Rafael Nadal is currently recovering from a hip injury to be fit in time for the clay-court season – check out his crazy record
Rafael Nadal‘s record on clay surfaces has been impeccable over the years. He’s rightfully called the ‘King of Clay’ and there is no doubt that the Spaniard is the greatest Tennis player on Clay of all-time. In his illustrious career, Nadal has won an all-time record 22 Grand Slam men’s singles titles, including a record 14 French Open titles.
He has won 92 ATP singles titles, including 36 Masters titles, with 63 of these on clay. Nadal is one of only two men to complete the career Golden Slam in singles. His 81 consecutive wins on clay is the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era.
Some of the things that Nadal has been able to achieve on clay surfaces are astounding and it’s very unlikely that they will be replicated in the future.
The Spaniard has maintained a 100% win record on clay surfaces in multiple seasons – 2006, 2010. While in a few other years like 2005, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2017 and 2018, Nadal has maintained a winning record of more than 95% – quite remarkable indeed.
Let us take a look at some of the reactions from fans on Twitter.
“We will see a lot of hardcourt dominance but never clay dominance. Most unique record in Tennis”, wrote a fan.
“And that’s why he’s the GOAT by an insurmountable distance”, tweeted another fan.
“Greatest challenge in any individual sport- beating Rafa on clay and more so at RG, Soderling and Novak did the almost impossible”, read a tweet.
“Claydal for a reason. Biggest sliding doors (obviously so far a hypothetical) is how he would be perceived in “greatest” talks if the French open didn’t exist”, stated another fan.
Another fan wrote: “The way 2018 is that high up the list is insane, Rafa really is the longevity king.”
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