Rafael Nadal’s career has been spectacular and his career on clay has been unlike any other in the history of the sport.
And Nadal loves Roland Garros. Period.
But only recently he returned from a rib injury while also dealing with chronic pain in his left foot that kept him out of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year.
“I am not injured. I am a player living with an injury,” he said last week after losing in the third round of the Italian Open, one of four clay events he previously won at least 10 times.
As Nadal takes to the court at the 2022 French Open, we take a look at 21 legendary numbers and comparisons around his career.
Another leg of the Slam Race begins next week at #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/OcP6xQWFPO
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) May 19, 2022
1 — Nadal has ended the year as the ATP No. 1-ranked player five times — in 2008, 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2019.
2 — Nadal has also won two Olympic gold medals: in singles in 2008 and in doubles in 2016. In 2008, Nadal bested Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, paving the way to later earn a career Golden Slam (the four majors plus Olympic gold). In 2016, Nadal helped Spain win its first Olympic gold in men’s doubles, pairing with Marc López to defeat Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau of Romania. Nadal became just the second man, and fourth player overall, to win both singles and doubles gold since the sport returned to Olympic competition in 1988.
3 — Well, the Big Three. More specifically: Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have dominated men’s tennis for a generation. The Big Three have won 61 of the past 76 Grand Slam tournaments.
6 — Nadal has been dubbed the “King of Clay,” but he also has six major hard-court titles, which ranks fourth all-time behind only Djokovic, Federer and Pete Sampras, and has two on the grass at Wimbledon. Nadal and Djokovic are the only two male players in the Open era to win every Slam singles title at least twice.
10 — Talk about domination. The lowest Nadal has…
Source : espn
