Rafael Nadal remains world number one

 

Rafael Nadal

Tennis star, Rafael Nadal, will surely end year 2013 as world number one, but earlier in the week, he was given a reminder that his biggest contender, Novak Djokovic, still reigns supreme at the ATP World Tour Finals.

Djokovic defeated Nadal 6-3, 6-4 to retain the title at the O2 Arena in London on Monday night.

In spite of the defeat, it will be the third time that Nadal will finish a year top of the rankings, although he will need to watch his back next as Djokovic is hot on his heels.

Nadal had said he doubted he would ever recapture his best form when he was forced out of the sport for over seven months with a serious injury. But since returning in February 2013, Nadal has been impressive.

Before his defeat to the world number two at the final game of the ATP World Tour Finals, Nadal had had a career-best record for the year. He had arrived for the competition in London with 10 tournament victories and Grand Slam titles at the French and US Opens, that took his tally of majors to 13- four behind all-time leader, Roger Federer.

In a press conference after the game, he said he was let down by his serves.

He said, “…one thing that makes a difference in today’s match was the serve; that I didn’t serve well. He (Djokovic) served well, I didn’t. So in this kind of court, first shot is very important, and he did that first shot better than me.”

Nadal started the year as number four with 6,600 points but now have a total of 13,030 points, a 920 point lead over Djokovic who has 12,110.

Nadal: The King of Clay

Rafael Nadal Parera, also popularly called Rafa, is a Spanish professional tennis player and the current world number one.

Born on June 3, 1986, to Sebastian Nadal, a businessman and Ana Maria Parera, a housewife, Nadal is considered one of the greatest players of all-time.

The left-handed tennis star is often referred to as ‘The King of Clay’ due to his success on clay courts.

In addition to 13 Grand Slam titles, Nadal won the 2008 Olympic Gold medal in singles, has a record 26 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and 14 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments.

At age eight, Nadal won an under-12 regional tennis championship at a time when he was also a promising football player. But his father made him choose between football and tennis so that his school work would not suffer from competing with the two sports. Nadal was once quoted as saying, “I chose tennis. Football had to stop straight away.”

When Nadal was 14, the Spanish Tennis Federation requested that he leave his parents’ home in Mallorca for Barcelona to continue his tennis training. But his family turned down the request, partly because they feared that it would hurt his education. The decision to stay home meant that Nadal received less financial support from the federation; instead, Nadal’s father covered the costs. Nadal turned professional at age 15.

Tennis is a sports that has known a lot of fierce rivalries, a notable one being between legends Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi from the late 1980s through to the early 2000s. Similarly, Nadal and former world number one, Roger Federer, enjoyed one of the greatest rivalries in world tennis as arguably the two most outstanding players of their time. The pair also gave the world some of the most beautiful tennis matches of their generation.

However, since Federer’s recent drop in form, Novak Djokovic, current world number two, has become Nadal’s fiercest rival on the court.

Nadal is single, but still romantically involved with longtime girlfriend, Maria Francisca.

In June 2013, Forbes put Nadal in the top 100 celebrity sports earners with estimated $26m earning in the year.

Nadal is an avid fan of Spain’s Real Madrid football club and his local club by birth, RCD Mallorca. On July 8, 2010, Nadal reportedly became a ten per cent shareholder of RCD Mallorca, in an attempt to assist it from debt. Nadal was offered the role of vice president of the club, but he rejected the offer.

Nadal paid about $2m to acquire a luxury villa in the Dominican Republic in March 2012. The beach-front villa offers a spectacular view of the Caribbean Sea.

The tennis star drives the Aston Martin DBS, which seems to match him muscle to muscle. The car has a V-12 engine, can race to 100km/h in under 4 seconds and clock an amazing 320km/h top speed. Nadal also has a red Mercedes Benz SL55.

Nadal and Francisca’s holiday getaway destinations include Mauritius, an island nation in Africa.

The ‘Rafael Nadal Foundation’ was established in 2004 by Nadal and his family, with the aim of helping economically under-privileged children and youths.