On Sunday world No.1 Rafael Nadal continued his flawless run on the clay this season by defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas to win his 11th title at the Barcelona Open.
The Spanish 31-year-old now has the chance of achieving an historic triple by winning the Monte Carlo, Barcelona and French Open trophies without dropping a set within the same season. The last time he won Monte Carlo and Barcelona without dropping a set was in 2012.
Here are some notable numbers from the Spaniard’s career heading into next week’s Madrid Open.
77
Nadal has now won 77 ATP titles, including a record 55 on the clay. He now lies joint-fourth on the all-time list for most titles won on the tour. The current record is Jimmy Connors’ tally of 109. Out of the active players, Nadal is ranked second behind Roger Federer (97).
Nadal’s trophy tally (singles only)*
16 grand slam titles (including a record 10 French Open trophies)
31 Masters 1000 titles
20 ATP International Gold/500 series titles
9 ATP International/ 250 series titles
1 Olympic gold medal
*Nadal has only won two ATP titles indoors.
.@RafaelNadal wins 77th career singles title and equals John McEnro for 4th-most in the Open Era:
.@JimmyConnors 109
.@rogerfederer 97
Ivan Lendl 94
McEnroe, #Nadal 77— ATP Media Info (@ATPMediaInfo) April 29, 2018
401
In Barcelona, Nadal became only the fourth player since 1973 to win 400 or more matches on the clay. According to the ATP, only 79 other players have managed to win 400 or more matches (on multiple surfaces) over the past 45 seasons.
Despite not winning the most matches on the dirt of all time, the 10-time French Open champion has the best winning record. He has won 91.97% (401/435) of his matches played on the clay. To put this into perspective, Thomas Muster won 422 matches on the clay during his career, but only achieved an overall winning record of 76.9%.
46
In what is already a record for the men’s tour, Nadal has currently won 46 consecutive sets on the clay. The last person to win a set against him on the surface was Dominic Thiem during the Rome Masters last May.
46 in a row for Nadal on clay.
If he keeps it going in Madrid and Rome, I’m out of characters.
6-1 6-4 6-1 6-1 6-4 6-3 6-0 6-1 6-0 6-1 6-2 6-2 6-2 2-0 6-3 6-4 6-0 6-2 6-3 6-1 6-2 6-2 6-3 6-1 6-4 6-4 6-1 6-3 6-3 6-2 6-0 6-2 6-4 6-1 6-3 6-2 6-4 6-4 6-1 6-3 6-0 7-5 6-4 6-0 6-2 6-1
— David Law (@DavidLawTennis) 29 April 2018
11
After clinching a record 11th title in both Monte Carlo and Barcelona, Nadal has the chance to achieve the same milestone at the upcoming French Open. He is currently the only male player in history to win the same grand slam title 10 or more times.
Nadal at the French Open
Titles won – 10
Matches won – 79
Matches losses – 2 (Novak Djokovic in 2016 and Robin Söderling in 2009)
Prize money earned – $16,912,255
172
This week is Nadal’s 172nd as world No.1. He is the only Spanish player to have ever held that position for 10 or more weeks. Overall, he is sixth on the all-time list. Federer holds the record at 308 weeks.
