Player Profile: Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal is next up on our player profile is Rafael Nadal. Nadal is known as the King of Clay as well as Federer’s rival. Fans love Nadal for his cute charm and entertaining tennis routines. Most recently Nadal lost to Gilles Muller in an epic four-hour Wimbledon match.  People commended him for coming back from a two set deficit as well as exhibiting sportsmanship after the match. Often times Nadal is over shadowed by Federer, but Nadal is still a great and worth tennis role model.

In the words of Nadal, “Vamos” lets learn some facts about Rafael.

1. Now holds the record at Roland Garros as 79-2 after winning his 10th straight final in France
2. This past French Open  Nadal only lost 35 games out of his seven matches
3. At 19 he entered the French Open for the first time and won the slam (this has not happened in 20 years)
4. His former professional tennis playing uncle, Toni Nadal, began teaching Rafael at age 3
5. Turned professional at age 15
6. Nadal is the second men’s player to achieve a career Golden Slam (all 4 majors and an Olympic Gold Medal) , Agassi was the other Golden Slam winner
   Digital image. Tennis Talk. Tennis Warehouse, n.d. Web. 8 Aug. 2017.
7. At age 17 he beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon and became was the youngest player to reach the third round since Boris Becker in 1984
8. His Uncle Miguel is a retired professional soccer player, and Nadal is known to have some pretty good footwork of his own
   WivoRN. “RAFAEL NADAL ● Craziest Football Skills Ever.” YouTube. YouTube, 10 Sept. 2016. Web. 08 Aug. 2017.
9. Nadal is ambidextrous and writes with his right hand, at age 8 he had a two-handed forehand and his Uncle urged him to play left handed for a natural advantage
10. Nadal was the first player to win at least one Grand Slam for ten consecutive (breaking the world record of eight consecutive years)
11. Nadal is the only male player in tennis history to win one Grand Slam and Masters 1000 title for ten consecutive years from 2005–2014.
12. People love Nadal’s interviews and comments
    Here is a video of Nadal commenting about a fan running onto his court
    Meko1686. “Rafa -“he Say ‘I Love You’ and He Kiss Me”.” YouTube. YouTube, 03 June 2010. Web. 08 Aug. 2017.
    And lets not forget the time he accidentally translated English to English
    Vamospormasrafa. “Funny Rafael Nadal Translates Novak Djokovic’s English into English.”YouTube. YouTube, 20 Nov. 2013. Web. 08 Aug. 2017.
13. Lastly, the most entertaining fact of all is that Nadal has many superstitions and game rituals, check them out
    “Rafael Nadal – Top 10 Superstitions/Tics That He ALWAYS Does (HD).” YouTube. YouTube, 09 Feb. 2017. Web. 08 Aug. 2017.

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