Rafael Nadal Parera (Catalan: [r?f(?)'?l n?'�al p?'?e??

], Spanish: [rafa'el na'�al

pa'?e?a];[2] born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player, currently
world No. 2 in men's singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals
(ATP).[3]

Nadal has won 17 Grand Slam singles titles, the second most in history for a male
player, as well as a record 33 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles, 20 ATP World
Tour 500 tournaments, and the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles. In addition,
Nadal has held the number one ranking for a total of 196 weeks.[4] In majors, Nadal
has won a record 11 French Open titles, three US Open titles, two Wimbledon titles,
and one Australian Open title. Nadal has also won 57 clay court titles, including
his 11 French Open titles, the most of any player in the Open Era. With 81
consecutive match wins on clay, Nadal has the longest single surface win streak of
any player in the Open Era.

He was also a member of the winning Spain Davis Cup team in 2004, 2008, 2009, and
2011. In 2010, he became the seventh male player in history and youngest of five in
the Open Era to achieve the Career Grand Slam at age 24. He is the second male
player, after Andre Agassi, to complete the singles Career Golden Slam. In 2011,
Nadal was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year.[5]Rafael Nadal was born in
Manacor, a town on the island of Mallorca in the Balearic Islands, Spain to parents
Ana Mar�a Parera and Sebasti�n Nadal. His father is a businessman, owner of an
insurance company, glass and window company Vidres Mallorca, and the restaurant, Sa
Punta. Rafael has a younger sister, Mar�a Isabel. His uncle, Miguel �ngel Nadal, is
a retired professional footballer, who played for RCD Mallorca, FC Barcelona, and
the Spanish national team.[6] He idolized Barcelona striker Ronaldo as a child, and
via his uncle got access to the Barcelona dressing room to have a photo with the
Brazilian.[7] Nadal supports football clubs Real Madrid and RCD Mallorca.[8]
Recognizing in Rafael a natural talent, another uncle, Toni Nadal, a former
professional tennis player, introduced him to tennis when he was three years old.
[9]

At age 8, Nadal won an under-12 regional tennis championship at a time when he was
also a promising football player.[10] This made Toni Nadal intensify training, and
at that time he encouraged Nadal to play left-handed for a natural advantage on the
tennis court, as he noticed Nadal played forehand shots with two hands.[10]

At age 12, Nadal won the Spanish and European tennis titles in his age group, while
also playing football full-time.[10] Nadal's father made him choose between
football and tennis so that his school work would not deteriorate entirely. Nadal
said: "I chose tennis. Football had to stop straight away."[10]

When he was 14, the Spanish tennis federation requested that Nadal leave Mallorca
and move to Barcelona to continue his tennis training. His family turned down this
request, partly because they feared his education would suffer,[10] but also
because Toni said that "I don't want to believe that you have to go to America, or
other places to be a good athlete. You can do it from your home."[9] The decision
to stay home meant less financial support from the federation; instead, Nadal's
father covered the costs. In May 2001, he defeated former Grand Slam tournament
champion Pat Cash in a clay-court exhibition match.[6]adal turned professional at
age 15,[11] and participated in two events on the ITF junior circuit. On 29 April
2002, at 15 years and 10 months, the world No. 762 Nadal won his first ATP match,
defeating Ram�n Delgado,[12] and became the ninth player in the Open Era to do so
before the age of 16.[13]

In 2001, Nadal finished the year with a Challenger series record of 1�1 in singles
with no titles or finals appearances. He did not participate in any doubles
Challengers events. At ITF Futures, Nadal's record was 7�5 in singles and 1�2 in
doubles, with no titles or finals appearances.[14]
In 2002, aged 16, Nadal reached the semifinals of the Boys' Singles tournament at
Wimbledon, in his first ITF junior event.[15] In the same year, he helped Spain
defeat the US in the final of the Junior Davis Cup in his second, and final,
appearance on the ITF junior circuit.[15][16] Nadal's Challenger level record in
2002 was 4�2 in singles with no titles. He did not participate in any doubles
Challengers events. Nadal finished the year with a Futures record of 40�9 in
singles and 10-9 in doubles. He won 6 singles tournaments at this level, including
5 on clay and 1 on hard courts. He did not reach any doubles finals.[17][18] Nadal
also entered the clay-court Mallorca Open, part of the ATP International Series, at
the end of April as a wildcard, where he participated in both singles and doubles.
In singles, Nadal won his first ever ATP match, defeating Ramon Delgado in the
Round of 32. He then was defeated in the Round of 16 by Olivier Rochus.[19] In
doubles, Nadal and his partner, Bartolome Salva-Vidal, were defeated in the first
round by David