Rafael Nadal’s prolific career in numbers: 22 Grand Slams, a Career Golden Slam, clay court dominance and more

Rafael Nadal has pulled the curtains on a career that will be remembered as arguably the greatest of all time in the history of tennis. The Spaniard made the announcement in a heartfelt statement that he gave in a video on his social media handles. He said that the Davis Cup finals will be his last act in the sport. Nadal’s Spain are set to face the Netherlands in the quarter-finals between 19 and 21 November, with Nadal being added to the squad after recovering from an injury that kept him out of the group stage.

Nadal has defined an era of men’s tennis that was dominated by him, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, with all three players dominating the sport well into the twilight of their careers. He initially made a name for himself by breaking Federer’s dominance in the early 2000s before establishing himself as a champion in his own right, especially in clay court tournaments where his numbers remain in a league of their own.

Key numbers from Rafael Nadal’s career:

209 – The number of weeks Nadal spent at the top of the ATP rankings

22 – The number of Grand Slam titles that Nadal retires with. His 22nd title came at the 2022 French Open and at the time, this was the most that any male player had won in the history of the sport. The record has since been surpassed by Djokovic

14 – The number of French Open titles that Nadal has won, the most by any player, male or female, at the clay court Grand Slam

81 – The number of matches on clay he won consecutively between 2005 and 2007, the longest for a single surface in the Open Era in men’s singles

24 – Nadal’s age when he managed to win all four Majors, making him the youngest to do so in the Open era

9 – The number of times Nadal has lost a match on clay court in his career

4 – The number of French Opens he has won without dropping a set. Nadal is the only player to have won four Grand Slam titles without losing a single set.

3 – The number of players to have won a Career Golden Slam – winning all four Grand Slams and an Olympic gold medal in their career, which includes Nadal. The other two players are Andre Agassi and Djokovic

2 – The number of Olympic gold medals that Nadal has won. The Spaniard won the men’s singles gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won doubles gold with Marc Lopez at Rio 2016