Full Name: Rafael Nadal Parera
Country: 
Spain
Residence: Manacor, Balearic Islands, Spain
Born: 3 June 1986
Manacor, Balearic Islands, Spain
Height: 1.85m (6ft 1in)
Plays: Left-Handed (two-handed backhand)
Grand Slams Singles Results
AUSTRALIA OPEN - W(2009)
FRENCH OPEN - W(2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
WIMBLEDON - W(2008, 2010)
US OPEN - W(2010)
Rafael Nadal was born in Manacor,
Balearic Islands, Spain, to Sebastián Nadal, a businessman who owns an
insurance company, a glass and window company, Vidres Mallorca, and
manages his own restaurant, Sa Punta. His mother is Ana María Parera, a
housewife. He has a younger sister named María Isabel. His uncle, Miguel Ángel Nadal, is a retired professional footballer, who played for RCD Mallorca, FC Barcelona, and the Spanish national team. Nadal supports football clubs Real Madrid and RCD Mallorca. Recognizing that Nadal had a natural talent for tennis, another uncle, Toni Nadal, a former professional tennis player, introduced him to tennis when he was three years old.
At age eight, Nadal won an under-12 regional tennis championship at a time when he was also a promising football player.
This made Toni Nadal intensify training, and at that time he encouraged
Nadal to play left-handed for a natural advantage on the tennis court,
as he noticed Nadal played forehand shots with two hands.
When Nadal was 12, he won the Spanish and European tennis titles in his
age group and was playing tennis and football all the time.
Nadal's father made him choose between football and tennis so that his
school work would not deteriorate entirely. Nadal said: "I chose tennis.
Football had to stop straight away."
When he was 14, the Spanish tennis federation requested that he leave Mallorca and move to Barcelona
to continue his tennis training. Nadal's family turned down this
request, partly because they feared it would hurt his education,
but also because Toni said that "I don't want to believe that you have
to go to America, or other places to be a good athlete. You can do it
from your home."
The decision to stay home meant that Nadal received less financial
support from the federation; instead, Nadal's father covered the costs.
In May 2001, he defeated former Grand Slam tournament champion Pat Cash in a clay-court exhibition match.
At 15, he turned pro. Nadal participated in two events on the ITF
junior circuit. In 2002, at the age of 16, Nadal reached the semifinals
of the Boy's Singles tournament at Wimbledon, in his first ITF junior
event.
By the age of 17, he beat Roger Federer the first time they played and became the youngest man to reach the third round at Wimbledon since Boris Becker. At 18, he helped pace Spain over the US in the junior Davis Cup
in his second, and final, appearance on the ITF junior circuit. At 19,
Nadal won the French Open the first time he played it, a feat not
accomplished in Paris for more than 20 years. He eventually won it the
first four times he played at Roland Garros. In 2003, he had won the ATP Newcomer of the Year Award. Early in his career, Nadal picked up the trademark habit of biting the trophies he won.
Nadal lived with his parents and younger sister Maria Isabel in a
five-story apartment building in their hometown of Manacor, Mallorca. In
June 2009, Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, and then The New York Times,
reported that his parents, Ana Maria and Sebastian, had separated. This
news came after weeks of speculation in Internet posts and message
boards over Nadal's personal issues as the cause of his setback.
Nadal has revealed himself to be agnostic. When a young boy, he would run home from school to watch Goku in his favorite Japanese anime, Dragon Ball. CNN
released an article about Nadal's childhood inspiration, and called him
"the Dragon Ball of tennis" due to his unorthodox style "from another
planet."
In addition to tennis and football, Nadal enjoys playing golf. Nadal's autobiography, Rafa (Hyperion, 2012, ISBN 1401310923), written with assistance from John Carlin, was published in August 2011
Grand Slam Tournaments Performance Titles
All-time tournament records
| Tournament |
Since |
Record accomplished |
Players matched |
| All |
1877 |
8 consecutive titles at any single tournament |
Stands alone |
| Grand Slam |
1877 |
8 men's singles titles at any single Grand Slam event |
Stands alone |
| Monte Carlo Masters |
1897 |
8 men's singles titles |
Stands alone |
| French Open |
1925 |
8 men's singles titles |
Stands alone |
| Rome Masters |
1930 |
7 men's singles titles |
Stands alone |
| Barcelona Open |
1953 |
8 men's singles titles |
Stands alone |
|
|---|
*source from Wikipedia
