Episode 1732
Rafael Nadal
Sat, 2022-Jan-29 01:27 UTC
Length - 4:10
Direct Link
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With 148,963 views on Friday, 28 January 2022 our article of the day is Rafael Nadal.
Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera (Catalan: [rəf(ə)ˈɛl nəˈðal pəˈɾeɾə], Spanish: [rafaˈel naˈðal paˈɾeɾa]; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is ranked world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), has been ranked No. 1 in the ATP rankings for 209 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Nadal has won 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles, an all-time record shared with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. His 13 French Open titles in particular are a record at any tournament. Nadal's dominance on clay is also highlighted by his winning 62 of his 89 ATP singles titles on clay, including 26 of his 36 Masters titles. His 81 consecutive wins on clay is the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era.
From childhood through most of his professional career, Nadal was coached by his uncle Toni. He was one of the most successful teenagers in ATP Tour history, reaching No. 2 in the world and winning 16 titles before his 20th birthday, including his first French Open and six Masters events. Nadal became No. 1 for the first time in 2008 after his first major victory off clay against his rival, the longtime top-ranked Federer, in an historic Wimbledon final. He also won an Olympic gold medal in singles that year in Beijing. After defeating Djokovic in the 2010 US Open final, the 24-year-old Nadal became the youngest man in the Open Era to achieve the career Grand Slam, and also the first man to win three majors on three different surfaces (hard, grass and clay) in the same calendar year. With his Olympic gold medal, he is also one of only two male players to complete the career Golden Slam in singles, the other being Andre Agassi.
In the next decade, Djokovic became Nadal's primary rival. The two have faced each other 58 times (including nine major finals), the most in men's Open Era history. Since Djokovic defeated Nadal in three consecutive major finals between the 2011 Wimbledon Championships and 2012 Australian Open, Nadal has struggled at Wimbledon and has not won another Australian Open. He has continued to dominate the French Open, winning four consecutive titles a second and a third time, while also winning three more US Open titles. He equalled Federer's record for the most major men's singles titles at the 2020 French Open.
Nadal is the only left-handed member of the Big Three. One of his main strengths is his forehand, which he routinely hits with extremely heavy topspin at difficult angles. He is one of the best at breaking serve, regularly appearing among the tour leaders in percentage of return games, return points, and break points won. Nadal has won the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award five times, and was the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year in 2011 and 2021. Representing Spain, he has an Olympic gold medal in both singles and doubles, and has led the Spanish Davis Cup team to five titles. Nadal opened a tennis academy in Mallorca, and is an active philanthropist.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:27 UTC on Saturday, 29 January 2022.
For the full current version of the article, see Rafael Nadal on Wikipedia.
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