It felt like time stood still on the morning of Oct. 10, 2024, when Rafael Nadal, a generation-defining athlete and pop culture icon, announced his retirement from tennis.
An article encompassing all his accomplishments wouldn’t do justice to the legacy he leaves behind. Instead, here we highlight five of his feats that will never be replicated again by another tennis player for the rest of eternity.
81: Nadal won that many consecutive matches on clay between 2005 and 2007. Only Roger Federer (65 on grass) and John McEnroe (65 on carpet) came close with their surface streaks. His record of 14 majors on clay (all at Roland-Garros) could eventually be topped by Novak Djokovic, who has won 14 slams on hard courts (10 Australian Open, 4 U.S. Open). His 14 titles at one major are unlikely to be bested, though.
112-4 in Paris: Nadal lost only four matches at Roland Garros as part of his 14 French Open titles. The 112 wins at a single major, an Open Era record, could be surpassed by Djokovic, who has 97 and 94 wins at the Wimbledon and Australian Open, respectively. However, Nadal’s 96.5 win-loss percentage at a single major will never be replicated.
An asteroid named after him: In 2003, the Astronomical Observatory of Mallorca discovered a main belt asteroid and called it “128036 Rafaelnadal” out of pride for their then-17-year-old hometown sensation. At the time, Nadal was still playing Challenger events. The decision to name the asteroid after the Spaniard was made by the International Astronomical Union upon a request by the Mallorca Observatory.
Denying Djokovic immortality: The 2012 French Open final between Nadal and Djokovic is one of the most critical matches in history. On the one hand, Nadal stood on the brink of Bjorn Borg’s record six Roland Garros titles. On the other hand, Djokovic had the chance to become the first since Rod Laver in 1969 to win four consecutive majors. Not just that — they had faced each other in the previous three slam finals (2011 Wimbledon, 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 Australian Open) to become the first set of male players to make it four in a row. Oh, and Djokovic had beaten him all three times. With that backdrop, they entered the 2012 French Open final and Nadal said, ‘Not in my house.’ Ultimately, Djokovic did match Laver’s record in 2015-16, but Nadal denied him immortality that fateful evening of June 10, 2012.
World No. 1 in three decades: The Spaniard remains the only player in history to be ranked World No. 1 in three separate decades (2000s, 2010s, 2020s). After spending 46 weeks as World No. 1 in 2008, he exchanged the crown with Federer several times in the late 2000s and later with Andy Murray, Federer and Djokovic in the 2010s. Nobody could have foreseen his resurgence in the late 2010s and early 2020s, which led to him briefly becoming World No. 1 between Jan. 6, 2020, and Jan. 20, 2020 (after 13 weeks in 2019). The three-decade record eluded Djokovic as he didn’t become World No. 1 until July 2011.
Nadal’s storied career included several other “firsts and onlys” — the first to win the Career Grand Slam as well as Olympic gold in both singles and doubles, the only player to beat a World No. 1 23 times (Federer 13, Djokovic 10), the youngest (at age 24) to win the Career Grand Slam, etc.
It’s hard to imagine the above five feats being bested. Not in this century.
