Rafael Nadal loves playing on the red clay in Monte-Carlo and Paris, but for the Mallorca native, there's nothing quite like playing in front of his home fans in Spain. The 30 year old, who won his 10th Barcelona title two weeks ago, will play for another home crown this week at the Mutua Madrid Open, the season's second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament on clay. “I'm very well treated all around the world. Of course, I'm not treated anywhere like I am in Spain,” Nadal said on Monday during his pre-tournament press conference. “To play in front of them, for me especially, it gives me a unique feeling... It's difficult to describe how you feel when you play...
Have you ever wondered how Rafael Nadal’s clay record compares to Roger Federer’s grass record or Novak Djokovic's hard-court record? The FedEx ATP Performance Zone sheds some light... Nadal's record on clay - winning 91.69 per cent of matches he plays - eclipses the records of Djokovic on hard courts (84.02 per cent) and Federer on grass courts (86.86 per cent). Incredibly, no player has less than a 75 per cent winning mark on clay, hard or grass courts over the course of their illustrious careers. Visit FedEx ATP Performance Zone Below, ATPWorldTour.com breaks down how Nadal, Djokovic and Federer compare on clay, hard and grass courts. CLAY COLOSSI Nadal, the undisputed 'King of Clay' since 2005, has captured an...
The Top 10 are under siege. As a collective unit, they are not enjoying the same success this season as they did last year when attempting to win the opening point of their service games. An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the current Top 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings uncovers an almost two percentage-point drop in the Top 10 forging ahead to 15/0 compared to falling behind 0/15 when serving. In fact, eight of the current Top 10 players are performing worse during the opening point of their service games this year compared to last year. The standout is current World No. 5 Rafael Nadal, who has improved almost five percentage points in 2017 compared to 2016....
Sergio Garcia chose the right year to make his debut visit to the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. The 2017 Masters champion watched countryman Rafael Nadal march towards history in the Spanish city. Garcia witnessed Nadal win his quarter-final match on Friday against #NextGenATP player Hyeon Chung and then had the privilege of meeting and chatting with the 30-year-old from Mallorca in the players' lounge after the quarter-final. [ALSO LIKE] On Sunday, Nadal beat Dominic Thiem in straight sets to win his 10th Barcelona title. Garcia was invited to the historic tennis tournament by good friend and fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut. Nadal and Garcia, who's been a professional golfer since 1999, plan to meet again during Wimbledon, where Nadal will...
