1997–2000: Juniors Nadal won the Spanish junior championships in 1997 and 1998, beating Ricardo Villacorta and
Marcel Granollers respectively. In 1998 Nadal reached the final of the U14 Spanish championship at the age of 12, a feat that remains unmatched, losing to Juan Sanchez de Luna in straight sets. In late 1998, Nadal won the season-ending U12 Junior Masters at Stuttgart, beating future world No. 5
Kevin Anderson in the final. In February 1998, Nadal competed outside Spain for the first time and won the Open Super 12, an unofficial world championship for U12 players in
Auray. He beat 1997 winner
Jamie Murray in the final. At the time, Nadal was torn between football and tennis, partly because his uncle Miguel Ángel was preparing to compete in the
1998 FIFA World Cup with Spain. Nadal said winning the Auray tournament helped him make the decision to "opt for tennis and try an international career". Nadal's father insisted he choose between football and tennis to so his schoolwork wouldn't suffer, leading Nadal to quit football. In 1999, the 12-year-old Nadal was playing in the U14 circuit of the ETA Junior Tour (now the
Tennis Europe Junior Tour), winning the
Tim Essonne, and finishing the year at No. 69. In 2000, Nadal dominated the U14 circuit, winning
Les Petits As in
Tarbes, beating Julien Gely in the final, and the
European Junior Masters in
Prato. On the day he turned 14, Nadal won the Sport Goofy Trophy in
Getxo, beating Granollers in the final. In July, Nadal won the U14 Spanish championships, beating his friend and training partner Tomeu Salvá in the final, despite breaking a finger on his left hand during the first round. As a member of the Spanish national team, Nadal won the 2000
ITF World Junior Championship for players under 14, winning his matches in both singles and doubles (paired with
Marcel Granollers) in a 3–0 win over Russia. Nadal ended 2000 at No. 5 of the ETA rankings for U14s. Nadal already was by then practicing three times a week at
Palma with former World No. 1
Carlos Moyá, who later became Nadal's mentor and confidant, The decision to stay home meant less financial support from the federation; instead, Nadal's father covered the costs. and helped Spain defeat the US in the final of the
Junior Davis Cup. In early 2001, aged 14, Nadal began playing the qualifying draws of professional tournaments. In May 2001, he defeated former Grand Slam tournament champion
Pat Cash in a clay-court exhibition match. Nadal made his pro debut in the main draw at the Futures in Madrid on 11 September 2001, wasting 13 match points against Guillermo Platel-Varas in the opening round. He received a wild card into the main draw of the Challenger in
Seville, his first Challenger tournament, and beat world No. 751
Israel Matos Gil 6–4 6–4 to claim his first pro win and earn the first five ATP points of his career to become world No. 1002. where on 29 April, Nadal won his first
ATP match by defeating No. 81
Ramón Delgado, and became the ninth player in the
Open Era to do so before the age of 16. He did not compete for two months as he studied for school exams and missed the junior French Open in June. At junior Wimbledon, he reached the semi-finals before losing to
Lamine Ouahab. Nadal then won six of the nine Futures events he entered from July until December, including 5 on clay and 1 on hard courts. Nadal finished 2002 with a Futures record of 40–9 in singles and 10–9 in doubles. In October, Nadal defeated No. 76 Albert Montañés in the quarterfinals of a Challenger at Barcelona, Nadal ended 2002 as the world No. 199.
2003: First ATP title, ascend to the top 50 Nadal continued his ascent in early 2003, reaching the finals of Challengers at
Hamburg,
Cherbourg and
Cagliari, and winning at
Barletta. He then qualified for his second career ATP event, the
Monte Carlo Masters, where in the second round he beat the 2002 French Open champion
Albert Costa, then ranked No. 7 (his first top 10 career win) and he entered the world's top 100. Nadal reached his fifth Challenger final of the year in Aix-en-Provence, which he lost to
Mariano Puerta. In May, 16-year-old Nadal entered his second Masters event at
Hamburg, where he upset No. 4
Carlos Moyá before losing to future French Open Champion
Gaston Gaudio in round three. Nadal postponed his French Open debut after injuring his elbow in a fall while training. He then qualified directly to
Wimbledon, having never contested in a major qualifying event before. In his major main draw debut in Wimbledon, Nadal defeated
Mario Ančić, and reached the third round to become the youngest man to do so since
Boris Becker in 1984. At
Umag, Nadal lost to Moyá in the semi-finals. This was Nadal's only loss at a clay-court semi-final for the next 12 years, as he then began a streak of 52 consecutive wins in semi-final matches on clay that ended at the
2015 Rio Open. Nadal won his first ATP title (doubles or singles) at
Umag, partnering
Álex López Morón to beat
Todd Perry and
Thomas Shimada in the final. Nadal won his second Challenger title of the year in August at
Segovia, thus entering the top 50 and winning the ATP
Newcomer of the Year Award. In September, Nadal entered the final Challenger event of his career, on hard courts in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, retiring with an injury against
Richard Gasquet, who never defeated Nadal again. Nadal finished the year ranked as the world No. 49. In singles, Nadal had his 5th consecutive loss after a first round exit to
Thierry Ascione; this remains the worst losing streak of his career. At
Auckland he reached the first ATP final of his career, which he lost to
Dominik Hrbatý. Nadal reached the third round of the
Australian Open, where he lost in straight sets to former world No. 1
Lleyton Hewitt. Ranked No. 34, Nadal faced No. 1
Roger Federer for the first time in the third round of the
Miami Open, winning in straight sets before losing to
Fernando González in the fourth round. At
Estoril, Nadal suffered a stress fracture in his left ankle during his round of 16 victory over Richard Gasquet, causing him to miss 3 months of play, the
French Open, and Wimbledon. At the
US Open, Nadal lost to defending champion
Andy Roddick in the second round. In the
2004 Davis Cup final, 18-year-old Nadal beat world No. 2 Andy Roddick on clay in Spain to help his nation clinch the title over the United States. In doing so at 18 years and six months of age, he became the youngest player to register a singles victory in a
Davis Cup final for a winning nation. Nadal finished the year ranked No. 51, mainly because he missed most of the clay court season. At the
2005 Australian Open, Nadal lost in the fourth round to eventual runner-up Lleyton Hewitt. Two months later, he reached the final of the
2005 Miami Masters, but was defeated by No. 1 Roger Federer. He dominated the spring clay-court season. He won 24 consecutive singles matches, breaking
Andre Agassi's Open Era record of consecutive match wins for a male teenager. Nadal won the
Torneo Conde de Godó in Barcelona defeating the former world No. 1
Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final; which meant he was ranked in the top 10 for the first time in his career. He then beat
2004 French Open runner-up
Guillermo Coria in the finals of the
2005 Monte Carlo Masters and the
2005 Italian Open. These victories raised his ranking to world No. 5 and made him one of the favorites at his career-first
French Open. On his 19th birthday, Nadal defeated Federer in the French Open semi-finals, being one of only four players to defeat him that year. Then he defeated
Mariano Puerta in the final, becoming the second man to win the French Open on his first attempt. He then lost in the second round of
2005 Wimbledon to No. 69
Gilles Müller. Following his Wimbledon loss, Nadal won 16 consecutive matches and three consecutive tournaments, the
Swedish Open,
Stuttgart Open, and the
Canada Masters, defeating Agassi in the final of the latter to win the first hardcourt title of his career and to bring his ranking to No. 2 on 25 July 2005, where he remained for the next three years behind Roger Federer. Nadal was seeded second at the
2005 US Open, but was upset in the third round by No. 49
James Blake. In September, he defeated Coria in the final of the
China Open in Beijing and won both of his Davis Cup matches against Italy. In October, he won his fourth Masters title of the year, against
Ivan Ljubičić at the
2005 Madrid Masters, his biggest indoor title to this day. A foot injury prevented him from competing in the year-ending
Tennis Masters Cup. Nadal (with 11 titles) broke Mats Wilander's previous teenage season record of nine in 1983. Nadal was awarded ATP Most Improved Player of the Year award. In February, he lost in the semi-finals of
Marseille. Two weeks later, he handed Roger Federer his first loss of the year in the final of the
Dubai Open, ending Federer's 56-match hard court winning streak. Nadal was then upset in the semi-finals of
Indian Wells by James Blake, and in the second round of
Miami by Carlos Moyá. after winning the
French Open in 2006. Nadal beat Federer in the final of the
Monte Carlo Masters and Tommy Robredo in the
Barcelona final. He won the
Italian Open beating Federer in a fifth-set tiebreak in the final, after saving two match points, and equaled
Björn Borg's tally of 16 ATP titles won as a teenager. Nadal then broke Argentinian
Guillermo Vilas's 29-year male record of 53 consecutive clay-court match victories by beating
Robin Söderling in the first round of the
French Open. Nadal beat
Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals, the first-ever meeting of their
historic rivalry. He won the final over Federer to become the first player to beat Federer in a major final. At
Wimbledon, Nadal beat No. 20
Andre Agassi in Agassi's last ever match at Wimbledon. Nadal won his next three matches to reach his first Wimbledon final (the first Spanish man since
Manuel Santana in 1966 to reach the Wimbledon final). Federer won the final and his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title. Nadal was upset in the third round of the
Rogers Cup in Toronto and in the quarterfinals of
Cincinnati by Juan Carlos Ferrero. At the US Open he lost in the quarterfinals to No. 54
Mikhail Youzhny. Nadal played only three tournaments for the remainder of the year.
Joachim Johansson, ranked No. 690, upset Nadal in the second round of the
Stockholm Open and he lost to
Tomáš Berdych in the quarterfinals of the
Madrid Masters. During the round-robin stage of the year-ending
Tennis Masters Cup, Nadal lost to
James Blake but defeated
Nikolay Davydenko and Robredo. Nadal qualified for the semi-finals, where he lost to Federer. This was Nadal's third loss in nine career matches with Federer. Nadal went on to become the first player since
Andre Agassi in 1994–95 to finish the year ranked No. 2 in consecutive years.
2007: French Open Three-peat At the
Australian Open, Nadal lost in the quarterfinals to eventual runner-up
Fernando González. After another quarterfinal loss at
Dubai, he won
Indian Wells after beating
Novak Djokovic in the final, before losing to Djokovic in the quarterfinals of
Miami. He won the titles at the
Monte Carlo,
Barcelona and
Rome, before losing to Roger Federer in the final of
Hamburg. This defeat ended
his 81-match winning streak on clay, which is the male Open Era record for consecutive wins on a single surface. He bounced back quickly in the
French Open, not dropping a set en route to the final where he faced Federer once again, this time winning in four sets to join Björn Borg as the only men to win three French Open titles in a row. Between Barcelona and Rome, Nadal beat Federer in the "
Battle of Surfaces" exhibition match in Mallorca, with the court being half
grass and half clay. Nadal was upset in the quarterfinals at
Queen's. Nadal then won consecutive five-set matches during the third and fourth rounds of
Wimbledon before being beaten by Federer in a five-set final. This was Federer's first five-set match at Wimbledon since 2001. In July, Nadal beat
Stan Wawrinka in the final of the clay-court
Stuttgart Open. Nadal was a semi-finalist in
Montreal before losing his first match at the
Cincinnati Open. At 2007 US Open, he was defeated in the fourth round by
David Ferrer, and spent the tournament dealing with a knee injury. At
Madrid and
Paris,
David Nalbandian beat Nadal in straight sets in the quarterfinals and final. Nadal won two of his three-round robin matches to advance to the semi-finals of the
Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, where Federer defeated him in straight sets.
2008: Channel Slam, Olympic singles gold, world No. 1 Nadal reached the semi-finals of the
Australian Open for the first time, losing in straight sets to
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He lost to
Nikolay Davydenko in the
Miami final. At
Monte Carlo, Nadal beat Federer in the final for the third year in a row to become the first player to win four consecutive titles there since
Anthony Wilding in 1914. He also won the
doubles event with
Tommy Robredo, becoming the first player since
Jim Courier in 1991 to win the singles and doubles titles at a Masters Series event. He then won the
French Open, becoming the fifth man in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam singles title without losing a set. He beat Federer in the final for the third straight year, losing only four games, and gave Federer his first
bagel since 1999. This was Nadal's fourth consecutive French title, tying Borg's all-time record. Nadal became the fourth male player during Open Era to win the same Grand Slam singles tournament for four consecutive years. Nadal faced Federer in
the final of
Wimbledon for the third consecutive year, in the most anticipated match of
their rivalry. Nadal entered the final on a 23-match winning streak, including his first career grass-court title at
Queen's. Unlike their previous two Wimbledon finals, Federer was not the prohibitive favorite, and many analysts picked Nadal to win. At 4 hours and 48 minutes, they played the longest final (in terms of time on court, surpassed in 2019) in Wimbledon history, and because of rain delays, Nadal won the fifth set 9–7 in near-darkness. The match was widely lauded as the greatest Wimbledon final ever, with many tennis critics calling it the greatest match in tennis history. By winning Wimbledon, Nadal became the third man in the Open Era to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year, as well as the second Spaniard to win Wimbledon. He also ended Federer's streak of five consecutive Wimbledon titles and 65 straight wins on grass courts. At the
Beijing Olympics, he beat
Fernando González in the final to win gold. With the win, Nadal clinched the
world No. 1 ranking on 18 August, ending Federer's record four-and-a-half-year reign. At the
US Open, Nadal was the top seed for the first time at a major. He lost in the semi-finals to
Andy Murray. Nadal helped Spain defeat the United States in the
Davis Cup semi-finals. At the
Madrid Masters, Nadal lost in the semi-finals to
Gilles Simon. He ended the year-end No. 1, making him the first Spaniard to finish the year No. 1 in the Open Era. At the
Paris Masters, Nadal withdrew from his quarterfinal because of a knee injury and ended his season.
2009: Australian Open and Davis Cup titles At the
Qatar Open, Nadal lost in the quarterfinals to
Gaël Monfils. He won the
doubles with
Marc López. At the
Australian Open, Nadal beat
Fernando Verdasco in the semis in the fifth-longest match in Australian Open history (5 hours 14 minutes). Nadal beat Federer in
a five-set final (their first meeting in a hard-court major) to win his first hard-court major singles title, and was the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open. At
Rotterdam, Nadal sustained a knee injury during the final, which he lost to Andy Murray. In March, Nadal beat
Janko Tipsarević and Novak Djokovic to help Spain beat Serbia in
Davis Cup round one. At
Indian Wells, Nadal won his 13th Masters tournament, beating Andy Murray. At
Monte Carlo, Nadal beat Djokovic in the final to win a record fifth consecutive singles title. He won
Barcelona and
Italian Open, defeating Ferrer and Djokovic respectively. In the semi-finals of the
Madrid Open, Nadal saved three match points to defeat Djokovic in a deciding set tiebreaker to take his career record over Djokovic to 14–4. At 4 hours 3 minutes, it was then the longest three-set singles match on the ATP Tour, and voted the best match ever at the Madrid Open in 2022. Exhausted, Nadal lost the final to Federer. This was Nadal's first defeat on clay in 33 matches and his first loss to Federer since the semis of the 2007 Tennis Masters Cup. By beating
Marcos Daniel in the first round of the
French Open, Nadal broke
Björn Borg's 28-year male record of 28 consecutive victories at the French Open, and then broke
Chris Evert's record of 29 by beating
Teymuraz Gabashvili in round two. This run
came to an end on 31 May, when Nadal was upset by eventual runner-up,
Robin Söderling in the 4th round. This was Nadal's first loss at the French Open. Former champion
Mats Wilander stated after the match that "Everybody's in a state of shock, I would think. At some point, Nadal was going to lose. But nobody expected it to happen today, and maybe not this year." Nadal withdrew from
Queen's and
Wimbledon due to suffering from
tendinitis in both knees. Nadal dropped back to No. 2 behind Federer on 6 July. At the
Montreal, Nadal lost in the quarterfinals to del Potro, meaning he dropped outside the top two for the first time since 2005. He lost in the semi-finals of
Cincinnati to Djokovic in straight sets. At the
US Open Nadal lost in the semi-finals to eventual champion del Potro. At the
ATP Finals, Nadal lost all three matches to
Robin Söderling,
Nikolay Davydenko, and Djokovic without winning a set. In December, Nadal beat
Tomáš Berdych in the Davis Cup final. Spain secured its fourth Davis Cup victory. Nadal finished the year as No. 2.
2010: Majors on all three surfaces, Career Golden Slam, year-end No. 1 In his first ATP tournament of the year, Nadal reached the final of the
Qatar Open, losing to
Nikolay Davydenko. At the
Australian Open, Nadal reached the quarterfinals, where he retired in the third set against
Andy Murray. Nadal reached the semi-finals of the
Indian Wells Open and
Miami Masters, losing to the eventual champions. Nadal won
Monte Carlo. It was his first title in 11 months, having lost only 14 games en route to become the first player in the Open Era to win the same tournament for six straight years. At
Italian Open, he defeated
David Ferrer in the final for his fifth title. At
Madrid, Nadal beat Federer to become the first man to complete a clean sweep of the three clay-court Masters 1000 titles and it was his 18th Masters title, breaking
Andre Agassi's record. He moved back to No. 2 in the rankings. At the
French Open, Nadal beat Söderling in the final to win his fifth French Open. This marked the second time Nadal won the title
without dropping a set. Nadal regained the
No. 1 ranking from Federer. At
Queen's, his 24-match winning streak was snapped by
Feliciano López in the quarterfinals. At
Wimbledon, Nadal needed five sets to defeat
Philipp Petzschner in the third round, receiving a $2,000 fine for coaching during the match. He beat
Tomáš Berdych in the final to win his second Wimbledon title and eighth major title. In
Canada, Nadal lost in the semi-finals to Murray. He played doubles with Djokovic in a one-time partnership, losing in the first round. At
Cincinnati, he lost in the quarterfinals to
Marcos Baghdatis. At the
US Open, Nadal reached his first final without dropping a set and then beat
Novak Djokovic to complete his first
Career Grand Slam while becoming the second male after
Andre Agassi to complete a
Career Golden Slam. He became the first man to win majors on clay, grass, and hard courts in the same year, and the first to win the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open in the same year since
Rod Laver in 1969. Nadal's victory clinched him the
year-end No. 1 ranking. In
Bangkok he was upset by
Guillermo García-López in the semi-finals despite creating 26 break points. Nadal won the
Japan Open after beating
Gaël Monfils in the final for his seventh title of the season. At
Shanghai, he lost to
Jürgen Melzer in the third round. Nadal won the
Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award. At the
ATP Finals in London, Nadal won all his round-robin matches for the first time in his career. He lost to Federer in the final. Nadal called 2010 his best year. Djokovic said that Nadal had "the capabilities already to become the best player ever", and that "he has the game now for each surface, and he has won each major. He has proven to the world that he is the best in this moment".
2011: Sixth French Open title, Davis Cup champion At
Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition event in
Abu Dhabi, Nafal beat Roger Federer in the final. At the
Qatar Open, Nadal lost in straight sets to
Nikolay Davydenko in the semi-finals but went on to win the doubles title alongside
Marc López. At the
Australian Open, Nadal suffered a hamstring injury against
David Ferrer early in his quarterfinal match and lost in straight sets, thus ending his attempt to win four major tournaments in a row. . In March, Nadal helped Spain defeat Belgium in a
2011 Davis Cup World Group first-round tie in the
Spiroudome in
Charleroi, Belgium. He beat
Ruben Bemelmans and
Olivier Rochus. Nadal reached the finals at
Indian Wells and
Miami, losing to Novak Djokovic in three sets. Nadal won
Monte Carlo with the loss of one set. In the final he beat Ferrer. Nadal won his sixth
Barcelona crown, again defeating Ferrer in straight sets. This was the 31st clay court title of his career, thus breaking a tie that he jointly held with Björn Borg and
Manuel Orantes for the third most clay titles in the Open Era. He then lost to Novak Djokovic in the finals of the
Italian Open and
Madrid Open, which ended his 37-match winning streak on clay. However, Nadal retained his No. 1 ranking during the clay-court season and won his sixth French Open title by defeating Roger Federer. At
Wimbledon, Nadal faced Novak Djokovic in the final. Djokovic's victory in the semi-finals meant that he was going to replace Nadal as the world No. 1 at the end of the tournament, regardless of the result at the final, which Nadal lost in four sets. This was Nadal's first defeat at Wimbledon since the 2007 final and ended his 20-match winning streak there. After resting for a month from a foot injury sustained during Wimbledon, he entered the
Canadian Open and lost a deciding set tiebreaker to No. 41
Ivan Dodig in the quarterfinals. At
Cincinnati, he defeated Fernando Verdasco in a third round clash that lasted three hours and 38 minutes with three tiebreaks. This was the fifth time that Nadal played in a three tiebreak match, winning all five. In the quarterfinals, Nadal was hampered by burns to his right hand after an accident at a Japanese restaurant and lost to
Mardy Fish in straight sets. After defeating
David Nalbandian in the fourth round of the
US Open, Nadal collapsed in his post-match press conference due to severe cramps. Nadal then played Djokovic in their second successive major final, losing the match in four sets. Nadal reached the final of the
Japan Open, where he was defeated by Andy Murray. At
Shanghai, he was upset in the third round by No. 23 ranked
Florian Mayer. At the
ATP Finals, Nadal was defeated by Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the round-robin stage, and was eliminated from the tournament. In the Davis Cup final in December, he helped Spain win the title with victories over
Juan Mónaco and Juan Martín del Potro.
2012: Seventh French Open title At
Qatar Open, Nadal lost to
Gaël Monfils in the semi-finals. At the
Australian Open, Nadal won his semi-final match against Roger Federer to set up a third successive major final against Novak Djokovic, which he lost in a
five-set epic that lasted 5 hours and 53 minutes, the longest Grand Slam final match (by duration) in history. It is considered to be one of the greatest tennis matches of all time. It was the longest match of both Nadal and Djokovic's careers, and was the only time that Nadal lost a major final after winning the first set. Nadal called it "one of the toughest moments in my career". Nadal then reached the semi-finals of both the
Indian Wells, where he was beaten by Federer, and
Miami, where he withdrew because of knee problems. At
Monte Carlo, Nadal did not lose a set en route to the title to become the first man in the Open Era to win the same tournament eight consecutive times. In the final, he defeated No. 1 Novak Djokovic to end a streak of seven straight final losses to him. This was the most lopsided of all their matches, as Nadal only lost four games. Nadal then beat David Ferrer in a three-set final to clinch his seventh title in eight years at
Barcelona. At
Madrid, Nadal lost to
Fernando Verdasco, whom he held a 13–0 record against. He criticized the new blue clay and threatened to skip future events if the surface wasn't changed back to red clay, a sentiment echoed by several players, including Novak Djokovic. He beat Djokovic in a tight straight-set final at the
Italian Open. At the
French Open, Nadal won his semi-final match against Ferrer to set up another final against Novak Djokovic. This marked only the second time in tennis history (after
Serena and
Venus Williams between the
2002 French Open and the
2003 Australian Open), two players played four consecutive major singles finals against each other. After rain delays pushed the conclusion of the final into a second day, Nadal emerged victorious in four sets. Nadal became the most successful male player at the French Open (overtaking Borg) with seven titles. Nadal lost a total of only three sets in the 2012 clay court season. As a warm-up ahead of Wimbledon, Nadal played in
Halle, losing to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the quarterfinals. At
Wimbledon, Nadal was upset in the second round by
Lukáš Rosol in five sets. This was the first time since the 2005 Wimbledon championships that Nadal failed to pass the second round of a Grand Slam. Nadal then ended his season early due to
tendinitis in his knee. Nadal ended 2012 ranked No. 4, the first time in eight years that he was not ranked 1st or 2nd at the end of the year.
2013: Two majors, five Masters, return to No. 1 Nadal withdrew from
Australian Open with a stomach virus and dropped out of the ATP Top 4 for the first time since 2005. He returned at the
VTR Open in Chile, where he was upset by Argentine No. 73
Horacio Zeballos in the final. At the
Brasil Open, Nadal beat David Nalbandian in the final. In the
Mexican Open, Nadal defeated David Ferrer, losing just two games. in 2013. At
Indian Wells, he lost only one set en route to the title, defeating Roger Federer,
Tomáš Berdych and Juan Martín del Potro in the final. Nadal was beaten by Djokovic in straight sets in
Monte Carlo to end his eight-year reign at the tournament. He then won his eighth title at
Barcelona. Nadal went on to win
Madrid. This was the 40th clay court title of his career, equal second with
Thomas Muster. Nadal then overtook him when he beat Federer for his 7th title at the
Italian Open. These victories raised his ranking to No. 4. Nadal won the
French Open beating David Ferrer in the final, breaking the record for the most match wins in the tournament with his 59th victory. Nadal became the first man to win any major eight times. His semi-final against Djokovic has been called one of the greatest clay court matches ever, with Nadal rallying from a break down in the fifth set to win after 4 hours and 37 minutes. This was only the second time Nadal had been pushed to five sets at the French Open (the first was against
John Isner in 2011). This victory meant that since returning from injury, Nadal had reached eight consecutive finals, won 7 titles, and compiled a 43–2 record in 2013. However, Nadal then lost his first-round match at
Wimbledon to
Steve Darcis, his first loss in the first round of a major. At the time, he was the lowest-ranked player ever to beat Nadal in a Grand Slam. In August, Nadal won the
Canadian Open. He won his 26th Masters title in Cincinnati beating
John Isner in the final. He won his 4th hard court title of the year, defeating Djokovic in the
US Open final to achieve the
Summer Slam and clinch the
US Open Series. This granted him $3.6 million in prize money, the most money earned by a man at a single tournament. Nadal helped Spain secure a Davis Cup World Group place for 2014, beating Sergiy Stakhovsky and winning a doubles with Marc Lopez. In October, he reached the final of the
China Open and regained the No. 1 ranking. In the final, he was beaten by Djokovic. He lost in the
Shanghai semis to Del Potro. In November, at the
ATP Finals in London, he secured the year-end No. 1. He beat Federer in the semis before losing in straight sets to Djokovic in the final.
2014: Ninth French Open title and sustained injuries At the
Qatar Open, Nadal won the title beating
Gaël Monfils in the final. At the
Australian Open, he defeated
Roger Federer to reach his third Australian Open final. In the final, he faced
Stanislas Wawrinka, against whom he entered the match with a 12–0 record. However, Nadal suffered a back injury during the warm-up, which progressively worsened as the match wore on. Nadal lost the first two sets, and although he won the third set, he lost the match in four sets. At the inaugural
Rio Open he beat
Alexandr Dolgopolov in the final. However, at the
Indian Wells Open, Dolgopolov would avenge his loss, defeating Nadal in three sets in the third round. He reached the final of the
Miami Masters, losing to
Novak Djokovic in straight sets. Nadal began his clay court season with a quarterfinal loss to
David Ferrer at
Monte Carlo. He was stunned by
Nicolas Almagro in the quarterfinals of the
Barcelona Open. Nadal then won his 27th masters title at
Madrid after
Kei Nishikori retired in the third set of the final. Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic in the Men's Singles
French Open final to win his 9th French Open title and a 5th straight win. Nadal equaled Pete Sampras' total of 14 Grand Slam wins. Nadal then lost in the second round of
Halle to
Dustin Brown. At the
Wimbledon Championships he was upset by Australian teenager
Nick Kyrgios in four sets in the fourth round. Nadal withdrew from the American swing owing to a wrist injury. He made his return at the
2014 China Open but was defeated in the quarterfinals by
Martin Klizan in three sets. At
Shanghai, he was suffering from appendicitis and lost his first match to
Feliciano Lopez in straight sets. He was upset by
Borna Ćorić at the quarterfinals of the
2014 Swiss Indoors. He skipped the rest of the season to undergo surgery for his appendix.
2015: Continued struggles At
Qatar Open, Nadal lost in three set to
Michael Berrer in round one. He won the doubles title with
Juan Mónaco. At the
Australian Open, Nadal lost in straight sets to
Tomáš Berdych in the quarterfinal, ending a 17-match winning streak against the seventh-seeded Czech. In February, Nadal lost in the semi-finals to
Fabio Fognini at the
Rio Open, before winning his 46th career clay-court title against
Juan Mónaco at the
Argentina Open. At
Indian Wells and
Miami he suffered early defeats to
Milos Raonic and
Fernando Verdasco, in the quarterfinals and third round respectively. At
Monte Carlo he lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the semi finals, at
Barcelona he lost to Fognini in the quarterfinals and at
Madrid he lost the final to Andy Murray in straight sets, resulting in his dropping out of the top five for the first time since 2005. He lost in the quarterfinals of Rome to
Stan Wawrinka in straight sets. Nadal lost to Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the
French Open, ending his winning streak of 39 consecutive victories in Paris since his 2009 defeat by Robin Söderling. Nadal went on to win the
2015 Mercedes Cup against Serbian
Viktor Troicki, his first grass court title since he won at Wimbledon in 2010. He lost in the first round of the
Aegon Championships to Alexandr Dolgopolov in three sets. He lost in the second round of Wimbledon to
Dustin Brown. In the third round of the
2015 US Open, Nadal again lost to Fognini, despite an early two set lead. This early exit ended Nadal's record 10-year streak of winning at least one Grand Slam.
2016: Olympic doubles gold Nadal lost to
Djokovic in straight sets in the final in
Doha. This was their 47th match, after which Djokovic led their head-to-head with 24 matches won. At the
Australian Open, Nadal lost in five sets to
Fernando Verdasco in round one (his first opening round exit at the Australian Open). . In April he won his 28th Masters title in Monte Carlo. He won his 17th ATP 500 in Barcelona, winning the trophy for the ninth time in his career. At
Madrid, he lost to Murray in the semi-final. At
Italian Open he lost in the quarterfinals to Djokovic in straight sets. At the French Open, he became the eighth male player in tennis history to record 200 Grand Slam match wins when he won his second round match. Following the victory, Nadal had to withdraw from competition owing to a left wrist injury initially suffered during the
Madrid Open, handing
Marcel Granollers a walkover into the fourth round. The same wrist injury forced him to withdraw from the
2016 Wimbledon Championships. At the
Rio 2016 Olympics, Nadal achieved 800 career wins with his quarterfinal victory over the Brazilian
Thomaz Bellucci. Partnering
Marc López, he won the gold medal in men's doubles event for Spain by defeating Romania's Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau in the final. This made Nadal the second man in the Open Era to have won gold medals in both singles and doubles. Nadal lost the bronze medal match in men's singles to Kei Nishikori. At the
US Open Nadal advanced to the fourth round but was defeated by 24th seed
Lucas Pouille in 5 sets. The defeat meant that 2016 was the first year since 2004 in which Nadal had failed to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final. After losing in the second round of the Shanghai Masters, he ended his 2016 season.
2017: La Décima, third US Open title, year-end No. 1 At the
Brisbane International Nadal lost to
Milos Raonic in the quarterfinals. Nadal began the Australian Open with straight-set wins over
Florian Mayer and
Marcos Baghdatis, before more difficult wins over
Alexander Zverev and
Gaël Monfils, to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal since the
2015 French Open. Nadal beat Raonic and
Grigor Dimitrov, to set up a final against Federer, his first Grand Slam final since he won the 2014 French Open. Nadal lost to Federer in five sets; the first time that Nadal had lost to Federer in a Grand Slam since the
2007 Wimbledon Championships. At
Acapulco lost to
Sam Querrey in the final. Nadal lost to Federer in the fourth round at
Indian Wells and the
Miami final. Nadal then won his 29th Masters title in Monte Carlo; his tenth title, the most wins by any player at a single tournament in the Open Era. Nadal won Barcelona without dropping a set (his 10th title). At
Madrid, he beat Dominic Thiem to tie Djokovic's all-time Masters record of 30 titles. Nadal beat
Stan Wawrinka to win a record tenth
French Open title. This marked his first Grand Slam title since
2014. Nadal won every set, dropping only 35 games in seven matches, which is the second-fewest by any male player en route to a major title in the Open Era. The title "La Décima" ("the tenth" in Spanish) was used to proclaim Nadal's achievement in becoming the first player to win 10 titles at a single major in the Open Era. Nadal climbed to second on the
all-time major singles titles list, with 15, placing him one ahead of
Pete Sampras. Nadal lost in the round of 16 at
Wimbledon, 13–15 in the fifth set, to
Gilles Müller. In August he retook the ATP No. 1 ranking from Andy Murray. Nadal earned his third
US Open title against
Kevin Anderson. This was the first time he had captured two Grand Slams in a year since 2013. Nadal extended his streak by winning the
China Open, beating Nick Kyrgios. On 11 September 2017, Nadal and
Garbiñe Muguruza made Spain the first country since the US 14 years earlier to simultaneously top the
ATP and the
WTA rankings. After defeating
Hyeon Chung in the second round of the
Paris Masters Nadal secured the
year-end No. 1, for the fourth time in his career. This tied him Djokovic,
Ivan Lendl and
John McEnroe, behind
Pete Sampras (6), and Federer and
Jimmy Connors (5). He became the first player aged over 30 to finish as year-end No. 1 and the first to finish in the top spot four years since he last achieved the feat.
2018: 11th French Open and Monte Carlo titles At the
Australian Open, Nadal retired in the fifth set of his quarterfinal against
Marin Čilić due to a hip injury. . On 16 February, Nadal dropped to the No. 2 ranking after 26 weeks at the top when Roger Federer overtook him. Nadal was then sidelined with an injury. He regained the No. 1 ranking on 2 April due to Federer's second-round Miami loss. After recovering from injury, Nadal helped secure the Spain Davis Cup team a victory over Germany in the quarterfinal. He beat
Philipp Kohlschreiber and
Alexander Zverev. Nadal won his 11th
Monte Carlo title without losing a set (beating
Kei Nishikori in the final, a then-record-breaking 31st Masters title). He won his 11th title in
Barcelona, beating
Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets, becoming the first player in the Open Era to win 400 matches on clay and hard. It was his 20th ATP 500 series title (tied at the top with Federer). At
Madrid, he beat
Diego Schwartzman in straight sets, to extend his record to 50 consecutive sets won on clay and broke
John McEnroe's record of 49 straight sets won on a single surface. Nadal lost in straight sets to
Dominic Thiem in the quarters, ending his 21-match and record 50-set winning streaks on clay. Federer overtook him as world No. 1. At Rome, Nadal won his 8th title beating Alexander Zverev in three sets, to reach fourth place (overtaking McEnroe) on the men's singles titles in the Open Era leaderboard with 78. It was Nadal's record 32nd Masters title and he also regained the No. 1 spot from Federer. At the
French Open, Nadal won his 17th Grand Slam title. This tied
Margaret Court's record for singles titles at a Grand Slam event (Court won 11 Australian Opens). Nadal dropped only one set at the event, beating
Dominic Thiem in the final in three sets. Nadal became the fourth man in the Open Era to win three or more major titles after turning 30. At
Wimbledon, Nadal beat
Juan Martín del Potro in five sets in the quarters. In the semi-finals he faced rival
Novak Djokovic. The match lasted 5 hours 17 minutes, spread over two days, the second-longest Wimbledon semi-final ever. Djokovic won in the fifth set 10–8. It was Nadal's first loss in the semis of a major since
US Open 2009 and his first Wimbledon semi final since 2011, ensuring Nadal retained his No. 1 ranking. He won the
Rogers Cup, a record-extending 33rd Masters title and his first Masters title on hard court since 2013. At
US Open he first beat
David Ferrer in Ferrer's last Grand Slam match, who retired due to injury. In his semi-final against
Juan Martin del Potro, Nadal retired after losing the second set 6–2 due to knee pain. He withdrew from the
Paris Masters due to an abdominal injury. As a result
Novak Djokovic replaced him as world No. 1.
2019: Two majors, Davis Cup champion, year-end No. 1 At
Australian Open, Nadal progressed to his fifth Australian Open final without losing a set, then won only eight games against
Novak Djokovic, which was Nadal's first straight-sets defeat in a major final. After losing in the second round of the
Mexico Open to
Nick Kyrgios, he was sidelined with a right hip injury. At
Monte Carlo, he lost in the semi-finals to
Fabio Fognini in straight sets. At
Barcelona, he lost to
Dominic Thiem in straight sets in the semis. At
Madrid, he lost to
Stefanos Tsitsipas in three sets in the semi-finals. He won his first tournament of the year in
Rome, with a three-set win over Djokovic in the final. in London. At the
French Open, Nadal beat
Kei Nishikori and
Roger Federer (their first meeting at the tournament since 2011) en route to the final, dropping only one set en route. Nadal won in four sets against Thiem to claim his record-extending twelfth French Open title. He broke Margaret Court's all-time record of singles titles won at the same major. At
Wimbledon he reached the semi-finals, where he faced Federer for the first time at Wimbledon since the
2008 final and lost in four sets. At the
Rogers Cup, by defeating
Fabio Fognini in the quarterfinals, he surpassed Roger Federer's record of 378 victories at Masters tournaments. In the final, Nadal lost three games to
Daniil Medvedev. This victory marked the first time he defended a title on a surface other than clay. At the
US Open, Nadal lost one set (against
Marin Čilić) en route to the final, where he beat Medvedev in five sets to win his fourth US Open title and 19th major title overall, and completed his second-best Grand Slam year. At the
Paris Masters, Nadal reached the semi-finals, but withdrew due to an abdominal injury. At the
ATP Finals, Nadal beat Tsitsipas and Medvedev in the round-robin stage, but failed to progress to the semi-finals. Nadal secured the year-end No. 1 ranking when Djokovic was also eliminated in the round-robin stage. This was Nadal's fifth time as the year-end No. 1 player, drawing level with
Jimmy Connors, Federer and Djokovic behind
Pete Sampras (six). He became (at the time) the oldest person to finish as the year-end No. 1 player, and created a record eleven-year gap between his first and last year-end No. 1 seasons (2008 and 2019, respectively). At the
2019 Davis Cup Finals, Nadal helped
Spain win its sixth Davis Cup title, beating
Canada. Nadal extended his winning streak in Davis Cup singles matches to 29 (29–1 record overall), without dropping a set or having his serve broken; he also won the tournament's Most Valuable Player award. At the
Australian Open Nadal won his first three matches in straight sets against
Hugo Dellien,
Federico Delbonis and
Pablo Carreño Busta. In the fourth round, he defeated
Nick Kyrgios in four sets and lost in the quarterfinals to eventual runner-up
Dominic Thiem in four sets. Nadal won his third
Mexican Open title, defeating
Taylor Fritz in straights sets in the final. Nadal won his 13th
French Open, beating Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the final, only losing seven games. In doing so, he won his 20th Grand Slam title, equalling Roger Federer's men's singles record. It also marked his 100th win at the tournament, losing only twice in 16 years, and was the 4th time that he won a Grand Slam without losing a set, doing it also at the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2017. At the
Paris Masters, Nadal defeated
Feliciano López in the second round to get his 1,000 victory on the ATP Tour, becoming the fourth man in the Open Era to achieve that milestone. He lost in the semi-finals to
Alexander Zverev in straight sets. On 9 November 2020, Nadal reached his 790th back to back week as one of the ten highest placed players on the
ATP rankings and surpassed the record held by
Jimmy Connors. At the
ATP Finals, Nadal defeated Rublev and defending champion Tsitsipas progressing to the semi-finals and securing ending the year as No. 2. Nadal lost his semi-final to eventual champion
Daniil Medvedev in three sets. This was the seventh time that Nadal had finished Year-end No. 2 and now led the "Big Three" with 12 Top 2 finishes.
2021: 10th Italian Open title and injury-shortened season At the
Australian Open, Nadal lost in the quarterfinals to world No. 5
Stefanos Tsitsipas, despite being two sets to love up. Nadal next played at
Monte Carlo and reached the quarterfinals, where he lost to
Andrey Rublev in three sets. On 25 April, Nadal won a record-extending twelfth
Barcelona Open trophy with a three-set victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final, saving a championship point in the third set. At 3 hours and 38 minutes, this was the longest best-of-three-set ATP Tour final since ATP began publishing statistics in 1991. In May he reached the quarterfinals at the
Madrid Open. He won a record-extending tenth
Italian Open title, saving two match points against Denis Shapovalov before beating Novak Djokovic in the final. At the
French Open, he beat
Jannik Sinner and
Diego Schwartzman before losing in the semis to eventual champion Djokovic in four sets, in only his third-ever loss at the French Open and his first loss in the semi-finals. After several weeks out with a left foot injury that had flared up at the French Open, Nadal returned to action at the
2021 Citi Open. He beat
Jack Sock in a tight three-set match before being upset by 50th ranked
Lloyd Harris in the 3rd round. On 20 August 2021, Nadal announced that would be ending his 2021 season due to the left foot issue that had been troubling him for most of the year. His ranking fell to No.6 due to his injury.
2022: 21st and 22nd majors, double Career Grand Slam In January, Nadal won
Melbourne Summer Set 1, beating
Maxime Cressy in the final. He won his second
Australian Open title, 21st major title and 90th ATP title beating
Daniil Medvedev in
a five-set final, coming back from two sets down. With the win, Nadal surpassed a tie with
Novak Djokovic and
Roger Federer for the most men's singles major titles of all time and became the second man in the Open Era, after Djokovic, to complete the
double Career Grand Slam. At the
Mexican Open, Nadal won the title without dropping a set, including a win over new
world No. 1 Medvedev. He extended his winning streak to 15 matches, his best ever start to a season. At
Indian Wells he beat
Nick Kyrgios and
Carlos Alcaraz to reach his fourth final of the year and extend his winning streak to 20 matches. Nadal had a rib injury and lost to
Taylor Fritz in straight sets in the final. Nadal returned at the
Madrid Open, where he beat
Miomir Kecmanović and
David Goffin and lost to Carlos Alcaraz. At
Rome, he beat
John Isner in straight sets, but lost to Denis Shapovalov in three sets despite leading by a set and a break. At the
French Open, Nadal recorded his 106th win defeating
Jordan Thompson in the first round, becoming the player with most wins at a single major. He beat
Corentin Moutet in round two (his 300th win in majors). He beat
Felix Auger Aliassime in the fourth round (his third five setter ever at the French Open). Nadal met Djokovic for the 59th time in the quarterfinals and won in four sets to advance to his 15th French Open semi-final. He faced
Alexander Zverev and after more than three hours with two sets played, Zverev retired due to an ankle injury. In the final, he defeated
Casper Ruud in three sets to win his 14th French Open title and 22nd major title overall and reached world No. 4. He became the then-oldest French Open champion ever, and the third man to earn four Top-10 wins en route to a major title since the
ATP rankings started in 1973, after
Mats Wilander (
1982 French Open) and Federer (
2017 Australian Open). After treating his foot injury, Nadal returned to
Wimbledon for the first time in three years. He beat Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinal, but aggravated an abdominal injury, and had to withdraw from the tournament. Nadal lost in round one at
Cincinnati to eventual champion
Borna Ćorić. Nadal returned to the
US Open for the first time since 2019. He lost in round four to
Frances Tiafoe, his only loss at a major in 2022, and his earliest major defeat since the
2017 Wimbledon Championships. At the
Laver Cup, Nadal competed for Team Europe alongside Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray. He played doubles with rival Federer (Roger's final professional match), losing to
Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe. At the
ATP Finals, Nadal won his last match of the year against
Casper Ruud after losing his first two matches. Nadal finished the year ranked No. 2, becoming the oldest year-end top-2 player in the history of the
ATP rankings.
2023: Injury struggles and exit from top 10 after 18 consecutive years Nadal was the defending champion at the
2023 Australian Open, but lost in straight sets to
Mackenzie McDonald in the second round. During the match, Nadal was severely hampered by a hip injury. Nadal withdrew from
Indian Wells and
Miami to recover from his Australian Open injury and didn't play on tour again in 2023. As a result, he exited the Top 10 for the first time since 25 April 2005 on 20 March 2023, ending the longest Top-10 streak in
ATP rankings history.
2024: Return to the tour and retirement Nadal began his season at the
2024 Brisbane International, defeating
Dominic Thiem and
Jason Kubler before losing to
Jordan Thompson. During the match, he sustained a muscle injury that forced him to miss the Australian Open. Following a second-round loss to
Alex de Minaur at the
Barcelona Open, Nadal reached the fourth round at the
Madrid Open, defeating de Minaur en route. He lost in round two at the
Italian Open. In May, Nadal lost in the first round of the
French Open to world No. 4 and eventual runner-up
Alexander Zverev. This brought his final Roland-Garros record to 112–4. At the
Swedish Open in July, he reached his last career ATP Tour final with wins over
Leo Borg,
Cameron Norrie,
Mariano Navone in a marathon match lasting four hours, and
Duje Ajduković. He lost to
Nuno Borges in straight sets. Nadal then competed in the
Summer Olympics, where he served as a
torch bearer during the
opening ceremony. In
singles, he lost in the second round to eventual champion
Novak Djokovic in their record 60th professional meeting. In the
doubles with Alcaraz, he reached the quarterfinals. On 10 October 2024, Nadal stated his intention to retire from the sport after playing for Spain in the
Davis Cup Finals in Málaga, Spain, in November. Later that month he participated in the
6 Kings Slam exhibition tournament, losing his matches against Alcaraz and Djokovic. At the Davis Cup Finals in Málaga,
Botic van de Zandschulp beat Nadal as Spain lost to the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. After the conclusion of the tie, Nadal gave a speech and a video montage was played of career highlights and personal messages, including from Federer, Djokovic,
Serena Williams, Andy Murray, footballer
Andrés Iniesta and golfer
Sergio García. == Rivalries ==