Rafael Nadal

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal was a Spanish professional tennis player widely regarded as one of the best in the world in men's singles tennis. Ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 209 weeks, he has finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Nadal has won 22 Grand Slam men's singles titles, including a record 14 French Open titles. Representing Spain, he has won two Olympic gold medals and led the nation to four Davis Cup titles. For over a decade, the left-handed Nadal led men's tennis as one of the Big Three alongside Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

At the start of his professional career, Nadal became one of the most successful teenagers in ATP Tour history, reaching the world No. 2 ranking and winning 16 titles before turning 20, including his first French Open and six Masters events. He ascended to the world No. 1 for the first time in 2008 after defeating Federer in a historic Wimbledon final, his first major victory off of clay courts. He followed up his win with an Olympic singles gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. After defeating Djokovic in the 2010 US Open final, he became the seventh male player in history and youngest of five in the Open Era, at age 24, to achieve the Career Grand Slam, and the first man to win majors on three different surfaces (hard, grass, and clay) in the same year. He is the second male player after Andre Agassi to complete the singles Career Golden Slam, winning all four majors and Olympic gold.

After two injury-plagued seasons, Nadal returned to the Tour in 2013, reaching 14 finals, winning two majors and five Masters events including the US Open Series sweep. He continued his on-court dominance, surpassing his joint-record with Djokovic and Federer for the most Grand Slam men's singles titles at the 2022 Australian Open, and became one of four men in history to complete the double Career Grand Slam in singles. Still an active player, Nadal is attempting yet another comeback following injury and focuses a lot of his time on the Rafa Nadal Academy, his tennis academy in Mallorca, Spain, as well as his philanthropic endeavors.

Nadal has won the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award five times and was the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year in 2011 and 2021. TIME named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2022. He is a recipient of the Grand Cross of Royal Order of Sports Merit, Grand Cross of Order of the Second of May, the Grand Cross of Naval Merit, and the Medal of the City of Paris.