Rafael Nadal is a professional tennis player hailing from Manacor, Mallorca. He was born on June 3, 1986. Nicknamed “The King of Clay” due to his strings of success on the clay court, he represents Spain and was formerly the World No. 1. As of October 24, 2011, the Association of Tennis Professionals ranked him No. 2, with Novak Djokovich earning the World No. 1 title.
He first made his mark in ATP at age 15 when he beat Ramon Delgado. He was among the nine professional tennis players to have accomplished such a feat before their 16th birthday. “The King of Clay” moniker came in 2006 when he won all his clay court matches in the entire year. That year also saw him emerged as the winner in the Grand Slam final against the then World No. 1 Roger Federer, who had never lost in a Grand Slam final before.
Aside from being a great player, Nadal is also known for being ambidextrous. He uses his left hand when playing tennis but uses his right hand when writing. He has also mastered the two handed backhand. He started out as being right handed but his coach, who also happens to be his uncle, encouraged him to play lefty so that he can utilize his right hand for the two handed back hand to a greater advantage.
After earning the title ATP Newcomer of the Year in 2003, he made it clear he was the one to look out for by entering the Top 50 and grabbing two Challenger titles by the year’s end. The following year, a stress fracture made him notably absent from the court but in 2005, he gained back the momentum in the Australian Open in a match against Lleyton Newitt. Since then, the Spanish tennis player seemed unstoppable.
Rafa started the year 2008 as the World’s second best tennis player. So far, he had won 23 titles in three straight years and made it to the Wimbledon finals twice. By then, there was only Roger Federer who prevented him from becoming World No. 1. That sparked a rivalry which was intensified by the media hype.
Rafael Nadal held on to the number two spot for a record-breaking 160 consecutive weeks. That changed in October 18, 2008 when he finally became World No. 1 and held on to it until July 5, 2009. In June 7, 2010, he became No. 1 again after earning a French Open title for the fifth time. However, his reign ended in July 3, 2011 when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.