Rafael Nadal: the King of Clay – Tennis Special (Part Two)
Stroke making was natural to the left-handed Spaniard who usually picked his spots and placed the ball with precision. He was better than the kids of his age and with a doubt begin fill up his title rack at the age of eight when
he clasped his first junior tournament crown. Furthermore, he registered his name as the Spanish and European champion at the age of 12 and stunned everyone with his speed and agility at young age.
He was ranked 762 in the world when he registered an upset against the then-81st ranked Uruguayan contestant, Ramon Delgado, in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. It was his first Association of Tennis Professional triumph and
that victory laid the platform for a legendary career ahead of him. He surely deserves all the praise he receives because he has worked hard all his life to earn it.
The record books were shaken when the 17-year-old kid from Spain became the youngest player in the history of tennis to represent his country in the Davis Cup tie against America. It was not the only record he stamped in that tournament.
Former world number one, Andy Roddick, faced him for the first time and lost the singles rubbers to him. No one could imagine that this kid will register an upset against one of the best player of the world at that time. This was
the moment when the Spaniard hit the headlines of the global newspapers and electronic media for the first time in his career.
At the moment, the 25-year-old king of clay has bagged around $45 million prize money. He has won all four Grand Slam titles on different occurrences and also clinched the Gold Medal in Beijing Olympics, four years ago.
Clay court is his favourite playing surface and he has been crowned champion on six out of last seven occasions; missing out in 2009. He owns a 45-1 record in Paris and that will definitely help him to boost his morale when he
crashes at the red dirt of Paris to register a seventh record title win; something no man has done in the recent era.
He won his first Grand Slam title in 2005 and that was the Roland Garros French Open. However, he trashed every player in 2008 at Melbourne to claim the Australian Open title and repeated the similar heroics, few months later,
in Wimbledon as well. He completed his career slam in 2010 when he became the US Open champion for the first time. The only thing that is missing from his titles stack is the Barclays Association of Tennis Professionals season-end finale championship. Maybe,
he will be lucky this time around, only time will tell.
Nadal was world number two for 160 consecutive weeks before topping the likes of Swiss Maestro, Roger Federer, in 2008. However, the Serb tennis icon, Novak Djokovic, has thumped him back to the number two slot but he is trying
his level best to reign supreme over him and reclaim his empire.
(continued in Part Three)
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