Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal is a Spanish professional tennis player who is a former world number 1 but is currently ranked 7 in the ATP rankings. Nadal according to many is the best tennis player of all time, controversially many beg to differ with Roger Federer. He has won an outstanding 14 grand slam titles, three behind record holder Roger Federer and has won an Olympic gold medal in which he won at the Beijing Olympic Games. Due to is consistence dominance in clay court tournaments, Nadal has been nicknamed "king of clay". He holds the record for most ATP Master 1000 tournament wins having won 27 since the beginning of his career. Rafael Nadal has won numerous of other awards outside of his tennis tournament wins including the 2011 Laureus World Sportsman of the year.

Playing style

Rafael Nadal is famous for playing very far behind the baseline, hitting both his forehand and backhand with heavy topspin. His game suits very well to clay as he troubles his opponents by getting so many balls back in play. Nadal's main strategy in matches his to use his counter-punching skills to win himself free and easy points. In Nadal's early career his serve was considered a weakness however, since the 2005 Us open where his serve was deeply exposed it has improved leaps and bounds. Due to Nadal's playing style, playing with so much top spin, many believe the injuries in which he has sustained in his career have stemmed from the way he plays.

 Career rivals

Throughout his career, Rafael Nadal has had three main rivals. Those are, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic amd Andy Murray. Nadal however has a winning head to head record against all three, a (23 -10) over Federer, a (23-20) over Djokovic and a (15-6) record over Andy Murray. Due to such a competitive rivalry between the four player since 2008, they have been nicknamed the "big four" and are known to have created the "golden age" of tennis.

A picture of Nadal's nine French Open victories