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รายละเอียด [link]

; วันที่ : 15 มกราคม 2554 ; รายละเอียด : ปาร์ตี้ฉลอง 10 ปีวิกิพีเดีย เชียงใหม่เมืองสร้างสรรค์ ; จัดโดย: Chiang Mai Creative City : เชียงใหม่ - ร้านบริเวณถนนนิมมานเหมินท์ Facebook Event เชียงใหม่ : กรุงเทพ ยังไม่มี

แหล่งข้อมูลอื่น [link]

วิกิพีเดีย:ศาลาชุมชน/อภิปราย/วิกิพีเดียฉลอง 10 ปี ในวันที่ 15 ม.ค. นี้

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Thailand 15 / 1 /2554

Name	Igor Andreev Игорь Андреев
Country
Residence	Moscow, Russia
Birth date	July 14, 1983
Birth place	Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	2002
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	$3,630,505
Singlesrecord	224–212
Singlestitles	3
Highestsinglesranking	No. 18 (3 November 2008)
Currentsinglesranking	No. 78 (30 April 2012)
Australianopenresult	3R (2006, 2008, 2009)
Frenchopenresult	QF (2007)
Wimbledonresult	4R (2009)
Usopenresult	4R (2008)
Doublesrecord	43–64
Doublestitles	1
Highestdoublesranking	No. 59 (18 July 2005)
Grandslamsdoublesresults	yes
Australianopendoublesresult	2R (2004, 2005)
Frenchopendoublesresult	3R (2005)
Wimbledondoublesresult	2R (2009)
Usopendoublesresult	2R (2004, 2005, 2008)
Updated	31 August 2009 }}

Igor Valerievich Andreev (; born 14 July 1983) is a Russian professional tennis player, born in Moscow.

Tennis career[link]

2003[link]

Andreev made his ATP debut in September 2003 at Bucharest, Romania as a qualifier and defeated top seed Nikolay Davydenko 7–5, 6–7, 6–0 in the first round, before losing in the next round to José Acasuso.

At the Moscow ATP tournament later the same month, Andreev defeated the top seed Sjeng Schalken in straight sets, 6–3, 6–1, and made his first ATP quarterfinal appearance, eventually losing to Paul-Henri Mathieu 6–2, 3–6, 5–7. He entered the St. Petersburg tournament in October 2003 as a wildcard, and defeated the number 4 seed Max Mirnyi 6–4, 7–6 before losing to Sargis Sargsian in the second round.

2004[link]

Andreev finished in the top 50 of the ATP rankings for the first time in his career. During the same year he also reached two ATP finals, Gstaad, Switzerland in July (losing to Roger Federer), and Bucharest, Romania in September (losing to José Acasuso). He won a personal best 28 matches in the year, and also made his Davis Cup debut.

Andreev made his Grand Slam debut at the 2004 Australian Open, where he lost in the first round to France's Olivier Patience, 4–6, 4–6, 7–6 (4), 6–1, 6–2. At the French Open he made the round of 16, losing to eventual champion Gastón Gaudio 6–4, 7–5, 6–3. At Wimbledon that year, he reached the second round, losing to Fernando González, and lost in the first round at the US Open to Fernando Verdasco, 6–3, 6–4, 4–6, 2–6, 7–5.

At the Athens Olympics in August 2004, Andreev made the third round, and lost only to the eventual gold medallist, Chilean Nicolás Massú.

He won his first ATP doubles title in Moscow in October 2004 with Nikolay Davydenko, after defeating Mahesh Bhupathi and Jonas Björkman 3–6, 6–3, 6–4 in the final.

2005[link]

Andreev's first ATP singles title came in April 2005 in Valencia, Spain, which he won by beating Spaniard David Ferrer 6–3, 5–7, 6–3 in the final, after having taken out Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals. After this point, Nadal began his record-breaking 81 match win streak on clay, which lasted for more than two years. Andreev made the third round at both the French Open and Wimbledon, and reached the quarterfinal at the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. He then reached the final of the event at Bucharest, losing to Florent Serra 6–3, 6–4. Andreev continued his consistent performance of the year by winning the Palermo event in September 2005, beating Filippo Volandri of Italy 0–6, 6–1, 6–3 in the final, and the Kremlin Cup at Moscow in October, defeating Nicolas Kiefer 5–7, 7–6, 6–2 in the final.

2006[link]

Andreev had some ups and downs in the first half of the season; despite seven first-round losses, highlights included reaching the finals at Sydney and the quarterfinals at Indian Wells, losing both matches to James Blake. A knee injury forced Andreev to sit out the second half of the clay court season, including Roland Garross.

2007[link]

Andreev returned in 2007, and made an immediate impact with an impressive showing at the French Open. Unseeded, he beat former World no.1 Andy Roddick 3–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4 in the first round (which was widely expected as Roddick has a poor record on clay) and in-form Marcos Baghdatis in the fourth round, to make his first Grand Slam quarter-final, which he lost in straight sets to Novak Đoković 6–3, 6–3, 6–3. However, he was disappointingly a first-round casualty at Wimbledon that year.

2008[link]

He made it to the third round of Australian Open losing to Richard Gasquet in four sets. His other notable performances include reaching the quarterfinals of Buenos Aires, Dubai, and Miami. At Miami he was defeated by Tomáš Berdych 6–4, 6–4. After Miami, he reached the quarterfinal of another Masters Series event in Monte Carlo. He defeated in-form clay-courter Nicolás Almagro on his way to the quarters, where he was defeated by number four seed Nikolay Davydenko.

Seeded 27th at Roland Garros, Andreev lost in the second round to Robby Ginepri 4–6, 6–2, 7–6, 6–2. At Wimbledon, he once again lost in the second round, this time to David Ferrer 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–2. However, in the mixed doubles, he reached the semi finals of Wimbledon with Maria Kirilenko.

At the US Open he lost in the fourth round to Federer in a tantalisingly close match 6–7, 7–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3.

2009[link]

Heavily favored Russia was hosted by Israel in a Davis Cup quarterfinal tie in July 2009, on indoor hard courts at the Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv. Russia had won the Davis Cup in both 2002 and 2006, and was the top-ranked country in Davis Cup standings. Asked if he was nervous, Andreev replied with a smile: "Nervous? Why should I be nervous? Everything is fine." Harel Levy, world # 210, then beat Andreev, world # 24, 6–4, 6–2, 4–6, 6–2 in the opening match. Dudi Sela (# 33) followed by beating Youzhny, and the next day Israelis Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich beat Safin and doubles specialist Kunitsyn. With the tie clinched for Israel, the reverse singles rubbers were "dead", and instead of best-of-five matches, best-of-three sets were played, with the outcomes of little to no importance. Israel wrapped up a 4–1 victory over Russia, winning one match but losing one, as Dudi Sela retired with a wrist injury while down 3–4 in the first set against Andreev.

2010[link]

He started off the season at the Hopman Cup with Elena Dementieva as his mixed double partner. In singles, he won a match but lost the next two horribly. He then went to the Medibank International in Sydney, where he lost to Leonardo Mayer 7–6, 3–6, 6–7 in the opening round, where he had 5 match points but eventually lost in the third set tiebreak. He also played doubles with Evgeny Korolev and reached the semis there.

The day after his girlfriend Maria Kirilenko had ousted pre-tournament favorite Maria Sharapova, Andreev stretched Roger Federer to four sets in the first round of the 2010 Australian Open, losing 6–4, 2–6, 6–7, 0–6. Andreev had three set points in the third set but eventually lost in a tie break to the Swiss top seed. Federer won the final set 6–0 to preserve his 11-year streak of never losing in the first round of the Australian Open.

After the Australian Open, Andreev played the 2010 Brasil Open, his first clay court tournament of the year. Seeded No. 4 in the tournament, Andreev made a run to the semi-finals and eventually lost to Łukasz Kubot 6–2, 2–6, 4–6.

His next successful tournament was the Malaysia Open which he qualified for and went on to reach the semi-finals, taking out defending champion Nikolay Davydenko on the way before falling to Mikhail Youzhny in three sets.

Playing style & equipment[link]

Andreev is an offensive baseliner. He possesses one of the most powerful forehands on tour. ATP professional Marcos Baghdatis describes Andreev's forehand as being "more deadly than Nadal's" Andreev is sponsored by Sergio Tacchini for clothes and Babolat Aero Pro Drive GT for racquets and Babolat All-Court III for shoes.

Personal life[link]

He supports both FC Moscow and FC Dynamo Moscow and is an avid follower of the Russian national football team.

He has been in a relationship with fellow Russian player, Maria Kirilenko for several years.

Career finals[link]

Singles: 9 (3–6)[link]

{| |-valign=top | {|class=wikitable style=font-size:97% !Legend |-bgcolor=#e5d1cb |Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) |-bgcolor=ffffcc |Year-End Championships (0–0) |-bgcolor=#dfe2e9 |ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) |-bgcolor=#d0f0c0 |ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0) |- |ATP World Tour 250 Series (3–6) |} | {|class=wikitable style=font-size:97% !Finals by Surface |- |Hard (0–1) |- |Clay (2–5) |- |Grass (0–0) |- |Carpet (1–0) |} |}

{|class="sortable wikitable" style=font-size:97% !Outcome !No. !width=100|Date !width=200|Championship !Surface !width=200|Opponent !width=200|Score |- |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up |1. |12 July 2004 |Gstaad, Switzerland |Clay | Roger Federer |2–6, 3–6, 7–5, 3–6 |- |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up |2. |19 September 2004 |Bucharest, Romania |Clay | José Acasuso |3–6, 0–6 |- |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner |1. |4 April 2005 |Valencia, Spain |Clay | David Ferrer |6–3, 5–7, 6–3 |- |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner |2. |26 September 2005 |Palermo, Italy |Clay | Filippo Volandri |0–6, 6–1, 6–3 |- |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up |3. |18 September 2005 |Bucharest, Romania |Clay | Florent Serra |4–6, 3–6 |- |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner |3. |10 October 2005 |Moscow, Russia |Carpet (i) | Nicolas Kiefer |5–7, 7–6^(7–3), 6–2 |- |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up |4. |16 January 2006 |Sydney, Australia |Hard | James Blake |2–6, 6–3, 6–7^(3–7) |- |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up |5. |13 July 2008 |Gstaad, Switzerland |Clay | Victor Hănescu |3–6, 4–6 |- |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up |6. |20 July 2008 |Umag, Croatia |Clay | Fernando Verdasco |6–3, 4–6, 6–7^(4–7) |}

Doubles: 2 (1–1)[link]

{| |-valign=top | {|class=wikitable style=font-size:97% !Legend |-bgcolor=#e5d1cb |Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) |-bgcolor=ffffcc |Year-End Championships (0) |-bgcolor=#dfe2e9 |ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) |-bgcolor=#d0f0c0 |ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0) |- |ATP World Tour 250 Series (1–1) |} | {|class=wikitable style=font-size:97% !Finals by Surface |- |Hard (0–0) |- |Clay (0–0) |- |Grass (0–0) |- |Carpet (1–1) |} |}

{|class="sortable wikitable" style=font-size:97% !Outcome !No. !width=100|Date !width=200|Tournament !Surface !width=200|Partner !width=200|Opponents !width=200|Score |- |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner |1. |18 October 2004 |Moscow, Russia |Carpet (i) | Nikolay Davydenko | Mahesh Bhupathi Jonas Björkman |3–6, 6–3, 6–4 |- |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up |1. |17 October 2005 |Moscow, Russia |Carpet (i) | Nikolay Davydenko | Max Mirnyi Mikhail Youzhny |1–6, 1–6 |}

Performance timeline[link]

''This table is current through the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open. {|class=wikitable style=text-align:center;font-size:97% !Tournament!!2001!!2002!!2003!!2004!!2005!!2006!!2007!!2008!!2009!!2010!!2011!!2012!!SR!!W–L |- |colspan=20 align=left|'''Grand Slams |- |align=left|Australian Open | | | |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |Q2 |0 / 8 |8–8 |- |align=left|French Open | | | |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R | |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R | |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R | |0 / 6 |13–6 |- |align=left|Wimbledon | | | |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R | |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R | |0 / 7 |8–7 |- |align=left|US Open | | | |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R | |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R | |0 / 7 |6–7 |- !style=text-align:left|Win–Loss !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !4–4 !6–4 !2–1 !5–4 !7–4 !7–4 !1–3 !3–4 !0–0 !0 / 28 !35–28 |- |align=left|Indian Wells Masters | | | |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF | |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |Q1 |0 / 7 |6–7 |- |align=left|Miami Masters | | | |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |Q1 |0 / 8 |9–8 |- |align=left|Monte Carlo Masters | | | |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R | | |0 / 7 |6–7 |- |align=left|Rome Masters | | | |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R | |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R | |0 / 7 |4–7 |- |align=left|Madrid Masters | | | | | | |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R | |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |Q2 | |0 / 3 |0–3 |- |align=left|Canada Masters | | | |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R | | |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R | | | |0 / 4 |4–4 |- |align=left|Cincinnati Masters | | | | |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R | |LQ |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R | | | |0 / 3 |3–3 |- |align=left|Shanghai Masters |colspan=8 style=color:#ccc|Not Masters Series |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |LQ | | |0 / 1 |0–1 |- |align=left|Paris Masters | | | | | |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R | |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R | | | | |0 / 2 |2–2 |- |align=left|Hamburg Masters | | | | |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R | |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |colspan=3 style=color:#ccc|NM1 | |0 / 3 |2–3 |- !style=text-align:left|Titles !0 !0 !0 !0 !3 !0 !0 !0 !0 !0 !0 !0 !0 !3 |-bgcolor=#efefef |align=left|Year End Ranking |989 |288 |88 |50 |26 |91 |33 |19 |35 |79 |115 | !colspan=2| |}

External links[link]

Andreev Recent Match Results

Andreev World Ranking History

References[link]

Category:1983 births Category:Hopman Cup competitors Category:Living people Category:Olympic tennis players of Russia Category:Russian male tennis players Category:Sportspeople from Moscow Category:Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics

ar:إيغور أندريف bg:Игор Андреев cs:Igor Andrejev da:Igor Andrejev de:Igor Walerjewitsch Andrejew es:Igor Andreev fr:Igor Andreev hi:इगोर आन्द्रीव it:Igor' Andreev he:איגור אנדרייב lv:Igors Andrejevs hu:Igor Valerjevics Andrejev mr:इगॉर आंद्रीव nl:Igor Andrejev ja:イーゴリ・アンドレエフ pl:Igor Andriejew pt:Igor Andreev ro:Igor Andreev ru:Андреев, Игорь Валерьевич sk:Igor Valerievič Andrejev sl:Igor Andrejev sr:Игор Андрејев fi:Igor Andrejev sv:Igor Andrejev zh:伊戈爾·安德烈耶夫

name	Kevin VanHook
birth date	June 24, 1965
birth place	Indianapolis, Indiana
nationality	American
genre	Horror
children	Corwin VanHook,Cameron VanHook
website	http://www.kevinvanhook.com
portaldisp	}}

Kevin VanHook (born 24 June 1965) is an American filmmaker who began his career in storytelling as a comic book artist and writer. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Biography[link]

In comics, VanHook is best known for his work on ''Bloodshot'' from Valiant Comics. He also wrote the ''Flash Gordon'' comic strip in the 1990s.

In 1996, he made his first short film, ''Drifter''. In 1998, he began filming ''Frost: Portrait of a Vampire'' while founding a visual effects company, VanHook Studios. ''Frost'' was completed in 2001 and released on DVD in 2003, where it became the 18th highest grossing DVD premiere that year.

In 2002, VanHook Studios merged with Film Roman, the animation company best known for animating ''The Simpsons'' TV series. During his stint as a visual effects artist and supervisor, VanHook has worked on such films as ''Miss Congeniality'', ''Hart's War'', ''Daredevil'', ''I, Robot'' and many others.

Film Roman was acquired by IDT Corporation, an international telephone company expanding into entertainment in 2003. After IDT acquired Anchor Bay Entertainment, a leading DVD distributor, VanHook created a new film for IDT, ''The Fallen Ones'' starring Casper Van Dien and Robert Wagner. This was followed by ''Voodoo Moon'' an action-horror film packed with genre stars like Eric Mabius, Charisma Carpenter, Jeffrey Combs and Dee Wallace.

Summer of 2006 saw IDT Entertainment being acquired by Starz Media, a division of Liberty.

Beginning in 2006, VanHook, along with producing partner Karen Bailey, created a series of films designed for Sci Fi Channel. Films by Kevin include, "Slayer" and, "Death Row," AKA "Haunted Prison." These films are available on DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment.

VanHook's 2008 documentary, "Fantastic Flesh: The Art of Make-Up EFX" includes a who's who of the American horror and make-up world. Working closely with Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger from K.N.B. EFX Group, VanHook interviewed Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, John Landis and Joe Dante, John Carpenter, George A. Romero, Tom Savini and make-up legends Rob Bottin and Dick Smith among many others.

VanHook also returned to comics in 2008 to write ''Superman and Batman vs. Vampires and Werewolves'' at DC Comics, as well as the ''Oracle'' mini-series that forms a part of the Battle for the Cowl storyline which deals with the aftermath of ''Batman R.I.P.''.

During Spring of 2011, Kevin joined Visual Effects Supervisor Wes C. Caefer at Worldwide Effects in Shreveport, Louisiana to Produce the visual effects for TRESPASS, a Joel Schumacher film starring Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman.

Works[link]

Comics[link]

Comics work includes:

''Bloodshot'' #1-39 (writer, Valiant Comics, 1993–1995)

''The Visitor'' #1-3 (writer, with pencils by Bernard Chang, Valiant Comics, 1995)

''Superman and Batman vs. Vampires and Werewolves'' (with Tom Mandrake, 6-issue limited series, DC Comics, 2008–2009)

''G.I. Joe: Snake-Eyes'' #1 (co-writer with Ray Park, with pencils by Lee Ferguson, IDW, 2009)

Red Tornado Six issue limited series with art by José Luís and J.P. Mayer.

Films[link]

Films include:

''FROST: Portrait of a Vampire'' (2003)

''The Fallen Ones'' (2005)

''Voodoo Moon'' (2005)

''Slayer'' (2006)

''Death Row'' -- AKA ''Haunted Prison'' (2006)

''Sands of Oblivion'' (2007) as co-writer and producer

''Fantastic Flesh: The Art of Make-Up EFX'' (documentary) (2008)

References[link]

External links[link]

Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:American film directors Category:American comics artists Category:American comics writers Category:Comic book editors Category:People from Indianapolis, Indiana

pt:Kevin VanHook

Name	Rafael Nadal
Fullname	Rafael Nadal Parera
Country	Spain
Nickname	''Rafa''''The King of Clay''''The Matador''
Residence	Manacor, Majorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
Birth date	June 03, 1986
Birth place	Manacor, Majorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight
Turnedpro	2001
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	$47,789,103
Singlesrecord	568–119 (82.55%)
Singlestitles	48
Currentsinglesranking	No. 2 (30 April 2012)
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (18 August 2008)
Australianopenresult	W (2009)
Frenchopenresult	W (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011)
Wimbledonresult	W (2008, 2010)
Usopenresult	W (2010)
Othertournaments	Yes
Masterscupresult	F (2010)
Olympicsresult	20px Gold medal (2008)
Doublesrecord	97–59
Doublestitles	8
Currentdoublesranking	No. 59 (30 April 2012)
Highestdoublesranking	No. 26 (8 August 2005)
Grandslamsdoublesresults	yes
Australianopendoublesresult	3R (2004, 2005)
Wimbledondoublesresult	2R (2005)
Usopendoublesresult	SF (2004)
Updated	28 October 2011 }}

}}

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera (; ) (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. , he is ranked No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time; his success on clay has earned him the nickname "The King of Clay", and has prompted many experts to regard him as the greatest clay court player of all time.

Nadal has won ten Grand Slam singles titles, including a record six French Open titles (tied with Bjorn Borg), the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, a record 20 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, and also was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011. He completed the Career Grand Slam by winning the 2010 US Open, being the seventh player in history, and the youngest in the open era, to achieve it. He is the second male player to complete the Career Golden Slam (winner of the four grand slams and the Olympic Gold medal) after only Andre Agassi.

Nadal had a 32-match winning streak in 2008, starting at the 2008 Masters Series Hamburg to the 2008 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women's Open, which included titles at Hamburg, the French Open (where he did not drop a set), Queen's Club, his first title at Wimbledon, and the Rogers Cup. In 2012, by winning the Monte-Carlo Masters, he became the only player to have won eight consecutive editions in any tournament during history of tennis, and only the 2nd player to win a single tournament for a total of eight times during Open Era. Nadal was ranked world No. 2, behind Roger Federer, for a record 160 consecutive weeks before earning the top spot, which he held from 18 August 2008 to 5 July 2009. He regained the world No.1 ranking on 7 June 2010, after winning his fifth French Open title. He held it until 3 July 2011, when Novak Djokovic replaced him as world No. 1. Nadal has held the No. 2 ranking for an ATP record 232 weeks (as of 23 April 2012).

Early life[link]

Rafael Nadal was born in Manacor, Majorca, 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 Majorca 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 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.

Tennis career[link]

2002–2004[link]

In April 2002, at 15 years and 10 months, the world No. 762 Nadal won his first ATP match, defeating Ramón Delgado, and became the ninth player in the open era to do so before the age of 16. The following year, Nadal won two Challenger titles and finished the year in the top 50. At his Wimbledon debut in 2003, Nadal became the youngest man to reach the third round since Boris Becker in 1984. During 2004, Nadal played his first match against world No. 1 Roger Federer at the 2004 Miami Masters, and won in straight sets. He is one of the six players that defeated Federer that year (along with Tim Henman, Albert Costa, Gustavo Kuerten, Dominik Hrbatý, and Tomáš Berdych). He missed most of the clay court season, including the French Open, because of a stress fracture in his left ankle. Nadal, at 18 years and six months, became the youngest player to register a singles victory in a Davis Cup final for a winning nation. By beating world No. 2 Andy Roddick, he helped Spain clinch the 2004 title over the United States in a 3–2 win. He finished the year ranked world No. 51.

2005[link]

At the 2005 Australian Open, Nadal lost in the 4th round to eventual runner-up Lleyton Hewitt. Two months later, Nadal reached the final of the 2005 Miami Masters, and despite being two points from a straight-sets victory, he was defeated in five sets by world No. 1 Roger Federer. Both performances were considered to be breakthroughs for Nadal.

He then dominated the spring clay court season. He won 24 consecutive singles matches, which broke Andre Agassi's open era record of consecutive match wins for a male teenager. Nadal won the Torneo Conde de Godó in Barcelona and beat 2004 French Open runner-up Guillermo Coria in the finals of the 2005 Monte Carlo Masters and the 2005 Rome Masters. These victories raised his ranking to world No. 5 and made him one of the favorites at his career-first French Open. On his 19th birthday, Nadal defeated Federer in the 2005 French Open semifinals, being one of only four players who defeated the top-seeded player that year (along with Marat Safin, Richard Gasquet, and David Nalbandian). Two days later, he defeated Mariano Puerta in the final, becoming the second male player to win the French Open on his first attempt since Mats Wilander in 1982: He also became the first teenager to win a Grand Slam singles title since Pete Sampras won the 1990 US Open at age 19. Winning the French Open improved Nadal's ranking to World No. 3.

Three days after his victory in Paris, Nadal's 24-match winning streak was snapped in the first round of the grass court Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, where he lost to the German Alexander Waske. He then lost in the second round of 2005 Wimbledon to Gilles Müller of Luxembourg.

Immediately after Wimbledon, Nadal won 16 consecutive matches and three consecutive tournaments, bringing his ranking to world No. 2 on 25 July 2005.

Nadal started his North American summer hard-court season by defeating Agassi in the final of the 2005 Canada Masters, but lost in the first round of the 2005 Cincinnati Masters. Nadal was seeded second at the 2005 US Open, where he was upset in the third round by World No. 49 James Blake in four sets.

In September, he defeated Coria in the final of the China Open in Beijing and won both of his Davis Cup matches against Italy. In October, he won his fourth ATP Masters Series title of the year, defeating Ivan Ljubičić in the final of the 2005 Madrid Masters. He then suffered a foot injury that prevented him from competing in the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup.

Both Nadal and Federer won eleven singles titles and four ATP Masters Series titles in 2005. Nadal broke Mats Wilander's previous teenage record of nine in 1983. Eight of Nadal's titles were on clay, and the remainder were on hard courts. Nadal won 79 matches, second only to Federer's 81. Nadal won the Golden Bagel Award for 2005, with eleven 6–0 sets during the year. Also, he earned the highest year-end ranking ever by a Spaniard and the ATP Most Improved Player of the Year award.

2006[link]

Nadal missed the Australian Open due to a foot injury. In February, he lost in the semifinals of the first tournament he played, the Open 13 tournament in Marseille, France. Two weeks later, he handed Roger Federer his first loss of the year in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Men's Open (in 2006, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray were the only two men who defeated Federer). To complete the spring hard-court season, Nadal was upset in the semifinals of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, by James Blake, and was upset in the second round of the 2006 Miami Masters.

On European clay, Nadal won all four tournaments he entered and 24 consecutive matches. He defeated Federer in the final of the Masters Series Monte Carlo in four sets. The following week, he defeated Tommy Robredo in the final of the Open Sabadell Atlántico tournament in Barcelona. After a one-week break, Nadal won the Masters Series Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, defeating Federer in a fifth-set tiebreaker in the final, after saving two match points and equaling Björn Borg's tally of 16 ATP titles won as a teenager. Nadal broke Argentinian Guillermo Vilas's 29-year male record of 53 consecutive clay-court match victories by winning his first round match at the French Open. Vilas presented Nadal with a trophy, but commented later that Nadal's feat was less impressive than his own because Nadal's winning streak covered two years and was accomplished by adding easy tournaments to his schedule. Nadal went on to play Federer in the final of the French Open. The first two sets of the match were hardly competitive, as the rivals traded 6–1 sets. Nadal won the third set easily and served for the match in the fourth set before Federer broke him and forced a tiebreaker. Nadal won the tiebreaker and became the first player to defeat Federer in a Grand Slam final.

Nadal injured his shoulder while playing a quarterfinal match against Lleyton Hewitt at the Artois Championships, played on grass at the Queen's Club in London. Nadal was unable to complete the match, which ended his 26-match winning streak. Nadal was seeded second at Wimbledon, but was two points from defeat against American qualifier Robert Kendrick in the second round before coming back to win in five sets. In the third round, Nadal defeated world No. 20 Andre Agassi in straight sets at Agassi's last career match at Wimbledon. Nadal also won his next three matches in straight sets, which set up his first Wimbledon final, which was against Federer, who had won this tournament the three previous years. Nadal was the first Spanish man since Manuel Santana in 1966, to reach the Wimbledon final, but Federer won the match in four sets 6–0, 7–6, 6–7, 6–3 to win his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title.

During the lead up to the US Open, Nadal played the two Masters Series tournaments in North America. He was upset in the third round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto and the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio. Nadal was seeded second at the US Open, but lost in the quarterfinals to world No. 54 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in four sets.

Nadal played only three tournaments the remainder of the year. Joachim Johansson, ranked world No. 690, upset Nadal in the second round of the Stockholm Open 6–4, 7–6. The following week, Nadal lost to Tomáš Berdych in the quarterfinals of the year's last Masters Series tournament, the Mutua Madrileña Masters in Madrid. During the round-robin stage of the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup, Nadal lost to James Blake but defeated Nikolay Davydenko and Robredo. Because of those two victories, Nadal qualified for the semifinals, where he lost to Federer 6–4, 7–5. This was Nadal's third loss in nine career matches with Federer.

Nadal went on to become the first player since Andre Agassi in 1994–95 to finish the year as the world No. 2 in consecutive years.

2007[link]

Nadal started the year by playing in six hard-court tournaments. He lost in the semifinals and first round of his first two tournaments and then lost in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open to eventual runner-up Fernando González. After another quarterfinal loss at the Dubai Tennis Championships, he won the 2007 Indian Wells Masters, before Novak Djoković defeated him in the quarterfinals of the 2007 Miami Masters.

He had comparatively more success after returning to Europe to play five clay-court tournaments. He won the titles at the Masters Series Monte Carlo, the Open Sabadell Atlántico in Barcelona, and the Masters Series Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, before losing to Roger Federer in the final of the Masters Series Hamburg. This defeat ended his 81-match winning streak on clay, which is the male open era record for consecutive wins on a single surface. He then rebounded to win the French Open for the third straight year, defeating Federer once again in the final.

Between the tournaments in Barcelona and Rome, Nadal defeated Federer in the "Battle of Surfaces" exhibition match in Majorca, Spain, with the tennis court being half grass and half clay.

Nadal played the Artois Championships at the Queen's Club in London for the second consecutive year. As in 2006, Nadal was upset in the quarterfinals. Nadal then won consecutive five-set matches during the third and fourth rounds of Wimbledon before being beaten by Federer in the five-set final. This was Federer's first five-set match at Wimbledon since 2001.

In July, Nadal won the clay court Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, which proved to be his last title of the year. He played three important tournaments during the North American summer hard court season. He was a semifinalist at the Masters Series Rogers Cup in Montreal before losing his first match at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the second-seeded player at the US Open, but was defeated in the fourth round by David Ferrer.

After a month-long break from tournament tennis, Nadal played the Mutua Madrileña Masters in Madrid and the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. David Nalbandian upset him in the quarterfinals and final of those tournaments. To end the year, Nadal won two of his three round robin matches to advance to the semifinals of the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, where Federer defeated him 6–4, 6–1.

During the second half of the year, Nadal battled a knee injury suffered during the Wimbledon final. In addition, there were rumors at the end of the year that the foot injury he suffered during 2005, caused long-term damage, which were given credence by coach Toni Nadal's claim that the problem was "serious". Nadal and his spokesman strongly denied this, however, with Nadal himself calling the story "totally false".

2008[link]

Nadal began the year in India, where he was comprehensively beaten by Mikhail Youzhny in the final of the Chennai Open. Nadal then reached the semifinals of the Australian Open for the first time. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Nadal 6–2, 6–3, 6–2 in the semifinal of 2008 Australian Open. Tsonga's semifinal performance was characterized by his powerful and precise serve, finesse volleys, and aggressive baseline play; it was a performance that drew the Melbourne crowd to their feet. Tsonga did not face a break point until the third set, while breaking the Spaniard five times in the match. Nadal also reached the final of the Miami Masters for the second time.

During the spring clay-court season, Nadal won four singles titles and defeated Roger Federer in three finals. He beat Federer at the Masters Series Monte Carlo for the third straight year, capturing his open era record fourth consecutive title there. He won in straight sets, despite Federer's holding a 4–0 lead in the second set. Nadal then won his fourth consecutive title at the Open Sabadell Atlántico tournament in Barcelona. A few weeks later, Nadal won his first title at the Masters Series Hamburg, defeating Federer in the three-set final. He then won the French Open, becoming the fifth man in the open era to win a Grand Slam singles title without losing a set. He defeated Federer in the final for the third straight year, but this was the most lopsided of all their matches, as Nadal only lost four games and gave Federer his first bagel since 1999. This was Nadal's fourth consecutive French title, tying Björn Borg's all-time record. Nadal became the fourth male player during Open era to win the same Grand Slam singles tournament four consecutive years (the others being Borg, Pete Sampras, and Federer). Nadal then played Federer in the final of Wimbledon for the third consecutive year, in the most anticipated match of their rivalry. Nadal entered the final on a 23-match winning streak, including his first career grass-court title at the Artois Championships staged at the Queen's Club in London prior to Wimbledon. Federer had won his record fifth grass-court title at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, and then reached the Wimbledon final without losing a set. Unlike their previous two Wimbledon finals, though, Federer was not the prohibitive favorite, and many analysts picked Nadal to win. They played the longest (in terms of time on court, not in terms of numbers of games) final in Wimbledon history, and because of rain delays, Nadal won the fifth set 9–7 in near-darkness. The match was widely lauded as the greatest Wimbledon final ever, with some tennis critics even calling it the greatest match in tennis history. By winning his first Wimbledon title, Nadal became the third man in the open era to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year, after Rod Laver in 1969, and Borg in 1978–80, (Federer later accomplished this the following year) as well as the second Spaniard to win Wimbledon. He also ended Federer's record streak of five consecutive Wimbledon titles and 65 straight wins on grass courts. This is also the first time that Nadal won two Grand Slams back-to-back.

After Wimbledon, Nadal extended his winning streak to a career-best 32 matches. He won his second Rogers Cup title in Toronto, and then made it into the semifinals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio. As a result, Nadal clinched the US Open Series and, combined with Federer's early-round losses in both of those tournaments, finally earned the world No. 1 ranking on 18 August, officially ending Federer's record four-and-a-half year reign at the top.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Nadal defeated Novak Djoković of Serbia in the semifinals 6–4, 1–6, 6–4 and Fernando González of Chile in the final to win his first Olympic gold medal. Nadal became the first male player ranked in the top five to win the gold medal.

At the US Open, Nadal was the top-seeded player for the first time at a Grand Slam tournament. He did not lose a set during his first three matches, defeating qualifiers in the first and second rounds and Viktor Troicki in the third round. He then needed four sets to defeat both Sam Querrey in the fourth round and Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, he lost to eventual runner up, Andy Murray 6–2, 7–6, 4–6, 6–4. Later in the year in Madrid, Nadal helped Spain defeat the United States in the Davis Cup semifinals.

At the Mutua Madrileña Masters in Madrid, Nadal lost in the semifinals to Gilles Simon 3–6, 7–5, 7–6. However, his performance at the event guaranteed that he would become the first Spaniard during the open era to finish the year as the world No. 1. On 24 October at the Campoamor theatre in Oviedo, Spain, Nadal was given the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports, in recognition of his achievements in tennis. Two weeks after the Madrid Masters at the BNP Paribas Masters in France, Nadal reached the quarterfinals, where he faced Nikolay Davydenko. Nadal lost the first set 6–1, before retiring in the second with a knee injury. The following week, Nadal announced his withdrawal from the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, citing tendinitis of the knee. On 10 November, Nadal withdrew from Spain's Davis Cup final against Argentina, as his knee injury had not healed completely.

2009[link]

Nadal's first official ATP tour event for the year was the 250 series Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha. After his first-round match with Fabrice Santoro, Nadal was awarded the 2008 ATP World Tour Champion trophy. Nadal eventually lost in the quarterfinals to Gaël Monfils. Nadal also entered and won the tournament's doubles event with partner Marc López, defeating the world No. 1 doubles team of Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić in the final. As noted by statistician Greg Sharko, this was the first time since 1990, that the world No. 1 singles player had played the world No. 1 doubles player in a final.

At the 2009 Australian Open, Nadal won his first five matches without dropping a set, before defeating compatriot Fernando Verdasco in the semifinals in the second longest match in Australian Open history at 5 hours and 14 minutes. This win set up a championship match with Roger Federer, their first meeting ever in a hard-court Grand Slam tournament and their nineteenth meeting overall. Nadal defeated Federer in five sets to earn his first hard-court Grand Slam singles title, making him the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open and the fourth male tennis player—after Jimmy Connors, Mats Wilander, and Andre Agassi—to win Grand Slam singles titles on three different surfaces. This win also made Nadal the first male tennis player to hold three Grand Slam singles titles on three different surfaces at the same time. Nadal then played the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. In the final, he lost to second-seeded Murray in three sets. During the final, Nadal called a trainer to attend to a tendon problem with his right knee, which notably affected his play in the final set. Although this knee problem was not associated with Nadal's right knee tendonitis, it was serious enough to cause him to withdraw from the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships a week later.

In March, Nadal helped Spain defeat Serbia in a Davis Cup World Group first-round tie on clay in Benidorm, Spain. Nadal defeated Janko Tipsarević and Novak Djokovic. The win over world No. 3 Djokovic was Nadal's twelfth consecutive Davis Cup singles match win and boosted his career win–loss record against Djokovic to 11–4, including 6–0 on clay.

At the 2009 Indian Wells Masters, Nadal won his thirteenth Masters 1000 series tournament. In the fourth round, Nadal saved five match points, before defeating David Nalbandian for the first time. Nadal defeated Juan Martín del Potro in the quarterfinals and Andy Roddick in the semi-finals, before defeating Murray in the final. The next ATP tour event was the 2009 Miami Masters. Nadal advanced to the quarterfinals, where he again faced Argentinian del Potro, this time losing the match. This was the first time del Potro had defeated Nadal in five career matches.

Nadal began his European clay court season at the 2009 Monte Carlo Masters, where he won a record fifth consecutive singles title there. He defeated Novak Djokovic in the final for his fifth consecutive win, a record in the open era. Nadal is the first male player to win the same ATP Master series event for five consecutive years.

Nadal then competed in the ATP 500 event in Barcelona. He advanced to his fifth consecutive Barcelona final, where he faced David Ferrer. Nadal went on to beat Ferrer 6–2, 7–5 to record five consecutive Barcelona victories. At the Rome Masters, Nadal reached the final, where he defeated Novak Djokovic to improve his overall record to 13–4 and clay record to 8–0 against the Serb. He became the first player to win four Rome titles.

After winning two clay-court Masters, he participated in the Madrid Open. He lost to Roger Federer 4–6, 4–6 in the final. This was the first time that Nadal had lost to Federer since the semifinals of the 2007 Tennis Masters Cup.

On 19 May, the ATP World Tour announced that Nadal was the first player out of eight to qualify for the 2009 ATP World Tour Finals, to be played at the O2 Arena in London.

By beating Lleyton Hewitt in the third round of 2009 French Open, Nadal (2005–09 French Open) set a record of 31 consecutive wins at Roland Garros, beating the previous record of 28 by Björn Borg (1978–81 French Open). Nadal had won 32 consecutive sets at Roland Garros (since winning the last 2 sets at the 2007 French Open final against Federer), the second-longest winning streak in the tournament's history behind Björn Borg's record of 41 consecutive sets. This run came to an end on 31 May 2009, when Nadal lost to eventual runner-up, Robin Söderling in the 4th round. The Swede triumphed 6–2, 6–7, 6–4, 7–6. This was Nadal's first loss at the French Open.

After his surprise defeat at Roland Garros, Nadal withdrew from the AEGON Championships. It was confirmed that Nadal was suffering from tendinitis in both of his knees. On 19 June, Nadal withdrew from the 2009 Wimbledon Championship, citing his recurring knee injury. He was the first champion to not defend the title since Goran Ivanišević in 2001. Roger Federer went on to win the title, and Nadal consequently dropped back to world No. 2 on 6 July 2009. Nadal later announced his withdrawal from the Davis Cup.

On 4 August, Nadal's uncle, Toni Nadal, confirmed that Nadal would return to play at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. There, in his first tournament since Roland Garros, Nadal lost in the quarterfinals to Juan Martín del Potro. With this loss, he relinquished the No. 2 spot to Andy Murray on 17 August 2009, ranking outside the top two for the first time since 25 July 2005.

In the quarterfinals of the US Open he defeated Fernando González 7–6, 7–6, 6–0 in a rain-delayed encounter. However, like his previous US Open campaign, he fell in the semifinals, this time losing to eventual champion Juan Martín del Potro 2–6, 2–6, 2–6. Despite the loss, he regained his No. 2 ranking after Andy Murray's early exit.

At the World Tour Finals, Nadal lost all three of his matches against Robin Söderling, Nikolay Davydenko, and Novak Djokovic respectively without winning a set.

In December, Nadal participated in the second Davis Cup final of his career. He defeated Czech No. 2 Tomáš Berdych in his first singles rubber to give the Spanish Davis Cup Team their first point in the tie. After the Spanish Davis Cup team had secured its fourth Davis Cup victory, Nadal defeated Jan Hájek in the first Davis Cup dead rubber of his career. The win gave Nadal his 14th consecutive singles victory at Davis Cup (his 13th on clay).

Nadal finished the year as No. 2 for the fourth time in five years. Nadal won the Golden Bagel Award for 2009, with nine 6–0 sets during the year. Nadal has won the award three times (a tour record).

2010[link]

Nadal began the year by participating in the Capitala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He defeated compatriot David Ferrer 7–6, 6–3 to reach his second final in the exhibition tournament. In the final, Nadal defeated Robin Söderling 7–6, 7–5.

Nadal participated in an Australian Open warm-up tournament, the Qatar ExxonMobil Open ATP 250 event in Doha, where he lost in the finals to Nikolay Davydenko 6–0, 6–7, 4–6.

In the first round of the Australian Open, Nadal defeated Peter Luczak of Australia 7–6, 6–1, 6–4. In the second round, he beat Lukáš Lacko 6–2, 6–2, 6–2. In the third round, he was tested by Philipp Kohlschreiber, finally beating him 6–4, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5. In the fourth round, he beat Ivo Karlović of Croatia, 6–4, 4–6, 6–4, 6–4. In the quarterfinals, Nadal pulled out at 3–0 down in the third set against Andy Murray, having lost the first two sets 6–3, 7–6. After examining Nadal's knees, doctors told him that he should take two weeks of rest, and then two weeks of rehabilitation.

Nadal reached the semifinals in singles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where he was the defending champion; however, eventual champion Ivan Ljubičić defeated him in three sets. He and countryman López won the doubles title, though, as wildcard entrants against number one seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić. This boosted his doubles ranking 175 places to world number 66, whereas he was 241st before Indian Wells. After Indian Wells, Nadal reached the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open, where he lost to eventual champion Andy Roddick in three sets.

Nadal reached the final of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in Monaco, after beating fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6–3, 6–2 in the semifinals. This was Nadal's first tour final since Doha earlier in the year. He won the final 6–0, 6–1 over his compatriot Fernando Verdasco. He lost 14 games throughout all five matches, the fewest he had ever lost en route to a championship, and the final was the shortest Masters 1000 final in terms of games. With this win, Nadal became the first player in the open era to win a tournament title for six straight years.

Unlike in previous years, Nadal next chose to skip the Barcelona tournament (despite being that event's five-time defending champion), and his next tournament was the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia. He defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber, Victor Hănescu, and Stanlias Wawrinka, all in straight sets, to win his 57th straight match in April. In the semis, he faced a resilient Ernests Gulbis, who defeated Roger Federer earlier in the tournament and took Nadal to three sets for the first time this clay-court season. Nadal eventually prevailed with a 6–4, 3–6, 6–4 in 2 hours and 40minutes. He then defeated compatriot David Ferrer in the final 7–5, 6–2 for his fifth title at Rome to equal Andre Agassi's record of winning 17 ATP Masters titles.

Nadal then entered the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where he had finished runner-up the previous year. Being one of the top eight seeds, he received a bye in the first round. In the second round, he defeated qualifier Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr in straight sets. He then played the six-foot-nine-inch American John Isner. Nadal comfortably came through in straight sets, 7–5, 6–4. He defeated Gaël Monfils in the quarterfinals 6–1, 6–3 and his countryman Nicolás Almagro in the next round, who was playing in his first Masters 1000 semifinal, 4–6, 6–2, 6–2. The first set of his match against Almagro would be just the second set he lost on clay up to this point in 2010. Nadal then defeated longtime rival Roger Federer 6–4, 7–6, avenging his 2009 finals loss to Federer. The win gave him his 18th Masters title, breaking the all-time record. He became the first player to win all three clay-court Masters titles in a single year and the first player to win three consecutive Masters events. Nadal moved back to No. 2 the following day.

Entering the French Open, many were expecting another Nadal-Federer final. However, this became impossible when rival Robin Söderling defeated Federer 3–6, 6–3, 7–5, 6–4 in the quarterfinals. The failure of Federer to reach the semifinals allowed Nadal to regain the world No. 1 ranking if he were to win the tournament. Nadal advanced to the final and defeated Soderling 6–4, 6–2, 6–4 to win the French Open. The win gave Nadal his seventh Grand Slam, tying him with John McEnroe, John Newcombe, and Mats Wilander on the all-time list, and allowed Nadal to reclaim the position of world No. 1, denying his biggest rival Roger Federer the all-time record for weeks at No. 1. By this win, Nadal became the first man to win the three Masters series on clay and the French Open. This was dubbed by the media as the "Clay Slam". This victory at Roland Garros marked the second time (2008) that Nadal had won the French Open without dropping a single set (tying the record held by Björn Borg). With the win in Paris he also booked his place at the World Tour Finals in London and became the first player to win five French Open titles in six years.

In June, Nadal entered the AEGON Championships, which he had won in 2008, at the prestigious Queen's Club. He played singles and doubles at this grass court tournament as a warmup for Wimbledon. Being one of the top eight seeds, he received a bye in the first round. In the second round, where he played his first match on grass since winning Wimbledon 2008, he defeated Marcos Daniel easily, 6–2, 6–2. In the third round, he played Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, whom he defeated 7–6, 4–6, 6–4, to advance to the quarterfinals. However, he was defeated by compatriot Feliciano López 6–7, 4–6.

At the Wimbledon, Nadal beat Kei Nishikori 6–2, 6–4, 6–4. Nadal was taken to the limit by Robin Haase winning 5–7, 6–2, 3–6, 6–0, 6–3. He defeated Philipp Petzschner in the third round. The match was a 5-set thriller, with Nadal triumphing 6–4, 4–6, 6–7, 6–2, 6–3. During his match with Petzschner, Nadal was warned twice for receiving coaching from his coach and uncle, Toni Nadal, resulting in a $2000 fine by Wimbledon officials. Allegedly, encouraging words for Nadal shouted during the match were some sort of coaching code signal. He met Paul-Henri Mathieu of France in the round of 16 and comfortably beat Mathieu 6–4, 6–2, 6–2. In the quarterfinals, he got past Robin Söderling of Sweden in four sets 3–6, 6–3, 7–6, 6–1. He defeated Andy Murray in straight sets 6–4, 7–6, 6–4 to reach his fourth Wimbledon final.

Nadal won the 2010 Wimbledon men's title by defeating Tomáš Berdych in straight sets 6–3, 7–5, 6–4. After the win, Nadal said "it is more than a dream for me" and thanked the crowd for being both kind and supportive to him and his adversary during the match and in the semifinal against Andy Murray. The win gave him a second Wimbledon title and an eighth career major title just past the age of 24. The win also gave Nadal his first "Old World Triple"; the last person to achieve this was Björn Borg in 1978 ("Old World Triple" is a term given to winning the Italian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon in the same year).

In his first hard-court tournament since Wimbledon, Nadal advanced to the semifinals of the Rogers Cup, along with No. 2 Novak Djokovic, No. 3 Roger Federer, and No. 4 Andy Murray, after coming back from a one-set deficit to defeat Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4. In the semifinal, defending champion Murray defeated Nadal 6–3, 6–4, becoming the only player to triumph over the Spaniard twice in 2010. Nadal also competed in the doubles with Djokovic in a one-time, high-profile partnership of the world No. 1 and No. 2, the first such team since the Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe team in 1976. However, Nadal and Djokovic lost in the first round to Canadians Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil. The next week, Nadal was the top seed at the Cincinnati Masters, losing in the quarterfinals to 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis.

At the 2010 US Open, Nadal was the top seed for the second time in three years. He defeated Teymuraz Gabashvili, Denis Istomin, Gilles Simon, number 23 seed Feliciano López, number 8 seed Fernando Verdasco, and number 12 seed Mikhail Youzhny all without dropping a set, to reach his first US Open final, becoming only the eighth man in the Open Era to reach the final of all four majors, and at age 24 the second youngest ever to do so, behind only Jim Courier. In the final, he defeated Novak Djokovic 6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 6–2 which completed the Career Grand Slam for Nadal and he became the second male after Andre Agassi to complete a Career Golden Slam. Nadal also became the first man to win grand slams on clay, grass, and hard court in the same year, and the first to win the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open in the same year since Rod Laver in 1969. Nadal and Mats Wilander are the only male players to win at least two Grand Slams each on clay, grass, and hardcourts in their careers. Nadal also became the first left-handed man to win the US Open since John McEnroe in 1984. Nadal's victory also clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking for 2010, making Nadal only the third player (after Ivan Lendl in 1989 and Roger Federer in 2009) to regain the year-end number one ranking after having lost it. Nadal began his Asian tour at the 2010 PTT Thailand Open in Bangkok where he reached the semifinals, losing to compatriot Guillermo García López. Nadal was able to regroup, and at the 2010 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo (debut), he defeated Santiago Giraldo, Milos Raonic, and Dmitry Tursunov. In the semifinals against Viktor Troicki, Nadal saved two match points in the deciding set tiebreaker to win it 9–7 in the end. In the final, Nadal comfortably defeated Gaël Monfils 6–1, 7–5 for his seventh title of the season.

Nadal next played in the 2010 Shanghai Rolex Masters in Shanghai, where he was the top seed, but lost to world No. 12 Jürgen Melzer in the third round, snapping his record streak of 21 consecutive Masters quarterfinals. On the 5 November, Nadal announced that he was pulling out of the Paris Masters due to tendinitis in his left shoulder. On 21 November 2010, in London, Nadal won the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award for the first time.

At the 2010 ATP World Tour Finals in London, Nadal defeated Roddick 3–6, 7–6, 6–4 in the first match, Djokovic 7–5, 6–2 in the second match, and Berdych 7–6, 6–1 in the third match, to advance to the semifinals for the third time in his career. This is the first time that Nadal achieved three wins in the round-robin stage. In the semifinal, he defeated Murray 7–6, 3–6, 7–6 in a hard-fought match to reach his first final at the tournament. In only their second meeting of the year, Federer beat Nadal in the final by a score of 6–3, 3–6, 6–1. After the match, Nadal stated: "Roger is probably the more complete player of the world. I'm not going to say I lost that match because I was tired." This was a reference to his marathon victory over Murray on Saturday. "I tried my best this afternoon, but Roger was simply better than me."

Nadal ended the 2010 season having won three Slams and three Masters 1000 tournaments, and having regained the No. 1 ranking.

Next up for Nadal was a two-match exhibition against Federer for the Roger Federer Foundation. The first match took place in Zürich on 21 December 2010, and the second in Madrid the next day.

2011[link]

Nadal started 2011, by participating in the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He defeated Tomáš Berdych, 6–4, 6–4, to reach his third final in the exhibition tournament. In the final, he won over his main rival Roger Federer, 7–6, 7–6.

At the Qatar ExxonMobil Open ATP 250 event in Doha, Qatar, Nadal barely struggled past his first three opponents, Karol Beck, 6–3, 6–0, Lukáš Lacko, 7–6, 0–6, 6–3, and Ernests Gulbis, 7–6, 6–3, citing fever as the primary reason for his poor performance. He fell in straight sets to a resurgent Nikolay Davydenko in the semifinals, 3–6, 2–6. He and countryman López won the doubles title by defeating the Italian duo Daniele Bracciali and Andreas Seppi, 6–3, 7–6.

In the first round of the Australian Open, Nadal defeated Marcos Daniel of Brazil 6–0, 5–0 ret. In the second round, he beat upcoming qualifier Ryan Sweeting of the United States 6–2, 6–1, 6–1. In the third round, he was tested by emerging player Bernard Tomic of Australia, who previously ousted Nadal's countryman Feliciano López, but Nadal was victorious 6–2, 7–5, 6–3. He went on to defeat Marin Čilić of Croatia 6–2, 6–4, 6–3, in the fourth round. He suffered an apparent hamstring injury against fellow Spaniard David Ferrer early in the pair's quarterfinal match and ultimately lost in straight sets 4–6, 2–6, 3–6, thus ending his effort to win four major tournaments in a row.

On 7 February 2011, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Nadal won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for the first time, ahead of footballer Lionel Messi, Sebastian Vettel, Spain's Andres Iniesta, Lakers basketball player Kobe Bryant, and Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao.

In March, Nadal helped Spain defeat Belgium in a 2011 Davis Cup World Group first-round tie on hard indoor courts in the Spiroudome in Charleroi, Belgium. Nadal defeated Ruben Bemelmans 6–2, 6–4, 6–2. After Spain's victory in three matches, Nadal played a second dead rubber against Olivier Rochus and won 6–4, 6–2.

At the 2011 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Nadal defeated upcoming qualifier Rik de Voest of South Africa 6–0, 6–2, in his first match. In the third round, he beat qualifier Ryan Sweeting, 6–3, 6–1. He then defeated Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman, 7–5, 6–4, in the fourth round. In the quarterfinals, Nadal had a hard time against Croatian Ivo Karlovic, but won 5–7, 6–1, 7–6, and in the semifinals he met Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, back from a long injury. The last three confrontations between the players were in favor of del Potro, but despite some difficulties, Nadal won 6–4, 6–4. He reached his third final at Indian Wells, and in the final lost against Novak Djokovic, 6–4, 3–6, 2–6. The next day, Nadal and Djokovic played a friendly match in Bogota, Colombia, which Nadal won.

Nadal started the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open with a win over Japanese player Kei Nishikori, 6–4, 6–4, then met his compatriot Feliciano Lopez in the third round, whom he defeated 6–3, 6–3. In the fourth round, he defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, 6–1, 6–2. In the quarterfinals, Nadal had the first real test of the tournament when he met the world no. 7 Tomas Berdych. After a good first set, Nadal's level of play fell significantly due to an injured right shoulder, and he lost the second set. He eventually triumphed, 6–2, 3–6, 6–3. In the semifinals, Nadal met his main rival Roger Federer, their first meeting in a semifinal since the 2007 Masters Cup. Nadal was swiftly victorious, 6–3, 6–2; this match was one of the fastest matches played on hard courts. For the second time in two weeks, Nadal faced Novak Djokovic in the final. As in the Indian Wells tournament, Nadal won the first set, and Djokovic the second. The third set ended in a tiebreak, with Djokovic winning the match, 4–6, 6–3, 7–6. This is the first time Nadal reached the finals of Indian Wells and Miami in the same year.

Nadal began his clay-court season in style, winning the 2011 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters with the loss of just one set. Nadal defeated Jarkko Nieminen, 6–2, 6–2, Richard Gasquet, 6–2, 6–4, Ivan Ljubičić, 6–1, 6–3, and Andy Murray, 6–4, 2–6, 6–1, in the semifinals to reach his seventh consecutive final in Monte Carlo. In the final, Nadal avenged his defeat by David Ferrer in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Australian Open and won the match, 6–4, 7–5. He was the first man to win the same tournament seven times in a row at the ATP level in the open era. Nadal chalked up his 37th straight win at the clay-court event, where he has not lost since the 2003 Monte Carlo Masters. It was his 44th career title and 19th at a Masters event. It was his first title since winning the Japan Open. Nadal shares third place with Björn Borg and Manuel Orantes in the list of players with the most titles on clay.

Just a week later, Nadal won his sixth Barcelona Open crown, winning the 2011 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell final in straight sets. He won the final over Ferrer, 6–2, 6–4. In doing so, Nadal became the first man in the open era to have won two tournaments at least six times each. Nadal was then the leader in terms of matches won in the year, with 29. He did not gain any points for this victory, however, as only four ATP 500 tournaments can be counted towards a players ranking at one time, but they will go into effect 8 August 2011, when the result of the 2010 Legg Mason Tennis Classic expires.

At the Madrid in May, he defeated Marcos Baghdatis, had a walkover against Juan Martin del Potro, and defeated Michael Llodra and Roger Federer, before losing the final to Novak Djokovic, 5–7, 4–6.

Nadal lost in straight sets to Novak Djokovic in the Rome Masters final, 4–6, 4–6. This marked the first time that Nadal has lost twice on clay to the same player in a single season. However, Nadal retained his no. 1 ranking during the clay-court season and won his sixth French Open title by defeating Roger Federer, 7–5, 7–6, 5–7, 6–1.

At Wimbledon, Nadal beat Michael Russell in the first round, 6–4, 6–2, 6–2, Ryan Sweeting, 6–3, 6–2, 6–4, in the second round, and Gilles Muller, 7–6, 7–6, 6–0, in the third round. He then faced former US Open Champion Juan Martin del Potro in the fourth round, prevailing 7–6, 3–6, 7–6, 6–4. He then faced tenth-seeded Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals, prevailing in four sets, 6–3, 6–3, 5–7, 6–4. His semifinal opponent was world no. 4 Andy Murray. Murray took the first set, but Nadal upped his game and won in four sets, 5–7, 6–2, 6–2, 6–4. This set up a final against world no. 2 Novak Djokovic, who had beaten Nadal in all four of their matches in 2011 (all in Masters finals). Djokovic broke in the 10th game of the first set to take it 6–4; he then won the second comfortably 6–1, but Nadal fought back, breaking early in the third to win it 6–1. In a tense fourth set, Djokovic broke in the ninth game and clinched the title, with Nadal losing 4–6, 1–6, 6–1, 3–6. This was the first Grand Slam final that Nadal had lost to someone other than Roger Federer and his first loss at Wimbledon since his five-set loss to Federer in the 2007 final. The loss ended Nadal's winning streak in Grand Slam finals at seven, preventing him from tying the Open-Era record of eight victories in a row set by Pete Sampras. Djokovic's success at the tournament also meant that the Serb ascended to world no. 1 for the first time, breaking the dominance of Federer and Nadal on the position, which one of them had held for every week since 2 February 2004. Nadal fell to world no. 2 in the rankings for the first time since June 2010.

After resting for a month from a foot injury sustained during Wimbledon, he contested the 2011 Rogers Cup, where he was shocked by Croatian Ivan Dodig in a third-set tiebreak. He next played in the 2011 Cincinnati Masters, where he lost to Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals.

At the 2011 US Open, Nadal defeated Andrey Golubev in straight sets and advanced to the third round after Frenchman Nicholas Mahut retired. After defeating David Nalbandian on September 4, Nadal collapsed in his post-match press conference due to severe cramps. Nadal lost to Novak Djokovic in the final in four sets 2–6, 4–6, 7–6, 1–6.

After the US Open, Nadal made the final of the Japan Open Tennis Championships. Nadal, who was the 2010 champion, was defeated by Andy Murray, 6–3, 2–6, 0–6. At the Shanghai Masters, Nadal was top seed with the absence of Novak Djokovic, but was upset in the third round by no. 23 ranked Florian Mayer in straight sets, 6–7, 3–6. At the 2011 ATP World Tour Finals, Nadal was defeated by Roger Federer in the round-robin stage, 3–6, 0–6 in one of the quickest matches between the two, lasting just 60 minutes. In the following match, Nadal was defeated by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6–7, 6–4, 3–6, and was eliminated from the tournament.

In the Davis Cup final in December, Nadal had a quick straight-set win over Juan Monaco in his first match. In his second match against Juan Martin del Potro Nadal did not win a single service game in the first set but came back to win the match 1–6, 6–4, 6–1, 7–6(0).

Nadal ended his tennis season with the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, an exhibition tournament not affiliated with the ATP. The tournament, normally held in early January, was held from December 29 to December 31, 2011. Nadal had a bye into the semifinals and played against David Ferrer, who defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals. Ferrer won the match in straight sets 6–3, 6–2. Nadal was then relegated to the third place match against Roger Federer. Nadal dominated the first set, and Federer made an attempt to claim the second set but failed, winning the match with a score of 6–1, 7–5.

2012[link]

Rivalries[link]

Nadal vs. Federer[link]

Federer and Nadal have been playing each other since 2004, and their rivalry is a significant part of both men's careers.

They held the top two rankings on the ATP Tour from July 2005 until 14 September 2009, when Nadal fell to World No. 3 (Andy Murray became the new No. 2). They are the only pair of men to have ever finished four consecutive calendar years at the top. Federer was ranked number 1 for a record 237 consecutive weeks beginning in February 2004. Nadal, who is five years younger, ascended to No. 2 in July 2005 and held this spot for a record 160 consecutive weeks before surpassing Federer in August 2008.

They have played 28 times, and Nadal leads their head-to-head series 18–10 overall and 8-2 in Grand Slam tournaments. Fourteen of their matches have been on clay, which is statistically Nadal's best surface and statistically Federer's worst surface. Federer has a winning record on grass (2–1) and indoor hard courts (4–0) while Nadal leads the outdoor hard courts by 5–2 and clay by 12–2. Because tournament seedings are based on rankings, 19 of their matches have been in tournament finals, including an all-time record 8 Grand Slam finals. From 2006 to 2008 they played in every French Open and Wimbledon final, and then they met in the 2009 Australian Open final and the 2011 French Open final. Nadal won six of the eight, losing the first two Wimbledons. Three of these matches were five set-matches (2007 and 2008 Wimbledon, 2009 Australian Open), and the 2008 Wimbledon final has been lauded as the greatest match ever by many long-time tennis analysts. They have also played in a record 9 Masters Series finals, including their lone five hour match at the 2006 Rome Masters which Nadal won in a fifth-set tie-break having saved two match points.

Both Federer and Nadal have won Grand Slam events on three different surfaces successively (2008 French Open, 2008 Wimbledon, 2009 Australian Open for Nadal and 2008 US Open, 2009 French Open, 2009 Wimbledon for Federer).

Nadal vs. Djokovic[link]

Djokovic and Nadal have met 31 times (which is the sixth-most head-to-head meetings in the Open Era) with Nadal having a 17–14 advantage. Nadal leads on grass 2–1 and clay 10–2, but Djokovic leads on hard courts 11–5. This rivalry is listed as the third greatest rivalry in the last decade by ATPworldtour.com and is considered by many to be the emerging rivalry. Djokovic is the only player to have at least ten match wins against Nadal and the only person to defeat Nadal seven times consecutively and two times consecutively on clay. The two share the record for the longest match played in a best of three sets (4 hours and 3 minutes), at the 2009 Mutua Madrid Open semi-finals. In the 2011 Wimbledon final, Djokovic won in four sets 6–4, 6–1, 1–6, 6–3, which was his first victory over Nadal in a Major in six attempts. By doing so, he became the only person other than Federer to defeat Nadal in a Grand Slam tournament final. Djokovic also defeated Nadal in the 2011 US Open Final to capture his third major title of the year and fourth slam overall. By beating Nadal at the US Open, Djokovic became the second player to defeat Nadal in more than one Grand Slam final (the other being Federer), the only player to beat Nadal in a Slam final on a surface other than grass, and the only player to hand Nadal six ATP finals losses in a year. In 2012, Djokovic defeated Nadal in the Australian Open final which made Nadal the first player to lose in three consecutive Grand Slam finals. This was the longest Grand Slam final in Open era history at 5 hrs, 53 mins. After losing seven times in a row against Djokovic, Nadal won their last meeting in the final of Monte Carlo in April 2012.

Major Titles[link]

Grand Slam performance timeline[link]

''To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2012 Australian Open.

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center !Tournament!!2003!!2004!!2005!!2006!!2007!!2008!!2009!!2010!!2011!!2012!!SR!!W–L!!Win % |- |colspan=15 align=left|'''Grand Slam Tournaments |- |bgcolor=#efefef align=left|Australian Open |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |A |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=thistle|F |bgcolor=#efefef|1 / 8 |bgcolor=#efefef|35–7 |bgcolor=#efefef|83.33 |- |bgcolor=#efefef align=left|French Open |A |A |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=lime|'''W | |bgcolor=#efefef|6 / 7 |bgcolor=#efefef|45–1 |bgcolor=#efefef|97.83 |- |bgcolor=#efefef align=left|Wimbledon |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=thistle|F |bgcolor=thistle|F |bgcolor=lime|'''W |A |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=thistle|F | |bgcolor=#efefef|2 / 7 |bgcolor=#efefef|35–5 |bgcolor=#efefef|87.50 |- |bgcolor=#efefef align=left|US Open |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=thistle|F | |bgcolor=#efefef|1 / 9 |bgcolor=#efefef|34–8 |bgcolor=#efefef|80.95 |- !style=text-align:left|Win–Loss !3–2 !3–2 !13–3 !17–2 !20–3 !24–2 !15–2 !25–1 !23–3 !6–1 !10 / 31 !149–21 !87.65 |}

Grand Slam Finals[link]

Singles: 15 (10 titles, 5 runner-ups)[link]

{|class="sortable wikitable" !width=100|Outcome !width=50|Year !width=200|Championship !width=75|Surface !width=200|Opponent in the final !width=200|Score in the final |-bgcolor=#ebc2af |bgcolor=#98fb98|Winner||2005||French Open||Clay|| Mariano Puerta||6–7^(6–8), 6–3, 6–1, 7–5 |-bgcolor=#ebc2af |bgcolor=#98fb98|Winner||2006||French Open (2)||Clay|| Roger Federer||1–6, 6–1, 6–4, 7–6(7–4) |-bgcolor=#ccffcc |bgcolor=#ffa07a|Runner-up||2006||Wimbledon||Grass|| Roger Federer||0–6, 6–7^(5–7), 7–6^(7–2), 3–6 |-bgcolor=#ebc2af |bgcolor=#98fb98|Winner||2007||French Open (3)||Clay|| Roger Federer||6–3, 4–6, 6–3, 6–4 |-bgcolor=#ccffcc |bgcolor=#ffa07a|Runner-up||2007||Wimbledon (2)||Grass|| Roger Federer||6–7^(7–9), 6–4, 6–7^(3–7), 6–2, 2–6 |-bgcolor=#ebc2af |bgcolor=#98fb98|Winner||2008||French Open (4)||Clay|| Roger Federer||6–1, 6–3, 6–0 |-bgcolor=#ccffcc |bgcolor=#98fb98|Winner||2008||Wimbledon||Grass|| Roger Federer||6–4, 6–4, 6–7^(5–7), 6–7^(8–10), 9–7 |-bgcolor=#ffffcc |bgcolor=#98fb98|Winner||2009||Australian Open||Hard|| Roger Federer||7–5, 3–6, 7–6^(7–3), 3–6, 6–2 |-bgcolor=#ebc2af |bgcolor=#98fb98|Winner||2010||French Open (5)||Clay|| Robin Söderling||6–4, 6–2, 6–4 |-bgcolor=#ccffcc |bgcolor=#98fb98|Winner||2010||Wimbledon (2)||Grass|| Tomáš Berdych||6–3, 7–5, 6–4 |-bgcolor=#ccccff |bgcolor=#98fb98|Winner||2010||US Open||Hard|| Novak Djokovic||6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 6–2 |-bgcolor=#ebc2af |bgcolor=#98fb98|Winner||2011||French Open (6)||Clay|| Roger Federer||7–5, 7–6^(7–3), 5–7, 6–1 |-bgcolor=#ccffcc |bgcolor=#ffa07a|Runner-up||2011||Wimbledon (3)||Grass|| Novak Djokovic||4–6, 1–6, 6–1, 3–6 |-bgcolor=#ccccff |bgcolor=#ffa07a|Runner-up||2011||US Open||Hard|| Novak Djokovic||2–6, 4–6, 7–6^(7–3), 1–6 |-bgcolor=#ffffcc |bgcolor=#ffa07a|Runner-up||2012||Australian Open||Hard|| Novak Djokovic||7–5, 4–6, 2–6, 7–6^(7–5), 5–7 |}

Year-End Championships[link]

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center;font-size:97% |- !Tournament!!2002!!2003!!2004!!2005!!2006!!2007!!2008!!2009!!2010!!2011!!2012!!SR!!W–L!!Win % |- | colspan="18" style="text-align:left;"|'''Year-End Championship Tournaments |- | style="background:#efefef; text-align:left;"|YEC |A |A |A |A | style="background:yellow;"|SF | style="background:yellow;"|SF |A | style="background:#afeeee;"|RR | style="background:thistle;"|F | style="background:#afeeee;"|RR | !0 / 5 !9–10 !47.37 |}

Singles: 1 Runner-up[link]

{|class="sortable wikitable" |- !width=100|Outcome !width=50|Year !width=200|Championship !width=75|Surface !width=200|Opponent in the final !width=200|Score in the final |-bgcolor=ffffcc | style="background:#ffa07a;"|Runner-up||2010||2010 ATP World Tour Finals||Hard|| Roger Federer||3–6, 6–3, 1–6 |}

Olympic finals[link]

Singles: 1 (1 title)[link]

{|class="sortable wikitable" |- !width=100|Outcome !width=50|Year !width=200|Championship !width=75|Surface !width=200|Opponent in the final !width=200|Score in the final |- style="background:gold;" | style="background:#98fb98;"|Winner||2008||Beijing Olympics||Hard|| Fernando González||6–3, 7–6^(7–2), 6–3 |}

Career statistics[link]

Records[link]

All-time tournament records[link]

align=center>1877 align=center align=center align=center align=center

		!Since	!Record accomplished	!Players matched
List_of_non-Grand_Slam_tennis_statistics_and_records#Most_titles_at_a_particular_tournament	All	|	8 consecutive titles at any single tournament	Stands alone
Monte_Carlo_Masters#Men.27s_Singles	Monte Carlo Masters	1897 ||	8 men's singles titles	Stands alone
List_of_French_Open_Men%27s_Singles_champions#French_Championships	French Open	1925 ||	6 men's singles titles	Björn Borg
Rome_Masters#Men.27s_singles_finals	Rome Masters	1930 ||	5 men's singles titles	Stands alone
Torneo_Godó#Singles	Barcelona Open	1953 ||	7 men's singles titles	Stands alone

Grand Slam tournament records[link]

These records were attained in the Open Era of tennis (since 1968).

Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.

Records in ''italics'' are currently active streaks.

{|class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |- !Time span !Selected Grand Slam tournament records !Players matched |- |2005 French Open — 2010 US Open||Career Golden Slam|| Andre Agassi |- |2005 French Open — 2010 US Open||Career Grand Slam||Rod LaverAndre AgassiRoger Federer |- |2005 French Open — 2010 US Open||At least two Majors on grass, clay, and hard courts||Mats Wilander |- |2005 French Open — 2010 US Open||Youngest to achieve a Career Grand Slam (24)||'''Stands alone |- |2010 French Open — 2010 US Open||Winner of Majors on clay, grass, and hard court in calendar year||'''Stands alone |- |2010 French Open — 2010 US Open||Winner of three consecutive Majors in calendar year||Rod Laver |- |2007 French Open — 2010 US Open||4 finals reached without losing a set (2007–08, 2010 French Open & 2010 US Open)||Bjorn Borg |- |2010 French Open — 2010 US Open||Simultaneous holder of Majors on clay, grass, and hard court||Roger Federer |- |2008 Olympics — 2010 US Open||Simultaneous holder of Olympic singles gold medal and Majors on clay, grass, and hard court||'''Stands alone |- |2008 Wimbledon — 2008 Olympics||Simultaneous holder of Olympic singles gold medal and Wimbledon||'''Stands alone |- |2008 French Open — 2009 Australian Open||Simultaneous holder of Olympic singles gold medal and three Majors||Andre Agassi |- |2008 Olympics — 2010 US Open||Simultaneous holder of Olympic singles gold medal and clay & hard court Majors|| Andre Agassi |- |2011 Wimbledon — 2012 Australian Open||''Three consecutive runner-up finishes||'''Stands alone |}

{|class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |- !Grand Slam tournaments !Time Span !Records at each Grand Slam tournament !Players matched |- |French Open||2005–2011||6 titles overall||Björn Borg |- |French Open||2005–2011||6 titles in 7 years||Stands alone |- |French Open||2005–2008||4 consecutive titles||Björn Borg |- |French Open||2005–2008,2010–2011||6 finals overall||Björn Borg |- |French Open||2005–2008||4 consecutive finals||Björn BorgIvan LendlRoger Federer |- |French Open||2005–2009||31 consecutive match wins||Stands alone |- |French Open||2005–2011||97.83% (45–1) match winning percentage||Stands alone |- |French Open||2008, 2010||2 wins without losing a set||Björn Borg |- |French Open||2005||Won title on the first attempt||Mats Wilander |- |French Open—Wimbledon||2008, 2010||Accomplished a "Channel Slam": Winning both tournaments in the same year|| Rod LaverBjörn BorgRoger Federer |}

ATP Masters records[link]

Grand Prix Championship Series began in 1970.

ATP Masters Series was introduced in 1990.

Renamed ATP Masters 1000 in 2009.

{|class="wikitable" |- !Time span !Selected Masters tournament records !Players matched |- |2005–2012||20 Masters 1000 titles overall||'''Stands alone |- |2005–2012||15 Masters 1000 clay court titles||'''Stands alone |- |2005–2012||82.96% (224–46) winning percentage||'''Stands alone |- |2010||Clay Slam (Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid and French Open)||'''Stands alone |}

Other selected records[link]

{|class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |- !Time span !Other selected records !Players matched |- |2005–2007||81 consecutive clay court match victories||'''Stands alone |- |2002–2012||92.91% (236–18) clay court match winning percentage||'''Stands alone |- |2002–2012||85.02% (511–90) outdoor court match winning percentage||'''Stands alone |- |2005–2012||7+ titles at 2 different tournaments||'''Stands alone |- |2005–2012||8 titles overall at a single tournament (Monte Carlo)||Guillermo Vilas |- |2005–2012||8 consecutive titles at a single tournament (Monte Carlo)||'''Stands alone |}

Playing style[link]

Nadal generally plays an aggressive, behind-the-baseline game founded on heavy topspin groundstrokes, consistency, speedy footwork and tenacious court coverage thus making him an aggressive counterpuncher. Known for his athleticism and speed around the court, Nadal is an excellent defender who hits well on the run, constructing winning plays from seemingly defensive positions. He also plays very fine dropshots, which work especially well because his heavy topspin often forces opponents to the back of the court.

Nadal employs a full western grip forehand, often with a "lasso-whip" follow through, where his left arm hits through the ball and finishes above his left shoulder – as opposed to a more traditional finish across the body or around his opposite shoulder. Nadal's forehand groundstroke form allows him to hit shots with heavy topspin – more so than many of his contemporaries. San Francisco tennis researcher John Yandell used a high-speed video camera and special software to count the average number of revolutions of a tennis ball hit full force by Nadal. "The first guys we did were Sampras and Agassi. They were hitting forehands that in general were spinning about 1,800 to 1,900 revolutions per minute. Federer is hitting with an amazing amount of spin, too, right? 2,700 revolutions per minute. Well, we measured one forehand Nadal hit at 4,900. His average was 3,200." While Nadal's shots tend to land short of the baseline, the characteristically high bounces his forehands achieve tend to mitigate the advantage an opponent would normally gain from capitalizing on a short ball. Although his forehand is based on heavy topspin, he can hit the ball deep and flat with a more orthodox follow through for clean winners.

Nadal's serve was initially considered a weak point in his game, although his improvements in both first-serve points won and break points saved since 2005 have allowed him to consistently compete for and win major titles on faster surfaces. Nadal relies on the consistency of his serve to gain a strategic advantage in points, rather than going for service winners. However, before the 2010 season, he altered his service motion, arriving in the trophy pose earlier and pulling the racket lower during the trophy pose. Before the 2010 U.S. Open, Nadal modified his service grip to a more continental one. These two changes in his serve have increased its average speed by around 10 mph, maxing out at 135 mph (217 km), allowing him to win more free points on his serve.

Nadal is a clay court specialist in the sense that he has been extremely successful on that surface. Since 2005, he won six times at Roland Garros, seven times at Monte Carlo and five at Rome. However, Nadal has shed that label due to his success on other surfaces, including holding Grand Slams simultaneously on grass, hard courts, and clay on two separate occasions, winning five Masters series titles on hardcourt, and winning the Olympic gold medal on hardcourt. Despite praise for Nadal's talent and skill, some have questioned his longevity in the sport, citing his build and playing style as conducive to injury. Nadal himself has admitted to the physical toll hard courts place on ATP Tour players, calling for a reevaluated tour schedule featuring fewer hard court tournaments.

Public image[link]

Equipment and endorsements[link]

Nadal has appeared in advertising campaigns for Kia Motors as a global ambassador for the company. In May 2008, Kia released a claymation viral ad featuring Nadal in a tennis match with an alien. Nadal also has an endorsement agreement with Universal DVDs.

Nike serves as Nadal's clothing and shoe sponsor. Nadal's signature on-court attire entailed a variety of sleeveless shirts paired with 3/4 length capri pants. For the 2009 season, Nadal adopted more-traditional on-court apparel. Nike encouraged Nadal to update his look in order to reflect his new status as the sport's top player at that time and associate Nadal with a style that, while less distinctive than his "pirate" look, would be more widely emulated by consumers. At warmup tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Doha, Nadal played matches in a polo shirt specifically designed for him by Nike, paired with shorts cut above the knee. Nadal's new, more conventional style carried over to the 2009 Australian Open, where he was outfitted with Nike's Bold Crew Men's Tee and Nadal Long Check Shorts. Nadal wears Nike's Air CourtBallistec 2.3 tennis shoes, bearing various customizations throughout the season, including his nickname "Rafa" on the right shoe and a stylized bull logo on the left.

Becomes the face of Lanvin's ''L'Homme Sport'' cologne, launched April 2009.

Nadal uses an AeroPro Drive racquet with a 4-inch L2 grip. , Nadal's racquets are painted to resemble the new Babolat AeroPro Drive with Cortex GT racquet in order to market a current model which Babolat sells. Nadal uses no replacement grip, and instead wraps two overgrips around the handle. He used Duralast 15L strings until the 2010 season, when he switched to Babolat's new, black-colored, RPM Blast string. Nadal's rackets are always strung at , regardless of which surface or conditions he is playing on.

, Nadal is the international ambassador for Quely, a company from his native Majorca that manufactures biscuits, bakery and chocolate coated products; he has consumed their products ever since he was a young child.

In 2010, luxury watchmaker Richard Mille announced that he had developed an ultra-light wristwatch in collaboration with Nadal called the Richard Mille RM027 Tourbillon watch. The watch is made of titanium and lithium and is valued at US$525,000; Nadal was involved in the design and testing of the watch on the tennis court. During the 2010 French Open, Men's Fitness reported that Nadal wore the Richard Mille watch on the court as part of a sponsorship deal with the Swiss watchmaker.

Nadal replaced Cristiano Ronaldo as the new face of Emporio Armani Underwear and Armani Jeans for the spring/summer 2011 collection. This is the first time that the label has chosen a tennis player for the job; association football has ruled lately prior to Ronaldo, David Beckham graced the ads since 2008. Armani said that he selected Nadal as his latest male underwear model because "...he is ideal as he represents a healthy and positive model for youngsters."

In popular culture[link]

In February 2010, Rafael Nadal was featured in the music video of Shakira's "Gypsy". and part of her album release ''She Wolf''. In explaining why she chose Nadal for the video, Shakira was quoted as saying in an interview with the ''Latin American Herald Tribune'': "I thought that maybe I needed someone I could in some way identify with. And Rafael Nadal is a person who has been totally committed to his career since he was very young. Since he was 17, I believe." She added about "Gypsy": "I've been on the road since I was very, very young, so that's where the gypsy metaphor comes from."

Misc[link]

128036 Rafaelnadal is a Main belt asteroid discovered in 2003 at the Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca, Spain and named after Rafael Nadal.

Off the court[link]

Involvement in football[link]

Nadal is an avid fan of association football club Real Madrid. On 8 July 2010, it was reported that he had become a shareholder of RCD Mallorca, his local club by birth, in an attempt to assist the club from debt. Rafa reportedly owns 10 percent and was offered the role of vice president, but he rejected that offer. His uncle Miguel Ángel Nadal, became assistant coach under Michael Laudrup. Nadal remains a passionate Real Madrid supporter; ''ESPN.com'' writer Graham Hunter wrote, "He's as ''Merengue'' as [Real Madrid icons] Raúl, Iker Casillas and Alfredo Di Stéfano." Shortly after acquiring his interest in Mallorca, he called out UEFA for apparent hypocrisy in ejecting the club from the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League for excessive debts, saying through a club spokesperson, "Well, if those are the criteria upon which UEFA is operating, then European competition will only comprise two or three clubs because all the rest are in debt, too."

He is a fervent supporter of the Spanish national team, one of only six people not affiliated with the team or the national federation allowed into the team's locker room immediately following Spain's victory in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final.

Philanthropy[link]

Rafael Nadal took part in Thailand's 'A Million Trees For The King' project, planting a tree in honour of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on a visit to Hua Hin during his Thailand Open 2010. "For me it's an honour to part of this project," said Nadal. "It's a very good project. I want to congratulate the Thai people and congratulate the King for this unbelievable day. I wish all the best for this idea. It's very, very nice."

Fundación Rafa Nadal[link]

The creation of the Fundación Rafa Nadal took place in November 2007, and its official presentation was in February 2008, at the Manacor Tennis Club in Mallorca, Spain. The foundation will focus on social work and development aid particularly on childhood and youth. On deciding why to start a foundation, Nadal said "This can be the beginning of my future, when I retire and have more time, [...] I am doing very well and I owe society, [...] A month-and-a-half ago I was in Chennai, in India. The truth is we live great here....I can contribute something with my image..." Nadal was inspired by the Red Cross benefit match against malaria with Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas, recalling, "We raised an amount of money that we would never have imagined. I have to thank Iker, my project partner, who went all out for it, [...] That is why the time has come to set up my own foundation and determine the destination of the money." Ana Maria Parera, Rafa's mom, chairs the organization and father Sebastian is vice-chairman. Coach and uncle Toni Nadal and his agent, former tennis player Carlos Costa, are also involved. Roger Federer has been giving Nadal advice on getting involved in philanthropy. Despite the fact that poverty in India struck him particularly hard, Nadal wants to start by helping "people close by, in the Balearic Islands, in Spain, and then, if possible, abroad."

On 16 October 2010, Nadal traveled to India for the first time to assist in the transformation of one of the poorest and most needy areas of India, Andhra Pradesh. He has an academy in the south of the country, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. His foundation has also worked in the Anantapur Educational Center project, in collaboration with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation.

Personal life[link]

Nadal owns an Aston Martin DBS. He 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. He 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."

Nadal's autobiography, ''Rafa'', written with assistance from John Carlin, was published in August 2011. Since 2005, Rafael Nadal has been dating Maria Francisca Perello (Xisca). In addition to tennis and association football, Nadal enjoys playing golf.

See also[link]

ATP World Tour records

List of ATP number 1 ranked players

List of Grand Slam men's singles champions

List of non-Grand Slam tennis statistics and records

128036 Rafaelnadal asteroid

List of open era tennis records

ATP Awards

References[link]

External links[link]

Zen and the Art of Rafael Nadal

{{navboxes|title=Rafael Nadal in the Grand Slam Tournaments |list1= }} {{navboxes|title=Rafael Nadal Achievements |list1= }}

Category:1986 births Category:Australian Open champions Category:French Open champions Category:Laureus World Sports Awards winners Category:Living people Category:Olympic gold medalists for Spain Category:Olympic medalists in tennis Category:Olympic tennis players of Spain Category:People from Manacor Category:Spanish agnostics Category:Spanish football chairmen and investors Category:Spanish male tennis players Category:Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:US Open (tennis) champions Category:Wimbledon champions Category:World No. 1 tennis players

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Name	Novak DjokovicНовак ЂоковићNovak Đoković
Nickname	''Nole''''The Djoker''
Country	(2003–2006) (2006–present)
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Birth date	May 22, 1987
Birth place	Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	2003
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	$36,501,649 4th All-time leader in earnings
Singlesrecord	418–114 (78.57%)
Singlestitles	30
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (4 July 2011)
Currentsinglesranking	No. 1 (30 April 2012)
Australianopenresult	W (2008, 2011, 2012)
Frenchopenresult	SF (2007, 2008, 2011)
Wimbledonresult	W (2011)
Usopenresult	W (2011)
Othertournaments	Yes
Masterscupresult	W (2008)
Olympicsresult	20px Bronze Medal (2008)
Doublesrecord	31–44 (41.33%)
Doublestitles	1
Grandslamsdoublesresults	yes
Australianopendoublesresult	1R (2006, 2007)
Frenchopendoublesresult	1R (2006)
Wimbledondoublesresult	2R (2006)
Usopendoublesresult	1R (2006)
Highestdoublesranking	No. 114 (30 November 2009)
Currentdoublesranking	No. 542 (30 April 2012)
Updated	13:03, 30 April 2012 (UTC) }}

}}

Novak Djokovic (; ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player who has been ranked World No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) since 4 July 2011. He has won five Grand Slam singles titles: the 2008, 2011 and 2012 Australian Open, the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2011 US Open. By winning three Majors in 2011, Djokovic became the sixth male player in the open era to win three Majors in a calendar year.

He is the first male player representing Serbia to win a Major singles title and the youngest player in the open era to have reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slam events, separately and consecutively. Amongst other titles, he won the Tennis Masters Cup in 2008 and was on the team which won the 2010 Davis Cup. He also won the bronze medal in singles at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He has won 11 Masters 1000 series titles placing him joint fourth on the all time list. Djokovic is regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Early and personal life[link]

Djokovic was born 22 May 1987, in Belgrade, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, to father Srđan (Срђан) and mother Dijana (Дијана). His two younger brothers, Marko and Đorđe (Ђорђе), are also tennis players with professional aspirations. Residing in Monte Carlo, Monaco, Djokovic has been coached since 2006 by a former Slovak tennis player Marián Vajda. Similar to fellow pro Roger Federer, Djokovic is a self-described fan of languages, speaking four himself: his native Serbian, English, German, and Italian. Since the end of 2005, Djokovic has been dating Jelena Ristić (Јелена Ристић).

He started playing tennis at the age of four. In the summer 1993, the six-year-old was spotted by Yugoslav tennis legend Jelena Genčić at Serbian Mount Kopaonik where Djokovic's parents ran a fast-food parlour. Upon seeing the dedicated and talented youngster in action, she stated: "This is the greatest talent I have seen since Monica Seles." Genčić worked with young Djokovic over the following six years before realizing that, due to his rapid development, going abroad in search of increased level of competition was the best option for his future. To that end, she contacted Nikola Pilić, and in September 1999, the 12-year-old moved to the Pilić tennis academy in Oberschleißheim, Germany, spending four years there. At age 14, he began his international career, winning European championships in singles, doubles, and team competition.

Djokovic is known for his often humorous off-court impersonations of his fellow players, many of whom are his friends. This became evident to the tennis world after his 2007 US Open quarterfinal win over Carlos Moyà, where he entertained the audience with impersonations of Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova. He also did an impression of John McEnroe after his final preliminary game at the 2009 US Open, before playing a brief game with McEnroe, much to the delight of the audience. It is because of this jovial personality that he earned the nickname "Djoker", a portmanteau of his surname and the word ''joker''. Novak Djokovic is a member of the "Champions for Peace" club, a group of famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization.

Djokovic is a Serbian Orthodox Christian. On 28 April 2011, Patriarch Irinej of Serbia awarded Djokovic the Order of St. Sava I class, the highest decoration of the Serbian Orthodox Church, because he demonstrated love for the church, and because he provided assistance to the Serbian people, churches and monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church of Kosovo and Metohija.

He is a keen fan of Serbian football club Red Star Belgrade, Italian Serie A side A.C. Milan and Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. Djokovic is good friends with fellow Serbian tennis player Ana Ivanović, whom he has known since the two were children growing up in Serbia.

Tennis career[link]

Early career[link]

As a member of the FR Yugoslavia national team, he reached the finals of the 2001 Junior Davis Cup for players under 14, in which he lost his match in singles.

At the beginning of his professional career, Djokovic mainly played in Futures and Challenger tournaments, winning three of each type from 2003 to 2005. His first tour-level tournament was Umag in 2004, where he lost to Filippo Volandri in the round of 32. He made his first Grand Slam tournament appearance by qualifying for the 2005 Australian Open, where he was defeated by Marat Safin in the first round.

2006[link]

Djokovic briefly considered plans to move from Serbia to play for Britain. He reached the top-40 world ranking due to a quarterfinal appearance at the French Open, and reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Three weeks after Wimbledon, he won his maiden ATP title at the Dutch Open in Amersfoort without losing a set, defeating Nicolás Massú in the final. Djokovic won his second career title at the Open de Moselle in Metz, and moved into the top 20 for the first time in his career.

2007[link]

Djokovic began the year by defeating Australian Chris Guccione in the final of the ATP Adelaide, before losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open to eventual champion Roger Federer in straight sets. His performances at the Masters Series events in Indian Wells, California, and Key Biscayne, Florida, where he was the runner-up and champion respectively, pushed him into the world's top 10. Djokovic lost the Indian Wells final to Rafael Nadal, but defeated Nadal in Key Biscayne in the quarterfinals before defeating Guillermo Cañas for the title in the finals.

Right after his first master series title, he went back home to contribute to his country's attempt to get into the World Group of the Davis Cup competition. Serbia faced off the Republic of Georgia, and Djokovic won a point by defeating Georgia's George Chanturia. This was a tournament where he prepared for the later clay court season. Djokovic played in the Masters Series Monte Carlo Open, where he was defeated by David Ferrer in the third round, and in the Estoril Open, where he defeated Richard Gasquet in the final. Djokovic then reached the quarterfinals of both the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome and the Masters Series Hamburg, but lost to Nadal and Carlos Moyà respectively. At the French Open, Djokovic reached his first Major semifinal, losing to eventual champion Nadal.

During Wimbledon, Djokovic won a five-hour quarterfinal against Marcos Baghdatis. In his semifinal match against Rafael Nadal, he was forced to retire with elbow problems in the 3rd set after winning the first and losing the 2nd set.

Djokovic went on to win the Masters Series Rogers Cup in Montreal. He defeated world no. 3 Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals, world no. 2 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, and world no. 1 Federer in the final. This was the first time a player had defeated the top three ranked players in one tournament since Boris Becker in 1994. Djokovic was also only the second player, after Tomáš Berdych, to have defeated both Federer and Nadal since they became the top two players in the world. After this tournament, Björn Borg stated that Djokovic "is definitely a contender to win a Grand Slam (tournament)." However, the following week at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio, Djokovic lost in the second round to Moyà in straight sets. Djokovic nevertheless reached the final of the US Open. Djokovic had five set points in the first set and two in the second set, but lost them all before losing the final to top-seeded Federer in straight sets. During the 2007 tournament, Djokovic emerged as a fan favorite with his on-court impressions of other players including Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, and Maria Sharapova.

Djokovic won his fifth title of the year at the BA-CA TennisTrophy in Vienna, defeating Stanislas Wawrinka in the final. His next tournament was the Mutua Madrileña Masters in Madrid, where he lost to David Nalbandian in the semifinals. Djokovic, assured of finishing the year as world no. 3, qualified for the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup, but did not advance beyond the round robin matches.

He received the Golden Badge award for the best athlete in Serbia, and the Olympic Committee of Serbia declared him the best athlete.

2008[link]

Djokovic started the year by playing the Hopman Cup with fellow Serbian world no. 3 Jelena Janković. While he won all his round-robin matches, the team lost 1–2 in the final to the second-seeded American team consisting of Serena Williams and Mardy Fish.

At the Australian Open, Djokovic reached his second consecutive Major final without dropping a set, including a victory over two-time defending champion Roger Federer in the semifinals. By reaching the semifinals, Djokovic became the youngest player to have reached the semifinals in all four Majors. In the final, Djokovic defeated unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets to earn Serbia's first Grand Slam singles title. This marked the first time since the 2005 Australian Open that a Grand Slam singles title was not won by Federer or Nadal.

Djokovic's next tournament was the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, where he lost in the semifinals to Andy Roddick.

At the Masters Series Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Djokovic won his ninth career singles title, defeating American Mardy Fish in the three-set final.

Djokovic won his tenth career singles title and fourth Master Series singles crown at the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome. The following week at the Hamburg Masters, Djokovic lost to Nadal in the semifinals. At the French Open, Djokovic was the third-seeded player behind Federer and Nadal. Djokovic lost to Nadal in the semifinals in straight sets.

On grass, Djokovic once again played Nadal, this time in the Artois Championships final in Queen's Club, London, losing in two sets. At Wimbledon, Djokovic was the third-seeded player; however, he lost in the second round to Marat Safin. This ended a streak of five consecutive Majors where he had reached at least the semifinals.

Djokovic then failed to defend his 2007 singles title at the Masters Series Rogers Cup in Toronto. He was eliminated in the quarterfinals by eighth-seeded Andy Murray. The following week at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio, Djokovic advanced to the final, beating Nadal. In the final, he again lost to Murray in straight sets.

His next tournament was the Beijing Olympics, his first Olympics. He and Nenad Zimonjić, seeded second in men's doubles, were eliminated in the first round by the Czech pairing of Martin Damm and Pavel Vízner. Seeded third in singles, Djokovic lost in the semifinals to Nadal. Djokovic then defeated James Blake, the loser of the other semifinal, in the bronze medal match.

After the Olympics, Djokovic entered the US Open as the third seed. He defeated Roddick in the quarterfinals. To a smattering of boos in a post-match interview, Djokovic criticized Roddick for accusing him of making excessive use of the trainer during matches. His run at the US Open ended in the semifinals when he lost to Federer in four sets, in a rematch of the 2007 US Open final.

Djokovic played four tournaments after the US Open. In a rematch of the 2008 Australian Open final, he lost in the final of the Thailand Open to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets. In November, Djokovic was the second seed at the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai. In his first round-robin match, he defeated Argentine Juan Martín del Potro in straight sets. He then beat Nikolay Davydenko in three sets, before losing his final round robin match against Tsonga. Djokovic qualified for the semifinals, where he defeated Gilles Simon. In the final, Djokovic defeated Davydenko again to win his first Tennis Masters Cup title.

2009[link]

Djokovic started the year at the Brisbane International in Brisbane, Australia, where he was upset by Ernests Gulbis in the first round. At the Medibank International in Sydney, he lost to Jarkko Nieminen in the semifinals.

As defending champion at the Australian Open, Djokovic retired from his quarterfinal match with former world no. 1 Andy Roddick.

After losing in the semifinals of the Open 13 tournament in Marseille to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Djokovic won the singles title at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, defeating David Ferrer to claim his twelfth career title. The following week, Djokovic was the defending champion at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, but lost to Roddick in the quarterfinals. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, another ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, Djokovic beat Federer in the semifinals, before losing to Andy Murray in the final. Djokovic reached the final of the next ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on clay, losing to Rafael Nadal in the final. At the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, another ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, Djokovic was the defending champion, but again lost in the final.

Djokovic was the top seed at his hometown tournament, the Serbia Open in Belgrade. He defeated first-time finalist Łukasz Kubot to win his second title of the year. As third seed at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Djokovic advanced to the semifinals without dropping a set. There, he faced Nadal and lost despite holding three match points. The match, at 4 hours and 3 minutes, was the longest three-set singles match on the ATP World Tour in the Open Era. At the French Open, he lost in the third round to German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Djokovic began his grass court season at the Gerry Weber Open where, after the withdrawal of Federer, he competed as the top seed. He advanced to the final, where he lost to German Tommy Haas. Djokovic also lost to Haas in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.

During the US Open Series, Djokovic made the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal, before losing to Andy Roddick. At the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Djokovic defeated world no. 3 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. He lost in the final to world no. 1 Roger Federer. At the 2009 US Open, Djokovic made the semifinals, having dropped only two sets, defeating Ivan Ljubičić, 15th seed Radek Štěpánek and 10th seed Fernando Verdasco. He then lost to Roger Federer.

At the China Open in Beijing, he defeated Victor Hănescu, Viktor Troicki, Fernando Verdasco, and Robin Söderling en route to the final, where he defeated Marin Čilić in straight sets to win his third title of the year. At the inaugural Shanghai ATP Masters 1000, Djokovic lost in the semifinals to Nikolay Davydenko.

At the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel, Djokovic defeated Jan Hernych to make it to the quarterfinals. He then recovered from a deficit to defeat Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarterfinals. He won the semifinals against Radek Štěpánek. In the final, he defeated home favourite and three-time defending champion Roger Federer to win his fourth title of the year.

At the last Masters 1000 event of the year at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, Djokovic won his first Masters 1000 title of the year. He defeated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. In the final, Djokovic prevailed over Gaël Monfils.

Coming into the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London as the defending champion, Djokovic defeated Nikolay Davydenko in his first round-robin match. In his second match, he lost to Robin Söderling. Despite victory over Rafael Nadal in his third round-robin match, Djokovic failed to make the semifinals.

Djokovic ended the year as the world no. 3 for the third consecutive year. Djokovic played 97 matches throughout the year, the most of any player on the ATP World Tour, with a 78–19 win-loss record. In addition to leading the ATP World Tour in match wins, he reached a career best 10 finals, winning 5 titles.

2010[link]

Djokovic started his year by playing in the Kooyong Classic, an exhibition event. In his first match, he defeated Tommy Haas, but lost to Fernando Verdasco in his second.

At the Australian Open, Djokovic was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in five sets. Despite the loss, Djokovic attained a career-high ranking of world no. 2.

He reached the semifinals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, losing to Mikhail Youzhny. At the Dubai Tennis Championships in the U.A.E., Djokovic reached the final, defeating Mikhail Youzhny to win his first title of the year.

He then took part in Serbia's Davis Cup tie against the USA on clay in Belgrade. He helped Serbia reach their first quarterfinal in the Davis Cup 3–2 victory, defeating Sam Querrey and John Isner.

At the Indian Wells Masters, he lost in the fourth round to Ivan Ljubičić. At the Miami Masters, he lost in his opening match to Olivier Rochus. Djokovic then announced that he had ceased working with Todd Martin as his coach.

In his first clay-court tournament of the year at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, top-seeded Djokovic reached the semifinals with wins over Stanislas Wawrinka and David Nalbandian. There, he lost to Fernando Verdasco. Djokovic again lost to Verdasco at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, this time in the quarterfinals.

As the defending champion at his hometown event, the Serbia Open in Belgrade, he withdrew in the quarterfinals while trailing Filip Krajinović.

Djokovic entered the 2010 French Open seeded third. He defeated Evgeny Korolev, Kei Nishikori, Victor Hănescu, and Robby Ginepri en route to the quarterfinals, where he lost to Jürgen Melzer in five sets.

Djokovic entered the 2010 Wimbledon Championships as third seed, defeating Olivier Rochus, Taylor Dent, Albert Montañés, Lleyton Hewitt, and Yen-Hsun Lu en route to the semifinals, which he lost to Tomáš Berdych in straight sets.

Djokovic then competed at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, where he lost to Roger Federer in the semifinals. Djokovic also competed in doubles with Rafael Nadal in a one-time, high-profile partnership. That hadn't happened since 1976, when Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe as world no.1 and no.2 paired together as a doubles team. They lost in the first round to Canadians Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil. Djokovic lost in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati to Andy Roddick.

As the third seed at the US Open, Djokovic came very close to losing in his opening round against Viktor Troicki in extreme heat. He then defeated Philipp Petzschner, James Blake and Mardy Fish, and number 17 seed Gaël Monfils, all in straight sets to reach the US Open semifinals for the fourth consecutive year. In the semifinals, Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in five sets after saving 2 match points with forehand winners while serving to stay in the match at 4–5 in the 5th set. It was Djokovic's first victory over Federer at the US Open in four attempts, and his first victory over Federer in a Major since the 2008 Australian Open. Djokovic lost to Nadal in the final, a match that saw Nadal complete his career Grand Slam.

After helping Serbia defeat the Czech Republic 3–2 to make it to the Davis Cup final, Djokovic competed at the China Open as the top seed and defending champion. He won the title for the second successive year, after defeating Maoxin Gong, Mardy Fish (walkover), Gilles Simon, and John Isner en route to the final. Djokovic then defeated David Ferrer in the final.

At the Shanghai Masters, Djokovic made a semifinal appearance, losing to Roger Federer.

Djokovic played his final tournament of the year at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Djokovic was placed in Group A along with Rafael Nadal, Tomáš Berdych, and Andy Roddick. Djokovic won his first round-robin match against Berdych. He next lost to Nadal. He defeated Roddick in his final round-robin match and advanced to the semifinals. He lost to Roger Federer in two sets.

Djokovic went on to win his two singles rubbers in Serbia's Davis Cup finals victory over France. This started a long unbeaten run that went on into 2011. Djokovic finished the year ranked world no. 3, his fourth successive finish at this position.

He was awarded the title "Serbian Sportsman of the year" by the Olympic Committee of Serbia and "Serbian Athlete of the year" by DSL Sport.

2011[link]

Djokovic won ten tournaments in 2011, including Grand Slam tournament victories at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Djokovic also captured a record-breaking five ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles, and set a new record for the most prize money won in a single season on the ATP World Tour (12.0 million dollars). His level dropped at season's end beginning with a back injury and ended with a poor showing at the ATP World Tour Finals. Djokovic finished the season with a 70–6 record and No. 1 in the world. Pete Sampras declared Djokovic's season as the best he has ever seen in his lifetime, calling it "one of the best achievements in all of sports." Boris Becker called Djokovic's season "one of the very best years in tennis of all time," adding that it "may not be the best statistically, but he’s beaten Federer, he’s beaten Nadal, he’s beaten everybody that came around to challenge him in the biggest tournaments in the world." Rafael Nadal, who lost to Djokovic in six finals on three different surfaces, described Djokovic's performances as "probably the highest level of tennis that I ever saw." Djokovic was named 2011 ITF World Champion.

2012[link]

Djokovic began his season winning at the 2012 Australian Open. He won his first four rounds against Paolo Lorenzi, Santiago Giraldo, Nicolas Mahut and Lleyton Hewitt respectively. In the quarter-finals he defeated David Ferrer in three sets. In the semifinal, Djokovic beat Andy Murray in five sets (7–5 in the fifth set) after 4 hours and 50 minutes, coming back from a two-sets-to-one deficit and fending off break points at 5-all in the fifth set . In the final, Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal in five sets, coming from a break down in the final set to win 7–5. At 5 hours and 53 minutes, the match was the longest final in Open Era Grand Slam history, as well as the longest match in Australian Open history, surpassing the 5 hour and 14 minute 2009 semifinal between Nadal and Fernando Verdasco.

Djokovic was beaten by John Isner in the semifinals at Indian Wells. He successfully defended his title in Miami.

In Monte Carlo, he challenged Rafael Nadal on what is very much his home turf, but he was unable to prevent Nadal from earning his record-breaking eighth consecutive title there, succumbing in the final, 3-6, 1-6.

Davis Cup[link]

In 2006, Djokovic got the decisive win on 9 April, against Great Britain by defeating Greg Rusedski in four sets in the fourth match, giving his team an unsurmountable 3–1 lead in their best-of-five series, thus keeping Serbia and Montenegro in the Group One Euro/African Zone of Davis Cup. Following this match-up, a lot of media buzz appeared about Djokovic's camp negotiating with the Lawn Tennis Association about changing his international loyalty by joining British tennis ranks. Nineteen-year-old Djokovic, who was no.63 on the ATP list at the time, mostly dismissed the story at first by saying that the talks were not serious, describing them as "the British being very kind to us after the Davis Cup". However, more than three years later, in October 2009, Djokovic confirmed that the talks between his family and the LTA throughout April and May 2006, were indeed serious:

}}

By winning all three of his matches, Djokovic played a key role in the 2007 play-off win over Australia, promoting the Serbia Davis Cup team to World Group in 2008. In Serbia's tie against Russia in early 2008, in Moscow, Djokovic was sidelined due to influenza and was forced to miss his first singles match. He returned to win his doubles match, teaming with Nenad Zimonjić, before being forced to retire during his singles match with Nikolay Davydenko. Djokovic also had a big role in promoting Serbia to the 2009 World Group. On 6–8 March 2010, he played the key role in bringing Serbia to World Group quarterfinals for the first time in its independent history, winning both singles matches in the home tie against United States (against Sam Querrey and John Isner). Later, Serbia progressed to the Davis Cup final, following the victories over Croatia (4–1) and Czech Republic (3–2). Serbia came from 1–2 down to defeat France in the final tie 3–2 in Belgrade to win the nation's first Davis Cup Championship. In the final, Djokovic scored two singles points for Serbia, defeating Gilles Simon and Gaël Monfils. He was the backbone of the Serbian squad, going 7–0 in singles rubbers to lead the nation to the title, although the honour of winning the deciding rubber in the final went to compatriot Viktor Troicki.

In the semi finals of the 2011 Davis Cup Djokovic played a crucial rubber match for Serbia against Juan Martin Del Potro playing for Argentina, which he lost 6–7, 0–3 having to retire after reaggravating a back injury sustained during the US Open tournament, which secured Argentina's place in the final defeating Serbia 3–2. This marked Djokovic's third loss of his 2011 season, and his second retirement.

Rivalries[link]

Djokovic vs. Nadal[link]

Djokovic and Nadal have met 31 times (the sixth-most head-to-head meetings in the Open Era) with Nadal having a 17–14 advantage. Nadal leads on grass 2–1 and clay 10–2, but Djokovic leads on hard courts 11–5. This rivalry is listed as the third greatest rivalry in the last decade by ATPworldtour.com and is considered by many to be the emerging rivalry. Djokovic is the first player to have at least ten match wins against Nadal and the only person to defeat Nadal seven times consecutively. The two share the record for the longest Australian Open and Grand Slam final match ever played (5 hours and 53 minutes), which was the 2012 Australian Open final, as well as the record for the longest match played in a best-of-three sets (4 hours and 3 minutes) which was the 2009 Mutua Madrid Open semifinal. In the 2011 Wimbledon final, Djokovic won in four sets, which was his first victory over Nadal in a Major. By doing so, he became the only person other than Federer to defeat Nadal in a Grand Slam tournament final. Djokovic also defeated Nadal in the 2011 US Open Final to capture his third major title of the year and fourth overall. By beating Nadal, Djokovic became the second player to defeat Nadal in more than one Grand Slam final (the other being Federer), and the only player to beat Nadal in a Slam final on a surface other than grass. In 2012, Djokovic defeated Nadal in the Australian Open final which made Nadal the first player to lose in three consecutive Grand Slam finals.

At the 2012 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in April, Nadal finally beat Djokovic for the first time since November 2010. They had met in seven finals from January 2011 to January 2012, all of which Djokovic won. In the final at Monte Carlo, an in-form Nadal defeated Novak, 6-3, 6-1.

Djokovic vs. Federer[link]

Djokovic and Federer have met 24 times, with Federer leading 14–10. Federer leads on all surfaces, although they have never met on grass. Djokovic is the only player other than Nadal who has defeated Federer in consecutive Grand Slam tournament matches. Federer ended Djokovic's 41-match winning start to the 2011 season at the 2011 French Open semi-finals which many consider to be a classic match. Djokovic played Federer in his first Major final at the 2007 US Open and lost in three sets. Djokovic has the second-most wins against Federer (after Nadal). The two have met twice in Australian Open (in 2008 and 2011) both of which Djokovic won in straight sets. The two have met five years in a row at the US Open with Federer triumphant in their first three encounters while their last two meetings (in 2010 and 2011) were five-set matches in which Djokovic saved two match points before going on to win.

Djokovic vs. Murray[link]

Djokovic and Murray have met 13 times with Djokovic leading 8–5. Djokovic leads 2–0 on clay, and 6–5 on hard courts. The two went to training camp together, and Murray won the first match they ever played as teenagers. The pair have met 5 times in finals, with Murray leading 3–2, however, their most important final was the 2011 Australian Open final, in which Djokovic won in straight sets. The other four finals were all ATP Masters 1000 finals, with Murray winning the first three in straight sets. But Djokovic defeated Murray in the most recent final in straight sets. They also played a nearly five-hour long semifinal match in the 2012 Australian Open, which Djokovic won 7-5 in the fifth set after Murray led 2 sets to 1.

Playing style and equipment[link]

Djokovic is an all-court player with emphasis on aggressive baseline play. His groundstrokes from both wings are consistent, deep, and penetrating. His backhand is widely regarded as the best in today's game. His best weapon is his backhand down the line, with great pace and precision. He is also known as one of the greatest movers on the court with superior agility, court coverage and defensive ability. After great technical difficulties during the 2009 season, his serve is one of his major weapons again, winning him many free points; his first serve is typically hit flat, while he prefers to slice and kick his second serves wide. Occasionally, Djokovic employs a well-disguised backhand underspin drop shot and sliced backhand. His drop shots still tend to be a drawback when hit under pressure and without proper preparation.

Djokovic commented on the modern style of play, including his own, in interview with Jim Courier after his semifinal win against Andy Murray in the 2012 Australian Open tournament:

Entering the pro circuit, Djokovic used Wilson rackets, continuing so until the end of 2008. At that time, he switched to Head rackets, using a custom paint job of the Head YouTek Speed Pro racquet. Starting with 2011 Australian Open, he began using Head's YouTek IG Speed MP 18/20. Djokovic uses a hybrid of Head Natural Gut in the mains and Luxilon Alu Power in the crosses.

After his 2011 victory in Montreal, tennis coach Nick Bollettieri stated that Djokovic is the most "complete" player of all time. He has the backhand, forehand, serve, second serve, movement, mentality, and can play equally well on any surface. In assessing his 2011 season, Jimmy Connors said that Djokovic gives his opponents problems by playing "a little bit old-school, taking the ball earlier, catching the ball on the rise, (and) driving the ball flat." Connors adds that a lot of the topspin that Djokovic's opponents drive at him comes right into his zone, thus his ability to turn defense into offense well.

Coaching and personal team[link]

From fall 2005 until June 2006, Djokovic was coached by Riccardo Piatti who divided his time between the 18-year-old and Ivan Ljubičić. Player and coach reportedly parted ways over the latter's refusal to work full time with Djokovic.

Since June 2006, Djokovic has been coached by Slovakian former professional tennis player Marián Vajda. They met for the first time during that year's French Open, after which Vajda got hired to be the 19-year-old's coach. On occasion Djokovic employed additional coaches on part-time basis: in 2007, during the spring hardcourt season, he worked with Australian doubles ace Mark Woodforde with specific emphasis on volleys and net play while from August 2009 until April 2010 American Todd Martin joined the coaching team, a period marked by his ill-fated attempt to change Djokovic's serve motion.

In July 2010, before the Davis Cup clash away at Croatia, Djokovic made another addition to his team – nutritionist Igor Četojević who additionally focuses on Chinese medicine and does acupuncture. He discovered the tennis player suffers from Celiac Disease and cannot eat gluten, purging it from his diet. It appeared to have worked as Djokovic began feeling stronger, quicker, and much more fit. After Djokovic's Wimbledon win in July 2011, Četojević left the team.

Sponsorships and business ventures[link]

Djokovic endorses Serbian telecommunications company Telekom Srbija and German nutritional supplement brand FitLine.

Since turning professional in 2003, Djokovic wore Adidas clothing and footwear. At the end of 2009, Djokovic signed a 10-year deal with the Italian clothing company Sergio Tacchini after Adidas refused to extend his clothing contract (choosing instead to sign Andy Murray). Since Sergio Tacchini doesn't make shoes, he continued with Adidas as his choice of footwear. From 2011, Djokovic began to wear custom Red and Blue Adidas Barricade 6.0's shoes, referring to the colours of the Serbian national flag.

Djokovic did television commercial spots and print ads for supermarket chain Idea, the Serbian arm of Croatian supermarket retailer Konzum.

In August 2011, Djokovic became the brand ambassador of Swiss watch manufacturer Audemars Piguet. Less than a month later, Djokovic signed a sponsorship deal with German car company Mercedes-Benz. In March 2012, Djokovic was announced by Bombardier Aerospace as its latest Learjet brand ambassador, thus joining the likes of actor and pilot John Travolta, architect Frank Gehry, maestro Valery Gergiev, and classical pianist Lang Lang.

The business end of Djokovic's career was initially handled by Israeli managers Amit Naor and Allon Khakshouri. In June 2008, he signed with CAA Sports.

Investments[link]

In 2005, as Djokovic moved up the tennis rankings, his family founded a legal entity in Serbia named Family Sport. Registered as a limited liability company, its initial focus was the restaurant business. The company's day-to-day operations are mostly handled by Novak's father Srdjan and uncle Goran expanded its activities into real estate, sports/entertainment event organization, and sports apparel distribution.

The company opened theme cafés named Novak Café, as well as Novak Café & Restaurant in the Belgrade's municipality of Novi Beograd.

In February 2008, the company reached an agreement with local authorities in the city of Kragujevac about jointly entering into a real estate development deal that was to include 4 hectares of city-owned land at Veliki Park being developed into a tennis center with 14 courts. But by 2010 the company pulled out of these plans.

In March 2008, Family Sport won a municipal authority-organized tender in Novi Beograd by submitting an €11 million bid for the 3.8 hectares of land located in Ivan Ribar neighbourhood; with the ambitious plan to build a big tennis center there. As of fall 2011, construction is yet to commence.

In 2009, the company managed to buy an ATP tournament known as the Dutch Open and bring it to Serbia where it became – Serbia Open. With the help of Belgrade city authorities, the tournament's inaugural edition was held during May 2009 at the city-owned 'Milan Gale Muškatirović' courts, located at an attractive spot in Dorćol neighbourhood.

On Monday, 4 July 2011, one day after Djokovic won Wimbledon, Family Sport organized the homecoming reception in front of the National Assembly building with more than 80,000 people gathering to greet him.

Career statistics[link]

From the 2010 Davis Cup finals to the 2011 French Open, Djokovic had a 43-match win streak, placing him behind Guillermo Vilas (46 matches in 1977) and Ivan Lendl (44 matches in 1981/1982).

He won 41 straight matches from the start of 2011 until the French Open semi-finals, second only to John McEnroe's record (he started 42–0 in 1984).

Novak Djokovic is one of only four players (besides David Nalbandian, Andy Murray, and Rafael Nadal) to beat Roger Federer three times in one calendar year, and one of only two players (Juan Martin Del Potro being the other) to beat both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in a Grand Slam in consecutive matches. He is the only player who can claim to have beaten both Federer and Nadal in the same tournament on 4 different occasions (Montreal 2007, Indian Wells 2011, US Open 2011,). He is also the youngest player in the Open Era to defeat the top three players in succession and he achieved this when he defeated world number three Andy Roddick, world number two Nadal, and World number one Federer in the 2007 Rogers Cup. He is one of only two players to have defeated Federer at the semifinal stage or later on more than one occasion in Grand Slam tournaments, and also at consecutive tournaments (the other being Nadal).

His five Masters titles in 2011 are a season record.

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline[link]

''To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2012 Australian Open.''

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center;font-size:98% |- !Tournament!!2003!!2004!!2005!!2006!!2007!!2008!!2009!!2010!!2011!!2012!!width=50|SR!!width=50|W–L!!width=50|Win % |- | colspan="14" style="text-align:left;"|'''Grand Slam Tournaments |- | style="background:#efefef;" text-align:left|Australian Open |A |A | style="background:#afeeee;"|1R | style="background:#afeeee;"|1R | style="background:#afeeee;"|4R |bgcolor=lime|'''W | style="background:#ffebcd;"|QF | style="background:#ffebcd;"|QF |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=lime|'''W | style="background:#efefef;"|3 / 8 | style="background:#efefef;"|32–5 | style="background:#efefef;"|86.49 |- | style="background:#efefef; text-align:left;"|French Open |A |A | style="background:#afeeee;"|2R | style="background:#ffebcd;"|QF | style="background:yellow;"|SF | style="background:yellow;"|SF | style="background:#afeeee;"|3R | style="background:#ffebcd;"|QF | style="background:yellow;"|SF |bgcolor=| | style="background:#efefef;"|0 / 7 | style="background:#efefef;"|25–7 | style="background:#efefef;"|78.12 |- | style="background:#efefef; text-align:left;"|Wimbledon |A |A | style="background:#afeeee;"|3R | style="background:#afeeee;"|4R | style="background:yellow;"|SF | style="background:#afeeee;"|2R | style="background:#ffebcd;"|QF | style="background:yellow;"|SF |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=| | style="background:#efefef;"|1 / 7 | style="background:#efefef;"|27–6 | style="background:#efefef;"|81.81 |- | style="background:#efefef; text-align:left;"|US Open |A |A | style="background:#afeeee;"|3R | style="background:#afeeee;"|3R | style="background:thistle;"|F | style="background:yellow;"|SF | style="background:yellow;"|SF | style="background:thistle;"|F |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=| | style="background:#efefef;"|1 / 7 | style="background:#efefef;"|33–6 | style="background:#efefef;"|84.62 |- !style=text-align:left|Win–Loss !0–0 !0–0 !5–4 !9–4 !19–4 !18–3 !15–4 !19–4 !25–1 !7–0 !5 / 29 !117–24 !82.98 |}

Grand Slam tournament finals[link]

Singles: 7 (5 titles, 2 runner-ups)[link]

{|class="sortable wikitable" |- !width=80|Outcome !width=50|Year !width=200|Championship !width=75|Surface !width=200|Opponent in the final !width=200|Score in the final |- style="background:#ccf;" |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up||2007||US Open||Hard|| Roger Federer||6–7^(4–7), 6–7^(2–7), 4–6 |- style="background:#ffc;" |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2008||Australian Open||Hard|| Jo-Wilfried Tsonga||4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 7–6(7–2) |- style="background:#ccf;" |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up||2010||US Open (2)||Hard|| Rafael Nadal||4–6, 7–5, 4–6, 2–6 |- style="background:#ffc;" |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2011||Australian Open (2)||Hard|| Andy Murray||6–4, 6–2, 6–3 |- style="background:#cfc;" | style="background:#98fb98;"|Winner||2011 || Wimbledon || Grass || Rafael Nadal || 6–4, 6–1, 1–6, 6–3 |- style="background:#ccf;" |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2011||US Open ||Hard|| Rafael Nadal||6–2, 6–4, 6–7^(3–7), 6–1 |- style="background:#ffc;" |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2012||Australian Open (3)||Hard|| Rafael Nadal||5–7, 6–4, 6–2, 6–7^(5–7), 7–5 |}

Awards and honours[link]

List of awards[link]

Best Male Tennis Player in Serbia and Montenegro (1): 2005 Best Male Tennis Player in Serbia (6): 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 DSL Sport Golden Badge (3): 2007, 2010, 2011 Best Sportsman by OCS (3): 2007, 2010, 2011 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year (1): 2011 GQ ACE of the Year (1): 2011 AIPS Athletes of the Year (1): 2011 Golden Bagel Award (1): 2011 ATP Most Improved Player of the Year (2): 2006, 2007 ATP Player of the Year (1): 2011 ITF World Champion (1): 2011 Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year (1): 2012

Orders and special awards[link]

Order of St. Sava

Order of the Karađorđe's Star

Vermillion Medal for Physical Education and Sports (by Albert II, Prince of Monaco)

;Order of Saint Sava On 28 April 2011, in Belgrade, Patriarch Irinej of Serbia awarded Djokovic the Order of St. Sava I class, the highest decoration of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The order was given to him because he demonstrated love for the church, and because he provided assistance to the Serbian people, churches and monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo and Metohija.

Records[link]

These records were attained in the Open Era of tennis and in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 series since 1990.

Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.

Records in ''italics'' are currently active streaks.

{|class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |- !Time span !Selected Grand Slam tournament records !Players matched |- |2007 French Open — 2008 Australian Open||Youngest player to have reached the semi-finals of all four Majors (20 years, 250 days old)||'''Stands alone |- |2012 Australian Open||Longest Grand Slam final match||Rafael Nadal |}

{|class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |- !Grand Slam tournaments !Time Span !Records at each Grand Slam tournament !Players matched |- |Australian Open||2011–2012||''2 consecutive titles||Ken Rosewall Guillermo Vilas Johan Kriek Mats Wilander Stefan Edberg Ivan Lendl Jim Courier Andre Agassi Roger Federer |}

{|class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |- !Time span !Other selected records !Players matched |- |2011||Winner of the hard court treble (Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami)||Pete Sampras Roger Federer |- |2011||Player to qualify earliest for the ATP World Tour Finals – 18 weeks, 6 days||'''Stands alone |- |2011||5 Masters 1000 titles in 1 season||'''Stands alone |- |2011||3 consecutive Masters 1000 titles ||Rafael Nadal |- |2011||31 consecutive Masters 1000 match victories||'''Stands alone |- |2011||6 Masters 1000 finals in 1 season ||Roger Federer |- |2009||Longest best-of-three sets men's singles match ever played (4 hours, 3 minutes)||Rafael Nadal |- |2007||Youngest player to defeat the top 3 players in succession||'''Stands alone |- |2007||Youngest Miami Masters male champion (19 years, 316 days old)||'''Stands alone |- |2007, 2012 |Won 2 Miami Masters titles without losing a set||'''Stands alone |- |2007–2009||91 consecutive weeks at World number 3||'''Stands alone |- |2011||5 match winning streak in finals vs. a current World No. 1 in any season (Rafael Nadal)||'''Stands alone |- |2011||Most prize money in one season ($12,619,803) ||'''Stands alone |- |2007–2010||4 years ended at World number 3 ||Jimmy Connors |}

In popular culture[link]

In 2009, and 2010, Djokovic won an Oscar Of Popularity for the most popular male athlete in Serbia.

He was a special guest in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade. He threw a big tennis ball into the crowd, announcing the start of the voting. Together with the presenter of the show Željko Joksimović, Djokovic sang a song about Belgrade.

Djokovic is also featured in the music video for the song "Hello" by Martin Solveig and Dragonette. The video, filmed at Stade Roland Garros, shows Solveig facing off against Bob Sinclar, another DJ, in a tennis match. When the referee calls a crucial ball "Out", Djokovic enters the arena and convinces the referee otherwise.

In 2010, the Serbian blues-rock band Zona B recorded the song "The Joker", dedicating it to Djokovic.

On 25 June 2011, its seventieth Congress in Chicago, all the members unanimously awarded Djokovic the Order of Serbian National Defense in America I class, the highest decoration of the SND. The order was given to him because of his merits in the international sport scene and his contributions to the reputation of Serbs and Serbia around the world.

Owing to his extroverted personality, fluency in several languages, and willingness to go along with comedic concepts, Djokovic became a fixture on entertainment-based TV talk shows around the globe immediately upon achieving a measure of prominence via results on the tennis court. After winning the Australian Open, his first major, in early 2008, Djokovic appeared on American late-night programme ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''. Throughout spring 2009, during ATP Master Series tournaments in Madrid and Rome, respectively, the Serb was a guest on Pablo Motos' show ''El Hormiguero'' followed by an appearance on the ''Fiorello Show'' hosted by Italian comedian Rosario Fiorello. Djokovic's television appearances particularly intensified during his amazing run of form throughout 2011: after winning Wimbledon and reaching number one spot on the ATP list, he again appeared on Leno's ''Tonight Show'' as well as on Conan O'Brien's show on TBS. Djokovic's dramatic win at the US Open was followed by another television blitz including spots on ''Live with Regis and Kelly'', CBS' ''The Early Show'', NBC's ''Today'' as well as a walk-on appearance on ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon''. In mid-November 2011, he made a triumphant return to Rai 1's ''Fiorello Show''. In late November during the ATP World Tour Finals in London he was a guest on Sir David Frost's interview programme ''Frost Over the World'' on Al Jazeera English.

He was voted the 19th most influential man on AskMen.com's Top 49 Most Influential Men of 2011. On invitation from film producer Avi Lerner, Djokovic became part of the high-budget Hollywood movie production ''The Expendables 2'' in a cameo playing himself, which he shot on 29 November 2011 in a warehouse in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. He appeared on the cover of Italian ''GQ'''s March 2012 issue.

He was a guest on the CBS show 60 minutes.

See also[link]

ATP World Tour Awards

ATP World Tour records

List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players

List of Grand Slam men's singles champions

List of non-Grand Slam tennis statistics and records

List of open era tennis records

Tennis performance timeline comparison (men)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Official site

Novak Djokovic at Flickr

Novak Djokovic at Qwinki

Novak Djokovic at Tumblr

{{navboxes|title=Novak Djokovic in Grand Slam Tournaments |list1= }} {{navboxes|title=Novak Djokovic's Achievements |list1= }} Category:1987 births Category:Australian Open champions Category:Living people Category:Hopman Cup competitors Category:Laureus World Sports Awards winners Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Serbia Category:Olympic medalists in tennis Category:Olympic tennis players of Serbia Category:People from Belgrade Category:People from Monte Carlo Category:Recipients of the Order of St. Sava Category:Recipients of the Order of the Star of Karageorge Category:Serbia and Montenegro male tennis players Category:Serbian expatriates in Monaco Category:Serbian male tennis players Category:Serbian Orthodox Christians Category:Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:Wimbledon champions Category:World No. 1 tennis players

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