Rafael Nadal turns 37: A look at career, accomplishments of Spanish tennis legend

New Delhi: Rafael Nadal, the Spanish tennis legend and the ‘King of Clay’ turned 37 on Saturday.

Nadal has held a joint-record of 22 grand slam titles throughout his career ever since he turned pro in 2001. Serbian tennis legend Novak Djokovic has also held 22 grand slam titles. The Spanish star has attained the majority of his grand slam success in France, winning a total of 14 French Open titles in (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022 editions). He has also won 4 US Open titles in 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2019 editions. Nadal has two Australian Open (2009, 2022) and Wimbledon (2008, 2010) titles each.

Nadal has held a total of 92 singles titles in his tennis career, which is the fifth-highest by any men’s player in the Open Era. The highest titles in the Open era are held by US’s Jimmy Connors, who has held 109 titles. 63 of his title wins have come at Clay courts, truly making him the ‘King of Clay’.

Nadal has also won two Olympic gold medals, a singles title in the 2008 Beijing Olympics after defeating Fernando Gonzalez and a doubles title in the 2016 Rio Olympics with Marc Lopez. As he has won all four major titles and an Olympic gold medal at least, he is one of two men (other than Andre Agassi) to have achieved a Career Golden Slam.

In the year 2010, Nadal became the first-ever men’s player to win major titles on three different surfaces (hard, grass, and clay) in the same year, thus completing a Surface Slam as well.

The Spanish star also reached the number-one position in ATP Rankings on numerous occasions. From April 2005 to March 2023, he spent a total of 912 weeks within the top 10 of the ATP Rankings, the second-highest by any player, behind his arch-rival Roger Federer.

Though close friends, Federer and Nadal are also fierce rivals on the tennis court. The duo has dominated the world of tennis for the last two decades. Federer first battled the Spanish legend at ATP Masters 1000 event in Miami in 2004. Since then, they have faced off against each other in a total of 40 matches. Nadal emerged victorious 24 times, while Federer won 16 matches.

In his singles career, he has had a record of 1068 wins and 220 losses, as per ATP.com.

Nadal has also clinched a total of 11 titles in doubles competition, including an Olympic gold.

There are very few tennis players with records as massive, as legendary as Nadal and fans will hope that he will continue entertaining fans for some more years.