number 1 is 11 years, another ATP record. He is the first male player to be year-end number 1 in five non-consecutive years. The razor-thin margin between him and the #2 ranked player, Novak Djokovic, in 2013 was 770 ranking points and in 2019 was 840 ranking points.

Nadal also owns the Open era record of most consecutive years qualifying for the year-end ATP Finals at 15 years in a row. Nadal has the Open Era record for best career winning percentage (minimum 500 wins) at 83.21% (977-197 record), ahead of Novak Djokovic's 82.68% winning percentage.

In 2020, Rafael Nadal is also the first and only player that has been ranked ATP world number one in three different decades, in the 2000s, 2010s & 2020s