Rafa's Key Wins Through Each 100 Wins Milestone

It was 18 seasons ago that Rafael Nadal sealed his first victory on the ATP Tour. Back then, at 15 years of age, he had just begun building a legacy that today makes him one of the only four players in the Open Era to become a ‘millennial’. The Spaniard, alongside Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer and Ivan Lendl, is now one of the few players to have produced 1,000 wins in his career.

This ATPTour.com analysis offers a breakdown of the legendary achievement: when, where and against whom the Balearic Islander produced every hundred triumphs, as well as how many matches it took him to do it.

Nadal every 100 wins

Win	Opponent	Tournament
1	Ramón Delgado	Mallorca 2002
100	Hugo Armando	Stuttgart 2005
200	Juan Martín del Potro	Miami 2007
300	Ivo Karlovic	Queen’s 2008
400	Tomas Berdych	Davis Cup Final 2009
500	Ivan Dodig	Barcelona 2011
600	Juan Martín Del Potro	Indian Wells 2013
700	Martin Klizan	Wimbledon 2014
800	Thomaz Bellucci	Rio Olympics 2016
900	Richard Gasquet	Roland Garros 2018
1000	Feliciano Lopez	Paris 2020

Players Winning 1,000th Match

Player	Tournament	Opponent
Jimmy Connors	1984 Los Angeles (Third Round)	Tom Gullikson
Ivan Lendl	1982 Sydney Indoors (Second Round)	Brett Steven
Roger Federer	2015 Brisbane (Final)	Milos Raonic
Rafael Nadal	2020 Paris-Bercy (Second Round)	Feliciano Lopez

1-100

From 29 April 2002 to 20 July 2005, Nadal needed 137 matches spread over three years and three months to pick up his first 100 victories on the ATP Tour. It was during this first venture on tour, when he was still a teenager, that he reached several milestones; his first victory in Mallorca 2002 (v. Ramón Delgado), his first win over a Top 10 player at the 2003 ATP Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo (vs. No. 7 Albert Costa), his first win at a Grand Slam at Wimbledon 2003 (vs. Mario Ancic), his first win over a No. 1 in the 2004 ATP Masters 1000 in Miami (vs. Roger Federer), and his first ATP Tour title in 2004 in Sopot, as well as his first trophies in an ATP Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo 2005 and in a Grand Slam, at the 2005 French Open.

5 memorable wins from 1-100
1 – Mallorca 2002 – vs Ramón Delgado – First ATP victory
29 – Miami 2004 – vs Roger Federer – First win vs a No. 1
40 – Sopot 2004 – vs José Acasuso – First ATP title (Sopot)
75 – Monte Carlo 2005 – vs Guillermo Coria – First ATP Masters 1000 title
93 – Roland Garros 2005 – vs Mariano Puerta – First Grand Slam title

Statistics from 1-100
Matches played: 137
Wins: 100
Losses: 37
Titles: 8

101-200

The first time he had to prove himself on tour. Once he had surprised the world with a spectacular 2005, he had to start to defend all of his incredible, precocious feats. And he did just that. Nadal won his first hard-court trophy at the ATP Masters 1000 in Canada, lifted what is still to this day the only title on indoor hard court in his cabinet at the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid and claimed the title twice at the same tournament for the first time at the ATP Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo. During this time, he increased his success rate in matches played to 84.7% (100/118).

5 memorable wins from 101-200
110 – Canada 2005 – vs Andre Agassi – First hard-court title
124 – Madrid 2005 – vs Ivan Ljubicic – Comeback from 0-2 sets
141 – Monte Carlo 2006 – vs Roger Federer – First title defence
159 – Roland Garros 2006 – vs Roger Federer – Second Roland Garros title
167 – Wimbledon 2006 – vs Marcos Baghdatis – First Wimbledon final

Statistics from 1-200
Matches played: 255
Wins: 200
Losses: 55
Titles: 18

201-300

Nadal consolidated himself as a strong candidate for taking the No. 1 spot in the FedEx ATP Rankings from Roger Federer. The Spaniard was closing in on Federer in the battle for the top, and winning in Monte Carlo and Barcelona and at Roland Garros was by now a tradition. He reached four titles at each of these venues. At Wimbledon it started to become common to see him in the latter stages of the tournament as his success grew on all surfaces, taking two five-set matches on the London grass against Robin Soderling and Mikhail Youzhny. In total he won 80.4% of the matches played until that point. Against Ivo Karlovic in the quarter-finals at Queen’s, he claimed his 300th win.

5 memorable wins from 201-300
219 – Hamburg 2007 – vs Lleyton Hewitt – Record 81 straight wins on clay
226 – Roland Garros 2007 – vs Roger Federer – Hat-trick in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Paris
232 – Wimbledon 2007 – vs Mikhail Youzhny – Two straight 5-set wins
285 – Barcelona 2008 – vs David Ferrer – One of the 4 finals in which he beat Ferrer
297 – Roland Garros 2008 – vs Roger Federer – First Grand Slam without losing a set

Statistics from 1-300
Matches played: 373
Wins: 300
Losses: 73
Titles: 27

301-400

During this period Nadal reached No. 1 in the world for the first time in his career. His assault on the peak came as he opened his account on grass, after winning at Queen’s and two weeks later starring in one of the best matches of all time in the 2008 Wimbledon final against Roger Federer to claim his first cup on the lawns of SW19. Shortly afterwards, at the Cincinnati ATP Masters 1000, he amassed enough points to topple the Swiss from the top spot having chased him for three years. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, he put the icing on the cake with a gold medal. His 400th win came in December 2009 against Tomas Berdych in the Davis Cup Final.

5 memorable wins from 301-400
309 – Wimbledon 2008 – vs Roger Federer – Best win of his career?
317 – Cincinnati 2008 – vs Nicolás Lapentti – Becomes ATP World No. 1
323 – Beijing Olympics 2008 – vs Fernando González – Olympic gold medal
344 – Australian Open 2009 – vs Roger Federer – Champion in Australia
376 – Madrid 2009 – vs Novak Djokovic – Longest Masters 1000 match

Statistics from 1-400
Matches played: 491
Wins: 400
Losses: 91
Titles: 36

401-500

In the three previous stages Nadal needed 118 matches to reach a century of wins, but during this period from December 2009 to April 2011, he reduced this number to 114. In other words, Nadal increased his win percentage to 87.7%, figures that would lead him to string together Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open titles in the same year (2010), making him the seventh man in history to win each of the four Grand Slam titles. His 500th win came in the semi-finals in Barcelona 2011 against Ivan Dodig.

5 memorable wins from 401-500
432 – Madrid 2010 – vs Roger Federer – Tournament champion on clay and hard court
439 – Roland Garros 2010 – vs Robin Soderling – Fifth Roland Garros title
448 – Wimbledon 2010 – vs Tomas Berdych – Second Wimbledon title
460 – US Open 2010 – vs Novak Djokovic – Completes career Grand Slam
472 – Nitto ATP Finals 2010 – vs Andy Murray – First final in this tournament

Statistics from 1-500
Matches played: 605
Wins: 500
Losses: 105
Titles: 44

501-600

At Roland Garros he would break Bjorn Borg’s record of six titles with another Musketeers Trophy in 2012, beating Novak Djokovic on three consecutive occasions (Monte Carlo, Rome and Paris), after seven straight defeats against the Serb. From then on he endured one of his most difficult periods, due to an injury that forced him out of the game for the second half of 2012, but this was not enough to prevent him from producing yet more outstanding stats. On his return in February 2013 he strung together four finals on the trot, with a 17-1 record and put the cherry on the cake with the trophy at the Indian Wells ATP Masters 1000. He sealed his 600th professional win against Juan Martín del Potro in the final.

5 memorable wins from 501-600
515 – Roland Garros 2011 – vs Roger Federer – Equals Borg with six Roland Garros titles
563 – Monte Carlo 2012 – vs Novak Djokovic – Break a seven-loss streak against Novak
581 – Roland Garros 2012 – vs Novak Djokovic – Seventh Roland Garros title
590 – Sao Paulo 2013 – vs David Nalbandian – Title after a long, complicated injury
600 – Indian Wells 2013 – vs Juan Martín del Potro – 17-1 record in 2013

Statistics from 1-600
Matches played: 723
Wins: 600
Losses: 123
Titles: 53

601-700

Nadal’s most dominant spell. To earn 100 more victories, he would only need 113 matches, increasing his success rate to 88.4% from April 2013 to June 2014. He claimed three more Grand Slams, extending his dominance of Roland Garros with nine Musketeers Trophies. In the 2013 semi-final, he would come out on top of an epic battle against Djokovic that would end 9-7 in the fifth set after four hours and 37 minutes. However, one of his most memorable performances would have to wait until the US swing, where he did not lose a single match in Canada, Cincinnati or at the US Open (17-0). His 700th victory came in the first round of Wimbledon 2014 against Martin Klizan.

5 memorable wins from 601-700
625 – Roland Garros 2013 – vs Novak Djokovic – Epic win, 9-7 in the fifth
636 – Cincinnati 2013 – vs John Isner – Canada + Cincinnati double
643 – US Open 2013 – vs Novak Djokovic – Completes US swing with 17-0
648 – Beijing 2013 – vs Tomas Berdych – Back to No. 1
699 – Roland Garros 2014 – vs Novak Djokovic – Nine Roland Garros titles

Statistics from 1-700
Matches played: 836
Wins: 700
Losses: 136
Titles: 64

701-800

June 2014 until August 2016 proved to be the least prolific spell of his career. In a little under two years he ‘only’ claimed five ATP Tour titles, enduring a two-season drought in the Grand Slams (2015-16). It was also the period in which he needed the most matches (132) to reach 100 wins, since his early years on tour when he had to play five more times to make a century (137). During this period, Nadal was plagued by fitness problems and only through his ability to fight against adversity was he able to hang on to a place in the Top 10. His 800th win came at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in the quarter-finals against Thomaz Bellucci, earning himself a chance of claiming a medal, something he failed to do.

5 memorable wins from 701-800
717 – Buenos Aires 2015 – vs Juan Mónaco – First title in nine months
739 – Stuttgart 2015 – vs Viktor Troicki – First title on grass since 2010
745 – Hamburg 2015 – vs Fabio Fognini – Holds on to the Top 10
789 – Barcelona 2016 – vs Kei Nishikori – Two consecutive titles for the first time in three years
800 – Rio Olympics 2016 – vs Thomaz Bellucci – Plays for an Olympic medal again

Statistics from 1-800
Matches played: 968
Wins: 800
Losses: 168
Titles: 69

801-900

Nadal completed a spectacular recovery that enabled him to reclaim the World No. 1 spot several more times. At the 2017 Australian Open he confirmed that he was back to his best, reaching his first Grand Slam final since 2014. From then he restamped his authority on clay with a 24-1 record in 2017, allowing him to claim his 10th crowns at the ATP Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and at Roland Garros. He also, once again, made it two Grand Slams in a season by winning the US Open, something that hadn’t happened since 2013. He picked up victory No. 900 against Richard Gasquet in the third round of 2018 Roland Garros. His career win percentage was at 82.7%.

5 memorable wins from 801-900
814 – Australian Open 2017 – vs Grigor Dimitrov – First Slam final since 2014
835 – Barcelona 2017 – vs Dominic Thiem – 10 in Monte Carlo and Barcelona
849 – French Open 2017 – vs Stan Wawrinka – 10 titles and a 24-1 record on clay
862 – US Open 2017 – vs Kevin Anderson – Third title in NYC; Two Grand Slam titles in 2017
897 – Rome 2018 – vs Alexander Zverev – Comes back and recovers No. 1

Statistics from 1-900
Matches played: 1,088
Wins: 900
Losses: 188
Titles: 78

901-1,000

In the latest step of his career Nadal again needed 113 matches (as he did in 2013-14) to reach a century of wins, but if one thing set this period apart from the rest, above all it is quality. Nadal only played in higher-category tournaments and the wins almost all came in ATP Masters 1000 and Grand Slams. So much so that between May 2018 and November 2020 he picked up eight titles: Four Grand Slams, three ATP Masters 1000 and an ATP 500. In the last edition of Roland Garros, he stretched his record for the most titles won at one event to 13, as well as equalling Roger Federer on the most Grand Slams won (20) to date.

5 memorable wins from 901-1,000
909 – Wimbledon 2018 – vs Juan Martín del Potro – Epic win in 5th set
944 – Rome 2019 – vs Novak Djokovic – Breaks his streak of 9 months without a trophy
951 – Roland Garros 2019 – vs Dominic Thiem – 12th title in Paris vs. Thiem
966 – US Open 2019 – vs Daniil Medvedev – Consecutive titles in Canada + NYC, 10-0 in North America
1000 – Paris 2020 – vs Feliciano Lopez – Fourth player to reach 1000 match wins

Statistics from 1-1,000
Matches played: 1,201
Wins: 1,000
Losses: 201
Titles: 86

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/3l249le