The current world number one, tennis player Rafael Nadal has won Grand Slam tournaments for ten years in a row. The athlete is known for his rivalry with Swiss player Roger Federer, Serb Novak Djokovic and from Scotland. Nadal has 16 Grand Slams, 4 Davis Cups, an Olympic gold medal and numerous ATP trophies to his credit.

Career of Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal is from Spain and started playing when he was only three years old. With an innate talent for football and football, the athlete chose the second sport to build professional career. Rafael started playing in junior championships and moved to professional tennis with ATP tournaments.

AT early years right-hander Nadal played with his left hand, but with a two-handed forehand and backhand. By the age of 12, his uncle Tony, who was also Rafael's trainer, began to retrain the future champion to one-handed strikes. Then the tennis player won the Spanish and European titles in his age group. His left forehand was a signature shot that propelled Nadal to the top of the rankings.

Rafael turned professional at age 15 in 2001, reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals a year later. He then won his first Open Era match, breaking into the world top 50. At the same time, Rafael helped defeat the United States in the Davis Cup final. The victories came one after another. At the age of 18, the athlete went around the first racket of the world, and at the age of 19 he won the French Open. Early in his career, Nadal was known for biting his trophies.

Significant victories

Piloting his forehand with a devastatingly powerful shot, Nadal quickly became one of the the best players ATP. He also developed a rivalry with No. 1 Roger Federer. In 2005, Rafael became the third racket, winning on Roland Garros in France. Winning 11 tournaments in singles, the tennis player broke the record of Mats Wilander, who was the owner of 9 titles.

Each subsequent year brought the champion far from one victory, including over and. In 2008, the iconic Wimbledon match took place, where Nadal and Federer clashed again. The game lasted incredibly long because of the rain. It was the most anticipated final, and Raphael finally won, taking his first Wimbledon title. At the end of this summer, the tennis player became the first racket of the world.

Nadal won in Australia in 2009, in France he won from 2005 to 2008, from 2010 to 2014 and in 2017. The championship at Wimbledon took place again in 2010. The athlete also won the title at the US Open three times.

In 2017, the tennis player won 10 times. In Rome at the 2018 Masters tournament, Nadal received his eighth title in the Italian capital, as well as his 78th career title, thus overtaking John McEnroe. In total, this is Nadal's 32nd Masters title, more than anyone in the Open Era. With his victory in Rome, the tennis player also again became the first in the world, displacing Federer.

Watch Rafael Nadal

In 2010, premium Swiss watch brand Richard Mille announced that it had developed an ultra-light wristwatch in collaboration with Nadal. The model was named Richard Mille RM027 Tourbillon. The watch is made from titanium and lithium and is valued at $525,000. Raphael took part in the development and testing of watches on tennis court. Their cooperation continues with the release of new models.

A 2017 Richard Mille Rafael Nadal watch costs $725,000. Design number RM 27-03 withstands up to 10,000 gauss - a new threshold for the watch industry. However, they weigh only 34 grams. Paying homage to the flag of Nadal's home country of Spain, the watch is adorned with bright red and orange hues. Ultralight and advanced materials are used in the manufacture - "thin layers of quartz with a thickness of only 45 microns with a tinted resin."

Rafael Nadal Nike

Many eminent brands wish to conclude contracts with the titled tennis player. Rafael collaborates with Kia Motors, Lanvin, Armani Jeans, Tommy Hilfiger. He is also an ambassador for a Mallorcan company called Quely. As for him sportswear and footwear, the sponsor was and remains Nike.

Rafael Nadal is known for his sleeveless T-shirt. After signing with Nike, he wore these t-shirts and ¾-length pants. Since 2009, the tennis player prefers more standard court clothing. The athlete appeared in polo shirts specially designed by the brand for him. On the feet were Nike Air CourtBallistec 2.3. with Nadal's nickname "Rafa".

Continuing the collaboration in 2018, Rafael Nadal introduces the Nike Court AeroReact Rafa T-shirt, Flex Ace shorts and Air Zoom Cage 3 sneakers.

Personal life of Rafael Nadal

In addition to tennis and football, Nadal also plays golf and poker. In April 2014 he played the world's best player Vanessa Selbst in Monaco. In 2001, the athlete's autobiography was published. As for his personal life, Rafael has long been in a relationship with Maria Francisca (Xisca) Perello. The girl avoids meetings with the press. Little is known about Mary. She is the head of the charitable Rafa Nadal Foundation. In an interview, the champion's girlfriend stated that she prefers not to attend most of Nadal's tennis matches in order to maintain their relationship.

“He needs his own space when he competes. If I follow him around, there is a risk that we might stop getting along."

Rafael Nadal is a Spanish tennis player, fourteen-time winner of the Grand Slam tournaments, the owner of the career Golden Slam in singles, the former world No. 1 in the ATP rankings. Now he is in the top 5 of the world classification of players. The Spaniard is a fairly versatile tennis player, however ideal conditions soil is considered to be for him. In sports circles, Nadal even has a nickname - "King of the clay." Game experts, as well as Rafael's tennis partners, reasonably consider him one of the best players of our time.

Rafael Nadal: personal life and biography facts

Rafael was born in 1986 in the Balearic Islands (Mallorca). The boy's father was a businessman, his mother was a housewife. The love of tennis was instilled in him by an uncle named Tony (current coach). It can be said that already at the age of three it began sports biography. Rafael Nadal was a frequent visitor to football stadiums Spain, where another uncle of the boy, Miguel Angel Nadal, performed at a professional level.

With his current girlfriend, Maria Pascual, Rafael has known since school. The couple have been together since 2005.

Except tennis Rafael loves to play golf, is a passionate fan of Real Madrid and the Spanish national football team.

Nadal performs in Nike brand equipment. In the early years of his career, he preferred to play in a T-shirt, currently he trains and plays in a regular T-shirt. It is noteworthy that in one season the Spanish tennis player changes several pairs of sneakers, but on the right of them there is always a nominal inscription - Rafa.

The Spanish tennis player is very proud of his native Manacor, where he lived with his parents and sister. At the age of 14, the Spanish Tennis Federation offered the young athlete to move to Barcelona and pay for his training, but Rafael, after consulting with his uncle and coach, decided to stay in his hometown.

Professional career

Spaniard Rafael Nadal began playing tennis at a professional level at the age of 15, and at 16 he already played at the youth Wimbledon. At the same youth level, he helped his country win the Davis Cup.

Since then, Nadal has already played more than a thousand official matches, in eight hundred of which he won. At the moment, the Spaniard has about 70 titles received in international tournaments.

The best achievement of a tennis player in the ATP rankings is the first position that the Spaniard held from 2008 to 2009. Also on account of Rafael Nadal more than two hundred fights in doubles, however, Rafa did not gain fame in this type of competition.

Opponents

A good companion off the tennis court and Nadal's main opponent is Roger Federer. The confrontation between the Spaniard and the Swiss is called by sports experts one of the greatest in the history of the game. From 2005 to 2010, tennis players alternately held the first position in the world rankings, and from 2006 to 2008, athletes necessarily met each other in the Wimbledon finals and Open Championship France.

To date, Nadal and Federer have held 37 official meetings between themselves, in which the Spaniard won 23 victories.

In addition to fights with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal's confrontations with Englishman Andy Murray and Serbian Novak Djokovic are of particular interest to the audience.

Achievements

Rafael Nadal continues to perform at a professional level, but now behind him achievement list which almost any tennis player can envy. In the Grand Slam series, the Spaniard won the following tournaments: the Australian Open, twice the Wimbledon tournament and the US Open, and experienced a triumph in France nine times. In addition, Nadal has won 27 Masters tournaments and four victories in the popular tournament. national teams- Davis Cup, where Rafael defended the colors of the Spanish national team.

Interestingly, the Spaniard holds the record for the number of matches won in a row on the same surface. This is a unique phenomenon for playing tennis. Rafael Nadal won 81 wins on his favorite clay. It is also noteworthy that this series was interrupted by Rafa's eternal opponent - Swiss tennis player Roger Federer.

Playing style

Rafael Nadal is rightfully considered one of the most enduring and physically strong tennis players. He has an aggressive playing style and a strong topspin serve. Vulnerable point the Spaniard used to be called the game under the net, but in recent years Nadal has significantly improved this component of the game, diversifying his performances and making them more spectacular.

For a long time, the personal life of Rafael Nadal was shrouded in a thick veil, and only last year, in the Wimbledon final, the curious public was able to satisfy their curiosity and see the girl who inspires Rafa to win.

Hiska Perello, under this name, many people know her in Spain, in fact, she has a full name Maria Francisca Perello Pascual and is an old and constant girl Nadal. She was born in Palma, Mallorca on July 7, 1988. Her father, Bernat Perello, is a designer, and her mother, Maria, works in the municipality of Manacor. Hiska met Rafa through his sister, Alice, and they started dating in December 2005, although they had known each other since high school.

Since then, they have become inseparable, Hiska is very close to the Nadal family and is especially friendly with his grandmother. For almost three years, they managed to hide their relationship from the press, and only recently they began to notice her at Nadal's matches in the company of his mother, Ana Maria Nadal.
Franziska has no tennis roots and rarely attends her boyfriend's matches. Some gossip that he himself forbids her to do this, and Nadal says about this that he "just doesn't want to be embarrassed."

Last year, she received her MBA (Master of Business Administration) from the University of Palma and her first employer was the energy company Endesa. Now Hiska works for Mapfre and her co-workers speak very positively about her diligence and business qualities.

They both live with their parents for now, but Hiska often stays at either Nadal's chic, five-bedroom oceanfront home in the Dominican Republic, or at his villa in Ibiza.

As his uncle, who is Nadal's coach, once said: "I think that a lot of girls will be disappointed with the truth. My nephew always claimed that he had no one. It was a carefully hidden secret. In fact, his girlfriend is waiting for him in Mallorca."

By the age of 25, Rafael received many titles: he became an Olympic champion, for several years he was the first racket of the world, the winner of the Grand Slam tournaments, "that hot Spaniard from the clip", Armani's model and one of the most talked about tennis players. Perhaps not bad for a modest boy from Mallorca.

My uncle is a wizard

In general, the fate of Raphael could not have turned out differently. Who, if not a world-famous star, could still be the nephew of the famous football player, former defender of the Barcelona and Mallorca clubs Miguel Angel Nadal and coach Tony Nadal, who threw all his strength into cultivating the young champion. It is not surprising that at some point in his childhood, Rafael faced a serious choice - what to do next, football or tennis.

Rafael became the winner of Roland Garros 2011, defeating Roger Federer in the final

At first it seemed that it would be football. He was crazy about it, every free minute running out with friends to drive the ball on the field, and tennis was boring to him. Uncle Tony put a racket in his hand when the tomboy was only three years old, perhaps hoping that his nephew would sooner or later become interested in tennis. And so it happened.

Rafael spent 10 years on the court more for show, even joined the group that Tony taught at the tennis club small town Manacora until one day he started beating his uncle and realized that tennis was his future. From that moment on, Tony began to train his nephew individually.

Not everything went smoothly, one might even say that everything did not go smoothly at all. Perfectionist Tony had a philosophy of his own that permeated their daily workouts. He chose the most unsuitable courts and balls for his nephew in order to clearly show him that victory or defeat does not depend on good or bad balls, courts, rackets, lighting.

“Whether you lose or win,” Tony liked to repeat to the boy, “depends primarily on your discipline and endurance.” He immediately made it clear to Rafael that he would not walk in his favorites. On the contrary, the nephew collected balls for other players, put the courts in order at the end of the day and returned home to his parents with tears in his eyes, but never complained about the harsh coach.

As a child, the sensitive and naive Rafa sincerely believed that his uncle could do magic: make it rain, command the players, and even become invisible. Tony himself and the boy's family only supported the myth of his uncle's magical abilities, and the boy was in awe of him. Over time, he realized that his coach is an ordinary person who also has doubts and insecurities. But the main thing has already been done - uncle's authority really worked magic, turning an ordinary Spanish boy into number one on the tennis court.

Number one on the court, number two at home

Athletes well-known in narrow circles predicted a short career for the swift and fast Rafael, but he turned around in earnest. At the age of 15, he won his first professional match, by the age of 17 he was already confidently ranked 5th in the ranking of the best tennis players, became the second racket of the world and managed to beat the most sophisticated masters, among whom was Roger Federer.

It is interesting that life now and then pushed the elegant Swiss, the recognized champion and tennis genius Roger and the emotional, young and stubborn Rafael in fights. Their matches have already become a historical confrontation between the two first rackets of the world, and fans do not stop comparing the characters and the game of the two rivals. However, they are rivals only on the tennis court. Rafa follows another testament of his coach - do not mix everyday life with work on the court.

Moreover, opponents in the fight for prizes in tennis actively cooperate and hold matches organized by their charitable foundations. The Federer Foundation transfers funds from matches to help African countries, the Nadal Foundation - to help disabled children, adolescents and children from disadvantaged families.

Here, finally, Raphael's mother, Anna Maria, comes out of the shadows. A music teacher and former perfume shop owner, soft-spoken but with business acumen, she has taken charge of her son's charitable foundation and is now its president. In her rare interviews, words of adoration or special pride for Rafael are not heard, but there is something for that - for two years with a break for a year he bore the title of the first racket of the world, became Olympic champion ohm and won multiple Grand Slam tournaments.

But Anna Maria is only glad that her son has learned to show the famous assertiveness of the “Manakor bull” on the court, and in ordinary life to remain himself. Devote time to study, friends and favorite activities: fishing, playing golf with two famous uncles, walking with your girlfriend.

Support team

Rafael was clearly lucky with his family, his family is a powerful support team for him. Parents never dreamed of seeing their son as a star, their only desire was that, after endless training, he would not stop leading the ordinary life of a young man.

After tournaments, he returns home to Mallorca, to a large parental home, where it is not customary to talk about tennis and the high status of Rafael, and only a room specially reserved for awards and prizes reminds of his daring victories or insulting defeats. Here he rests from the insane stress of competition. Helps her mother and father with household chores, sees her younger sister Maribel when she comes from the university.

By the way, Rafael has a special and trusting relationship with his sister. They are both similar, both are avid athletes and fidgets, Maribel soul is not both in her brother and in sports, and even entered the National University of Physical Education. From an interview with Anna Maria, it is known that both the son and the daughter are passionate fans of Real Madrid. So when the game starts, even being on different continents, they always call up and passionately discuss the match.

Rafael Nadal's secret

For a long time, the personal life of the dark-skinned modest Nadal remained sealed, the tennis player always tactfully bypassed questions about his girlfriend and made it clear that he did not intend to answer. However, the paparazzi managed to find out something, which is why many fans had to save their dreams of reuniting with Rafael until better times. She occasionally appears at his matches, but deliberately moves away from the cameras. A curvaceous brunette with a mop of shiny long hair and a perpetually serene smile. Maria Francesca or, as Nadal fans like to call her, Cesca.

We can say that Raphael has very good taste. Maria comes from a good family, graduated from university and now holds a good position in an insurance company. She rarely follows her lover to matches, and they mostly see each other when the athlete comes home to Mallorca. This couple has its own philosophy of relationships, in which they feel good and comfortable.

Cheska admits that if she had accompanied Rafael everywhere, they would most likely have parted over time. During the competition, he needs a lot of personal space, and she simply cannot passively sit and wait until he can give her attention. But when they meet and go with friends to the sunny beach, they do not leave each other a single step.

“Once we were in Paris,” says Maria, “and the sponsors invited Rafael to dinner. I refused to go and stayed at the hotel, but when Rafa returned, he told me: “You know, it’s good that you didn’t go.” It turned out that there were just a lot of photographers, and it was very uncomfortable. I don’t want to be part of this world and I don’t think that Rafael would choose a woman who is looking for a secular life.”

The tennis player's family fully supports his choice, Maria has a very warm and close relationship with Rafael's grandmother, and her grandfather's opinion is short and concise: "They are perfect for each other."

Photo: All Over Press, Legion-Media.ru

The outstanding Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal Parera is a finalist and winner of fourteen Grand Slam tournaments. He is also the 2008 Olympic champion. The Spaniard is recognized as a master on clay and the youngest winner of Roland Garros since 1989. In the biography of Rafael Nadal, there were ups and downs.

Rafael Nadal was born on June 3, 1986 in Manacor. He spent his childhood there. His parents are Sebastian and Ana Maria Nadal Parera. The player also has a younger sister, Maria Isabelle. The tennis player's mother and father run a restaurant at the Manacor family hotel in Mallorca.

The boy started playing tennis at the age of 3. Toni's uncle Nadal taught him the tricks of the game from the early days. At the age of eight, Rafael won his first tennis tournaments in Spain and abroad. These victories allowed him to decide on the choice that stood between tennis and football.

At the age of 14, Raphael became interested in the Spanish tennis association who wanted the boy to train in Barcelona. However, the parents and uncle-coach did not see the need for this, and Nadal ended up staying in Mallorca.

Rafael Nadal's statistics are impressive with the number of titles. The first real achievement that defined his career was the victory over former champion Wimbledon in May 2001. In the same year he received the status professional player, and in April 2002 won his first match in the tournament ATP World Tour.

For the entire season, the tennis player won 6 Futures tournaments and took the final 200th place in the ATP rankings. Since then, he has been a participant in many competitions, including the tournament French Open - Paris in Paris. Thanks to perseverance, constant improvement of his skills and work on technique, Nadal won more and more tournaments around the world. The Spaniard meets various opponents on the playing field. Among them: Matthew Ebden, Goncalo Oliveira, Tadanari Lee, as well as equivalent rivals - Murray, Djokovic and Federer.

Raphael has his own characteristic and effective technique. He serves with his left hand despite being right-handed. He doesn't just touch the ball: his kick is so strong that it reaches a rotation speed of up to 5000 revolutions per minute. Such a strong serve makes the ball bounce high on right side field and forces the players to retreat far beyond the touchline. For comparison: a right hand, for example, in Agassi, is about 2000 revolutions. He is also known for long play from deep in the court.

In addition, the tennis player is famous for his excellent motor skills, fast movement around the court, which makes him an effective defender in the playing space. An additional advantage is provided by such characteristics as:

• stress tolerance;
• the ability to adapt to the opponent's game;
• the ability to show excellent results regardless of weather conditions and the type of surface on the field.

He defends brilliantly, reflecting almost every ball. At the beginning of the meeting, he intensively attacks the enemy and after a while moves to a defensive position.

Rafael Nadal is not only an outstanding tennis player. He is also an advocate for the fight against illegal tricks in sports, and also advocates severe punishment for players who use illegal means. He is the founder of the foundation for helping children and youth. The eminent player heads his own tennis academy.

The tennis player from Mallorca has already won more than a dozen grandiose victories. Only two people have achieved great results - American Pete Sampras and Swiss Roger Federer. In terms of income on the court, only Federer overtakes him (he earns more than $ 56 million, the Swiss - more than $ 77 million). He is also the only player in history, on par with American Andre Agassi, to win a golden career Grand Slam. He has won all 4 major tournaments in the world and won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.

In ordinary life, he is a quiet and shy person. Rafael is a householder who is obsessed with strange fears that almost turn into obsessive-compulsive disorder.

With early childhood"Rafa", as his relatives and just fans call him, suffers from various phobias. According to the stories of relatives and friends, a tennis player is afraid of:

1. Storm.
2. Darkness. The tennis player to this day falls asleep with the lights on or the TV on.
3. Fire. leaving home for the evening, Nadal can wake up his mother Anna Maria several times. The Spaniard does this to ask her if she put out the fire in the fireplace before going to bed.

Rituals also accompany him before each match. Shortly before sports meeting he drinks half of each of two bottles of water. He always places them in the same way - to the left of his chair, placing them diagonally and pointing towards the playing field. It is also important to indicate the object that is invariably used by the athlete - his racket from the Babolat brand.

Childhood phobias did not prevent him from getting to the top of the tennis Olympus, because the player's ambitions always prevailed. In his official biography, a book called "Rafa", the Spaniard mentions how, at the age of 10, he cried in his father's car when he unexpectedly lost a match in a junior tournament. He reproached himself for the fact that instead of training hard, he should have played with friends and rested.

Uncle Tony, his first and so far only tennis coach, was able to realize his ambitions. In John Carlin's book, Nadal says that when Tony was unhappy, he threw balls at the guy or humiliated him in front of his friends, ordering him to clean up the entire yard. Almost never did a man praise his nephew. He almost always screamed, showed a callous attitude towards the boy, and regularly complained about something.

The Grand Slam champion still remembers some of the trades he had to master at the age of seven. Once there was a terrible heat, and the young man forgot to take water from the house. The uncle knew about this, but instead of giving his nephew a drink, he forbade him to quench his thirst. So the man taught future star tennis to be responsible for the mistakes made.

Rafa admitted that he could not stand the attitude of his uncle, if not the love of tennis. He says he owes his uncle everything he knows about tennis. It was also Tony who helped him develop traits such as perseverance and determination that allow him to win. Psychological stability allows him to win over players who demonstrate the best possession of technique.

Nadal's 'deadly' intense training has taken a toll on his health. Due to knee pain, he sometimes disappears from the court for several months. Had it not been for a series of injections of an effective drug given without anesthesia, Rafa might have had to finish her sports career in 2010.

Most long break lasted 7 months. This is long enough for a tennis player, and therefore most of sports world almost put an end to Nadal's career during that period. However, he returned to strike down his opponents. powerful blows. In the year of the resumption of his career, the Spaniard played in nine tournaments. In seven of them he won, in two he reached the final.

Many, however, argue that the strength of the Spaniard is not only the result of hard work. In 2011, French tennis legend Yannick Noah openly accused Nadal and his teammates of doping.

Although the Spaniard called these accusations stupid, his views on the fight against doping in tennis are puzzling. In 2009, he said that anti-doping tests violate the privacy of tennis players and irritate him terribly. Nadal argued that those responsible should be punished, but that the entire "tennis family" was not required to pay for the mistakes of individuals. The last statement means that illegal methods of achieving victories should be excluded, control should be tightened, and those responsible should be punished.

Despite numerous accusations and suspicions since then, no one has yet proven the illegality of the Spanish player's victories. Therefore, he freely participates in the next Grand Slam tournament and is preparing to conquer Wimbledon.

On account of a talented tennis player - 17 victories in the Grand Slam tours. In moments of triumph, of course, the “support group” in the person of family members and the bride sincerely rejoices for him from the stands. Reporters often discuss the person of Rafael Nadal. Latest news about him are equally interested in both sports fans and gossip lovers. But there are few scandalous facts about him. A tennis player would like people to be more interested in his sports achivments rather than personal life.

In everyday life, Nadal is a calm and reserved guy. Although he has celebrity status, he does not want to be perceived as an exceptional person. The Spaniard is dating Maria Francisco Perello, nicknamed "Hisca". Rafael Nadal and his girlfriend have known each other for many years. The couple have been together since 2005. Nadal always emphasizes in interviews that they are very happy together. The Spaniard likes to spend time at home in solitude. His favorite activities:

• Playstation game;
• fishing;
• golf.

Nadal is an avid football fan. His favorite club is Real Madrid. He is so popular that there are even statuettes depicting him in stores. The tennis player periodically participates in various charity events along with other world famous players to raise funds for those in need. For example, in 2010, the Hit for Haiti tournament was held in Melbourne before the start of the Australian Open. The resulting money was sent to victims of the earthquake in Haiti.