Inside Rafael Nadal’s Incredible Statistics On Clay

by Staff |

The King of Clay Rafael Nadal did it again this weekend winning a second straight clay title this month. Nadal captured the Barcelona title, his seventh, defeating countryman David Ferrer 7-6, 7-5 in a very hard fought final.

At just 25, Nadal has already racked up some very impressive, historic numbers, some that will never be matched. After exactly 10 years to day since he played (and won) his first match on April 29, 2002 in Mallorca where he beat Ramon Delgado in his ATP debut, here’s what’s he amassed:

Rafael Nadal has…

* Won a record 34 straight matches in Barcelona and 32 straight sets

* Won a record 42 straight matches in Monte Carlo (also a record for any single tournament)

* Won Monte Carlo a record 8 times

* Won two titles 7 or more times (Barcelona, Monte Carlo) becoming only player with such a record with a 7th French Open

* Won his last 77 matches in April (since an April 8, 2005 Valencia loss to Andreev)

* Won his last 21 matches on clay

* Won his last 14 matches, 11 straight sets (on clay: 10-0, 10 straight sets)

* Won 48 career titles, 34 on clay and 17 total he’s won in straight sets including two French Opens (2008, 2010)

* Won clay titles in 11 different cities on 3 continents

* Won his first 31 matches at the French Open before losing to Soderling in 2009

* Only lost four times in a clay final (34-4 win-loss is a record) losing only to Federer (07 Hamburg, 09 Madrid) and Djokovic (11 Rome, 11 Madrid)

* Won the French Open six of the seven times he’s played (45-1 record)

* Won at least two clay titles every year since the start of 2005

* Compiled the longest Open Era clay win streak at 81 (2006-2007)

* Won the “Clay Slam” in 2010 (3 Masters + French) becoming only player ever to do so

* The best career clay winning percentage in history, 241-18 (93%)