Rafael Nadal

Life and work

The story behind the role.

Grand Slam champion whose clay-court record and resilience shaped a historic tennis career.

Excmo. Sr. D. Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera, 1st Marquess of Llevant de Mallorca (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 209 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Nadal won 92 ATP Tour singles titles, with 22 major titles—including a record 14 French Open titles—as well as 36 Masters titles and two Olympic gold medals. Nadal is one of three men to complete the career Golden Slam in singles. His 81 consecutive wins on clay constitute the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era. For nearly two decades, Nadal was a leading figure in men's tennis, alongside Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, collectively known as the Big Three, and including Andy Murray, the Big Four, creating the Golden Era of men's tennis. Early in his career, Nadal became one of the most successful teenagers in ATP Tour history, reaching No. 2 in the world and winning 16 titles before turning 20, including his first major title at the 2005 French Open. Nadal became the world No. 1 for the first time in 2008 after defeating Federer in a historic Wimbledon final, his first major championship off clay, which he followed with an Olympic singles gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. By defeating Djokovic in the 2010 US Open final, Nadal became the then–youngest man in the Open Era to complete a career Grand Slam at 24, and the first man to win majors on three different surfaces in the same year. Nadal won major singles titles in 10 consecutive years from 2005 to 2014, and again in a four-year span from 2017 to 2020. He also won 11 doubles titles during his career, including an Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. At the 2022 Australian Open, Nadal surp…

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