The afternoons were routine: When the clock struck 5 p.m., a young Fernando Verdasco dashed home from school, dropped off his backpack, then rushed over to Madrid's tennis facilities to watch either his current coach, Ignacio Truyol, or his former coach, Juan-Luis Rascon-Lope, hone their games on the practice courts. His intent was twofold: The seven-year-old wanted to learn from his future mentors but also hoped to get a few minutes of court time with the professional players. If that wasn't an option, he'd imitate their movements and motions by hitting balls against a fence. Now, plenty of children are looking up to Verdasco. The Spaniard earned the 500th match win of his career Tuesday by defeating Italian Paolo Lorenzi...
See the latest ATP Rankings, as of 30 April 2018, following the conclusion of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and the Gazprom Hungarian Open in Budapest.
Rafael Nadal has become the fourth player in ATP World Tour history (since 1973) to record 400 clay-court match wins after his semi-final victory over David Goffin on Saturday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. While Argentina’s Guillermo Vilas (659), Spain’s Manuel Orantes (502) and Austria’s Thomas Muster (422) have all won more matches on the red dirt, no player has achieved a better winning percentage on the surface than Nadal, according to the FedEx ATP Performance Zone. Over the past 15 seasons, ever since his first tour-level clay-court victory over Karel Kucera of Slovakia in the 2003 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters first round, Nadal has compiled a 400-35 match record on terre battue – a winning percentage of 91.9 – and...
Rafael Nadal endured his most serious test of the young clay-court season on Friday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. But the Spaniard fought through – coming back from a break down in the second set – to reach his 11th Barcelona semi-final (11-1 in QF). The No. 1 player in the ATP Rankings extended his clay-court sets win streak to 42 and his clay-court match-wins streak to 17 against Martin Klizan of Slovakia. Nadal saved three set points in the second set and ousted the left-hander 6-0, 7-5 on Pista Rafa Nadal. The 31-year-old Spaniard, with a chance to play for his 11th Barcelona title on the line, will next face fourth seed David Goffin, who beat Spaniard Roberto Bautista...
By the time Rafael Nadal finishes his legendary career, will any clay-court record not have his name on it? The Mallorca native extended his Open-Era clay-court mark on Wednesday during his Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell opener against countryman and Ecuador Open champion Roberto Carballes Baena. The No. 1 player in the ATP Rankings won his 37th and 38th consecutive sets on clay, extending a record that he set on Sunday when he won his 11th Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters title. Nadal also stretched his clay-court match-win streak to 15. Clay-Court Sets Win Streaks Sets Player Year(s) 38 Rafael Nadal 2017-18 35 Guillermo Coria 2003-04 34 Ilie Nastase 1973 32 Rafael Nadal 2010-11 31 Rafael Nadal 2007-08 30 Rafael Nadal 2012 30 Rafael...