Rafeal Nadal



               A 10-time major champion and arguably the greatest clay court player of all time, Rafael Nadal won four straight French Open titles from 2005 to 2008. Nadal repeated as Roland Garros champion in 2010 and 2011. He compiled a 31-0 record at Roland Garros until his stunning loss to Robin Soderling in the round of 16 in 2009, which remains his only loss in a best-of-five set clay-court match. From April 2005 through May 2007, Nadal won 81 consecutive matches on clay, a single-surface winning streak that stands as an Open Era record. Nadal defeated his rival Roger Federer in the 2008 Wimbledon final, considered one of the greatest matches of all time, and in doing so became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year. Nadal posted a 22-0 record during the spring clay-court season in becoming the first man to claim three Masters 1000 clay titles (Monte Carlo, Rome and Madrid) as well as Roland Garros. Nadal beat Federer in the French Open final on June 5, 2011 (days after his 25th birthday) to collect a record-tying sixth Roland Garros crown, equaling Bjorn Borg's career mark. He became the second-youngest man (after Borg) to win 10 Grand Slam singles titles. Novak Djokovic beat Nadal in the Wimbledon final and on July 4th, Djokovic surpassed him to take over the top spot in the rankings, ending Nadal's run of 57 consecutive weeks as No. 1. Djokovic beat Nadal in six finals during the season, including the U.S. Open final. Nadal won both of his singles matches to lead Spain to its fifth Davis Cup championship. A native of the island of Mallorca, he is coached by his uncle, Toni Nadal.