Rafael Nadal will start his campaign in Madrid next week. It’s worth noticing that the Madrid Open is one of the tournaments where is Rafael Nadal is the least successful for his incredible standards on clay. The King of Clay has won the event in the Spanish capital “only” five times.
Winning five times the tournament in Madrid is still remarkable. However, Nadal’s impossible record at the French Open (13 titles), Barcelona (12 titles), and Monte Carlo (11) makes the Madrid Open not the favorite tournament for Nadal.
Nadal won the Madrid Open in 2005, 2010, 2013, 2014, and 2017. He was the finalist on three occasions (2009, 2011, 2015).
The “issue” of Nadal in Madrid is that the city is almost 700 meters above sea level and therefore the ball is rather fast on the air making his fantastic tennis a little bit less effective.
The tournament was not played in 2020 because of the global pandemic. In 2019, Nadal lost in the semi-final against Stefanos Tsitsipas. The winner of the tournament was Novak Djokovic.
Rafael Nadal in 2021
Ranked no.2, the Spaniard played his last match on the 25th of April when he overcame world no.5 Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 6-7(6) 7-5 in the final in Barcelona to win his 87th career title.
At the moment, during this season Rafael has achieved an overall 11-2 match record. This year, Nadal won 1 title in Barcelona.
