All About: Rafael Nadal~ by: Makayla A. by makayla.

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All About: Rafael Nadal~ by: Makayla A.

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by: Makayla Aiken

Rafael Nadal was born in Mallorca, Spain, on June 3, 1986. Rafael`s nickname is "rafa". When he was 3 years old, his uncle, Toni Nadal, a former professional tennis player, started working with him, seeing an potential for the sport in young Rafael. At the age of 8, Nadal won an under-12 regional tennis championship, giving Uncle Toni the incentive to step up his training. Toni noticed at the time that Rafael played his forehand shots with two hands, so he encouraged him to play left-handed, thinking it could give Rafael an edge on the court. When Nadal was just 12 years old, he won the Spanish and European tennis titles in his age group. He turned professional at age 15.

Photo by GeoNando

encouraged him to play left-handed, thinking it could give Rafael an edge on the court. When Nadal was just 12 years old, he won the Spanish and European tennis titles in his age group. He turned professional at age 15.

Photo by GeoNando

At the age of 16, Nadal made it to the semifinals of the Boys' Singles tournament at Wimbledon. At 17, he became the youngest male to reach the third round at Wimbledon since Boris Becker. At the age of 19, in 2005, Nadal won the French Open the first time he competed in the tournament, and his world ranking shot to No. 3. Nadal won 11 singles titles that year, eight of which were on clay, and he was soon dubbed the "King of Clay."

Despite enduring shoulder and foot injuries, Nadal won his second straight French Open and added four more titles in 2006. The following year, he won again at Roland Garros and took home five other titles. Nadal poured it on in 2008, winning the French Open again, in addition to winning Wimbledon—where he beat rival Roger Federer in the longest final in Wimbledon history.

With his powerful topspin-heavy shots, speed and mental toughness, Nadal reigned as one of the "Big Four" of men's tennis (along with Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray) for the next several years. He took over as the world's No. 1 in 2008, and won his first Australian Open in 2009. In 2010, he was triumphant at the French Open and Wimbledon, and his subsequent win at the U.S. Open made him just the second men's player to achieve the career Golden Slam—victories at all four majors, as well as Olympic gold.

The following year, Nadal led the Spanish Davis Cup team to victory for the fourth time, but he surrendered his No. 1 ranking after losing to Djokovic in the Wimbledon final. He gained some revenge by defeating the Serbian star at Roland Garros the following spring to claim a record seventh French Open singles crown. However, Nadal followed with a surprising second-round loss to Czech player Lukas Rosol at Wimbledon, a match some commentators labeled one the biggest upsets in tennis history. Afterward, Nadal announced he was withdrawing from the 2012 Summer Olympics due to knee tendinitis, an injury that knocked him out of action for several months.

Nadal said after the match, in an interview with ESPN. "Five months ago nobody of my team dreamed about one comeback like this because we thought that [was] going to be impossible. But here we are today, and that's really fantastic and incredible."

Rafael Nadal recognizes that over the past year he's lost a lot of matches that he shouldn't have, he remains motivated to come back better than ever.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:14608279