Comprehensive information and links about Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal , (born June 3, 1986 in Manacor, MallorcaRafael Nadal is a Spanish tennis player. He is the nephew of former F.C. Barcelona footballer Miguel Ángel Nadal. He is currently World's No. 2 male tennis player — his highest career singles ranking —and the first man since Boris Becker to reach that spot in his teenage years

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Career

In 2002, he won his first ATP match at Majorca at the age of 15, defeating Ramon Delgado to become the ninth player in the Open Era to win an ATP match before his 16th birthday.

In 2003, Nadal became the second-youngest player to be ranked among the world's top 100 singles players. He finished the year in the top 50, winning two Challenger titles. At his Wimbledon debut in 2003, he became the youngest player (at age 16) to reach the 3rd round since 16-year-old Boris Becker in 1984.

By May 2005, he had reached the top 5 in world rankings, becoming the youngest player to break into the Top 10 since Andrei Medvedev in 1993.

Nadal has won eleven titles in 2005, including four ATP Masters Series events (Monte Carlo, Rome, Montreal, and Madrid, defeating Guillermo Coria in the finals of Monte CarloRome, and Andre Agassi in Montreal) and one Grand Slam title (Roland Garros, becoming the first player since Mats Wilander in 1982 to win the tournament in his first attempt). He boasts a 44-2 match record on clay in 2005 and a 79-10 record on all surfaces this season, second only to Roger Federer, winning the most matches out of any player on the tour this year.

Nadal won 24 consecutive matches during early 2005, the longest winning streak of any teenager in the Open Era, topping Andre Agassi's run of 23 matches in 1988.

In his Roland Garros debut, he claimed the title by defeating world number one Roger Federer in the semi finals on his 19th birthday on the way. At 19 years and two days, he became the sixth-youngest Grand Slam champion, and the fourth-youngest Roland Garros champion in the Open Era. He became the seventh player to win a Grand Slam in his first appearance at the event, and the first since Andre Agassi at the 1995 Australian Open. He became the first teenager to win a Grand Slam since Pete Sampras won the 1990 US Open at age 19. Nadal is the first teenager to win six titles in a year since Agassi in 1988 at the age of 18.

Three days after his victory in Paris, his winning streak was snapped on the grass of Halle, Germany, where he was beaten by German Alexander Waske in the first round.

He was eliminated in the second round of Wimbledon, at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, where he was seeded fourth, by Luxembourg player, Gilles Muller.

Nadal has a 35 match winning streak on clay from April till September 2005, and with his tournament victory in Stuttgart, he has become the first man since to win eight clay court titles in the same year (Thomas Muster held the previous record of seven titles on clay in 1995).

He was eliminated in the third round of the 2005 US Open in Flushing Meadows, New York, by American James Blake. His second seed overall and third round U.S. Open performance were both career highs. He defeated Bobby Reynolds in the first round and Scoville Jenkins in the second, both Americans.

However, after the US Open, he won two more hard court tournaments. In September he defeated Guillermo Coria in the final of the China Open in Beijing. Then, in October, he won his fourth Masters Series event, defeating Ivan Ljubicic in five sets in the final of the Masters Series Madrid tournament, played in Nadal's home country. This led to the injury which kept him out of the Tennis Masters Cup in 2005 and the start of 2006. He now equals world number one Roger Federer (who could not participate in Madrid due to injury) in ATP titles won, eleven, and masters series events won, four. Nadal was just shy of winning more matches than Federer, 79 matches to Federer's 81. Overall, Nadal had a wonderful 2005 and is now viewed as the player who can push Federer the most.

Nadal also won 6 entry-level Spanish Futures events in 2002 and 2 Challenger tournaments in 2003 before he fully joined the professional ATP tour.

2004 Davis Cup

Nadal was one of the heroes for his team in the 2004 Davis Cup, leading Spain to victory.