Top five Rafael Nadal records that will never be broken

Rafael Nadal won 22 grand slam titles.

On the morning of Thursday, October 10, Rafael Nadal announced that he would be bringing the curtains down in November 2024. Nadal stated his plan to officially retire following the 2024 Davis Cup Finals to be held in Malaga, Spain. It will mark the end of a two-decade career that gave the sport and his fans countless memories. 

“In this life, everything has a beginning and an end,” the 38-year-old began in the video announcing his retirement released on October 10.

After two years of leaving no stone unturned to fix his bad hip and return to the tour, the Spaniard reconciled himself to the fact that he wasn’t going to succeed. In 2005, Nadal recouped from a career-threatening injury to win 36 ATP 1000 titles and two Olympic Golds among his many achievements. 

The former World No. 1 stated that it has been a difficult two years, and he hasn’t been able to “play without limitations.” 

‘I think it’s the appropriate time to end a career that has been longer and more successful than I could have ever imagined,’ Nadal added before signing off.

Mil gracias a todos Many thanks to allMerci beaucoup à tousGrazie mille à tutti谢谢大家شكرا لكم جميعا תודה לכולכםObrigado a todosVielen Dank euch allenTack allaХвала свимаGràcies a tots pic.twitter.com/7yPRs7QrOi

— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) October 10, 2024

No sooner than word of Nadal’s retirement became public, tributes started pouring in for the 14-time French Open titlists. Tennis legends Billie Jean King, Rod Laver and Nadal’s longtime rival and good friend, Roger Federer, opened the floodgates.

Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Ons Jabeur, Katie Boulter, Andy Roddick and Dominic Thiem were some of the other players who took to social media to share their thoughts on Nadal’s retirement.

Not to be left out, fellow Spaniard Paula Badosa, Chris Evert, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff, along with the official social media handles of the French Open, Wimbledon, the ATP Tour and the Davis Cup, joined in on the chorus of tributes for the 22-time Grand Slam winner.

Among Nadal’s other accolades are 209 weeks ranked as ATP World No. #1, finishing five times as the year-end No. #1 and a further five times as ATP Player of the Year. Off the tennis court, the Spaniard is a four-time Laureus World Sports Awards winner.

Nadal is one of only three players to have amassed $100 million in prize money in the history of the sport, alongside Federer and Djokovic.

As with any player who has been a regular fixture on the ATP Tour, Nadal leaves behind a considerable list of milestones and records that are unlikely to be surpassed any time soon. The chief among them being:-

Top Rafael Nadal records that will never be broken

5. Player with most wins at a single Grand Slam 

Rafael Nadal began his successful run at Roland Garros on debut in 2005. He promptly won the next three editions to make it four in a row. The Spaniard’s string of wins between 2005 and 2008 was his first four-win haul, the next one coming in 2017-2020. 

In between, he added a five-win run between 2010-2014.  His final win at the venue came in 2022. Nadal’s first and last Grand Slam wins have been on the clay courts of Paris. 

The Spaniard’s collection of 14 trophies at Roland Garros makes him the player with most wins in a single major. Chris Evert, with seven titles, trails Nadal, with Bjorn Borg at six titles, coming in third. 

4. Youngest male in the Open Era to complete a Career Slam

When Nadal won the 2010 US Open, he was 24, making him the youngest man in the Open Era to complete a career slam. Having won the Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008, he also became the youngest to complete a career golden slam.  

Only two other men have got to the career golden slam – Andre Agassi in Paris in 1999 at age 29, and Novak Djokovic, who won the gold in the Paris Olympics this year as a 37-year-old.

Rafael Nadal was the youngest person to complete the career grand slam.He had won the French Open, Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open by the time he was 24 years and 101 days old.🐐 pic.twitter.com/MpSXhlrd1n

— Guinness World Records (@GWR) October 10, 2024

Wins over Robin Soderling at Roland Garros, Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon and Novak Djokovic at Flushing Meadows gave Nadal his career slam.

3. Most matches won in the singles draw of a Grand Slam event in the Open Era 

Across his 18 visits to Roland Garros between 2005 and 2024, Nadal notched up 112 wins against four losses. His 112 wins make him the player with the most match wins at the same venue in the singles draw of a Grand Slam event in the Open Era.

Apart from 2024, only twice did the Spaniard exit the quarter-final stage. The first time was the four-set loss to Robin Soderling in the fourth round of the 2009 edition. The second occasion was in 2016, in round three, when a wrist injury led to his withdrawal before his match against fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers. It was Nadal’s only injury-related withdrawal from the clay-court major.

Not only does Nadal have a 90% (484-51) winning percentage on clay, the former World No. 1 has an 81-match winning streak on the surface between 2005 and 2007.

2. Only male player to win at least one Grand Slam for 10 straight seasons 

Nadal is the sole player on the ATP Tour to win at least one Grand Slam title across 10 consecutive seasons. The Spaniard accomplished this feat in the decade between 2005 and 2014. During that period, Nadal found himself playing many memorable matches against the remainder of the ‘Big 3’ – Federer and Djokovic.

The Wimbledon 2008 final against Federer is acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Lasting the distance and consuming nearly five hours, it saw Federer out of control after losing the first two sets.

It was a match Bjorn Borg called as the best ever seen in his life. Nadal finally prevailed when he wrapped the final set 9-7 just as they were about to call it a day due to bad light.

Also Read: Rafael Nadal’s top five greatest comebacks

The 2012 Australian Open between Nadal and Djokovic was the longest Grand Slam final. Clocking five hours and 53 minutes, it took five gruelling sets for Djokovic to subdue Nadal. The Spaniard looked to have the win in the bag after taking two of the opening three sets and leading 4-2 in the decider.

Djokovic then showed why he is dangerous when cornered, scripting a stunning comeback. The Serb broke Nadal’s serve and won five of the last six games for the title.

When the match ended at close to 2 AM on Monday, the exhausted duo needed to sit on chairs for most duration of the award ceremony.

1. Most consecutive weeks in the top ten 

In 2005, when Nadal broke into the ATP Top 10, it was the beginning of a 912 consecutive stint in the elite club. Nadal rose into the top 10 of the ATP Rankings in April 2005 at the age of 18, a month before winning his first French Open trophy. When he exited the top 10 in March 2023, he had amassed 14 trophies as the clay-court major. 

While Nadal was No. #1 or No. #2 for much of those 18 years in the top 10, he came close to exiting in 2015, when he landed at No. #10. He finished the 2016 season at No. #9 but was back as No. #1 by August 2017. The Spaniard is also the only player to enjoy the top position on the ATP Tour across three decades.

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