Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal is probably the best men's tennis player today. He has been the top rated men's player since August of 2008. He is the fourth male to win Grand Slam Titles on three different surfaces, and the first to be the defending champion on those surfaces at the same time. Those titles were the 2008 French Open, 2008 Wimbledon, and 2009 Australian Open. Nadal's best surface is probably clay. He is 22-1 in clay court finals. He also holds the record for most consecutive wins on a single surface. He won eighty-one consecutive matches on clay from April 2005 to May 2007. These accomplishments have many people calling him the greatest clay court player of all time.

Nadal was having a hard time against rival Roger Federer the past few years. Until the 2008 Wimbledon Tournament, it seemed as though Nadal could only beat Federer on clay surfaces. He had been the runner up in Wimbledon the past two years, losing both finals to Federer. In 2008, he finally beat Roger and proceeded to beat him in the 2009 Australian Open. After winning these two tournaments, many people began to believe that Nadal had surpassed Federer as the overall best player.

Nadal has been in eight Grand Slam tournament finals. He won six of them. He also faced Federer in seven out of the eight finals. The only time he didn't was in the 2005 French Open final when he defeated Mariano Puerta.