Rafael Nadal
Nadal was ranked World No. 2, behind Roger Federer for a record 160 consecutive weeks before earning the top spot, which he then held from 18 August 2008 to 5 July 2009.[8] He regained the World No.1 ranking on 7 June 2010 after winning his fifth French Open title.[9] In 2008, Nadal was given the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports, in recognition of his achievements in tennis.[10] 128036 Rafaelnadal is a Main belt asteroid discovered in 2003 at the Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca, Spain and named after Rafael Nadal.
Rafael Nadal
Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera (Catalan pronunciation: [rəˈfɛɫ nəˈðaɫ pəˈɾeɾə]; Spanish pronunciation: [rafaˈel naˈðal paˈɾeɾa]; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player currently ranked No. 1 in the world. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.His success on clay has earned him the nickname "The King of Clay", and has prompted many experts to regard him as the greatest clay court player of all time.Nadal has won nine Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, a record 18 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments and also was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2004, 2008 and 2009. He completed the career Grand Slam by winning the 2010 US Open, being the 7th player in history, and the youngest in the open era, to achieve it. He is the second male player to complete the Career Golden Slam (winner of the four grand slams and the Olympic Gold medal) after Andre Agassi.
Biography
Rafael Nadal was born in Manacor, Majorca to Sebastián Nadal and Ana María Parera. He has a younger sister named María Isabel. His uncle, Miguel Ángel Nadal, is a retired professional football player who played for RCD Mallorca, FC Barcelona, and the Spanish national team.[12] Nadal supports football clubs Real Madrid and RCD Mallorca.[13] Recognizing that Rafael had a natural talent for tennis, another uncle, Toni Nadal, a former professional tennis player, introduced him to tennis when he was three years old. Toni Nadal has been coaching him ever since. Toni Nadal has not received a single penny for his coaching to Nadal all these years.[14]
At age eight, Nadal won an under-12 year regional tennis championship at a time when he was also a promising football player.[15] This made Toni Nadal intensify training, and at that time he encouraged Nadal to play left-handed—for a natural advantage on the tennis court, as he noticed Nadal played forehand shots with two hands.[15] When Nadal was 12, he won the Spanish and European tennis titles in his age group and was playing tennis and football all the time.[15] Nadal's father made him choose between football and tennis so that his school work would not deteriorate entirely. Nadal said: "I chose tennis. Football had to stop straight away."[15]
When he was 14, the Spanish tennis federation requested that he leave Mallorca and move to Barcelona to continue his tennis progression and training. Nadal's family turned down this request, partly because they feared it would hurt his education,[15] but also because Toni Nadal said that "I don't want to believe that you have to go to America, or other places to be a good athlete. You can do it from your home."[14] The decision to stay home meant that Nadal received less financial support from the federation; instead Nadal's father covered the costs. In May 2001, he defeated former Grand Slam champion Pat Cash in a clay-court exhibition match.[12]
Nadal participated in two events on the ITF junior circuit. In 2002, at the age of 16, Nadal reached the semifinals of the Boy's Singles tournament at Wimbledon, in his first ITF junior event.[16] Later that year, Nadal won all of his matches en-route to a winning campaign with Spain, over the US, in the junior Davis Cup in his second, and final, appearance on the ITF junior circuit.
Rafael Nadal
By the age of 17, Nadal was ranked in the world's top 50 players. In 2003, he had won the ATP Newcomer of the Year Award. Early on in his career, Nadal picked up the trademark habit of biting the trophies he won.[17]
Nadal has revealed himself to be Agnostic
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal
