Rafael Nadal

The world's number one tennis player is Rafael Nadal. He holds many of tennis' major titles or achievements even at the young age of 22.

He was given a tennis racket at age three and his love for the game was born. He continued to play other activities like football, but at the age of 12, he gave up all others and devoted all of his time to perfecting his tennis career. His tutelage began under his uncle and still current coach, Toni Nadal. His uncle taught him to play as a left handed player even though he was a natural righty. This technique has given him the ability to add more strokes and to maintain more power in his game.

He won his first match on the ATP tour in 2002 before he was 16 years old. Since that time, he has won 31 singles titles and four doubles titles. Of those single titles, five of them are grand slams which include four consecutive French tiles, a record tied with Bjorn Borg. He was also a part of the 2004 Davis Cup Team which won the cup that year. His most recent achievement was his Olympic gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

These diverse accomplishments have given him a reputation as a well rounded player on all surfaces. His overcoming of Roger Federer as the number one player after sitting behind him at number two for over 160 weeks has solidified his current career as one of the true greats.