The 2016 Rafael Nadal tennis season officially began on 4 January 2016 with the start of the 2016 Qatar Open.

Year in detail

Australian Open Series

Qatar Open

Nadal began his year at the Qatar Open. He faced compatriot

Pablo Carreño Busta Pablo Carreño Busta (; born 12 July 1991) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 10 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved on 11 September 2017. He also reached a bes ...

in the first round and managed a comeback by defeating him in three sets. He then defeated

Robin Haase Robin Haase (; born 6 April 1987) is a Dutch professional tennis player. He reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 33 in July 2012, and has won two singles titles, at the Austrian Open in both 2011 and 2012. Haase also reache ...

in straight sets but then required three sets to defeat Andrey Kuznetsov in the quarter-finals. Nadal then defeated

Illya Marchenko Illya Vasylovych Marchenko ( uk, Ілля Васильович Марченко) (born 8 September 1987) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. Marchenko turned professional in 2005 and had been playing at the Futures and Challengers level f ...

in the semifinals in straight sets to advance to the final, where he faced

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...

for the title. Nadal was crushed, winning just three games in a straight sets defeat, and thus lost his lead in his head-to-head record against Djokovic for the first time.

Australian Open

Nadal suffered a shocking defeat in the first round of the

2016 Australian Open The 2016 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 18 and 31 January 2016. It was the 104th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament consisted of ev ...

at the hands of his compatriot

Fernando Verdasco Fernando Verdasco Carmona (; born 15 November 1983) is a Spanish professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 7, achieved in April 2009. His best performance in a Grand Slam was making the semifinals of the 2009 ...

in five gruelling sets. This marked only the second time in his entire professional career that he has lost in the first round of a grand slam singles tournament. The only other first round loss was to

Steve Darcis Steve Darcis (, born 13 March 1984) is a Belgian retired professional tennis player. In his career, he won two ATP titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 38 on 22 May 2017. Personal life Steve Darcis was born in Liège t ...

at the

2013 Wimbledon Championships The 2013 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 127th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held ...

South American Clay Court Season

Argentina Open

After receiving a bye in the first round, Nadal reached the semifinals of the Argentina Open by defeating

Juan Mónaco Juan Mónaco (; born 29 March 1984), nicknamed "Pico", is an Argentine former tennis player. He won nine singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 2010 Shanghai Masters and the 2012 Miami Masters, and achieved a career-high singles ranking ...

and

Paolo Lorenzi Paolo Lorenzi (; born 15 December 1981) is an Italian former professional tennis player. Lorenzi was coached by Claudio Galoppini. Tennis career Lorenzi reached his first ATP World Tour final at the age of 32, in São Paulo. Here, at the 2014 ...

respectively in straight sets. However, he lost to an in-form young-gun

Dominic Thiem Dominic Thiem (; born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, which he first achieved in March 2020. He is the second-highest ...

in the semifinals in three sets after squandering 2 match points.

Rio Open

Nadal opens his Rio Open campaign by defeating compatriots

and

Nicolás Almagro Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2012 (losing each time to Rafael Nadal, the eventual ...

respectively in straight sets to book his place in the quarterfinals. He got a walkthrough to the semifinals after Alexandr Dolgopolov withdrew due to a right-shoulder injury. He eventually lost to

Pablo Cuevas Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (; born January 1, 1986) is an inactive Uruguayan professional tennis player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna. He has won six singles titles and has a career-high singles ranking of ...

in the semifinals.

March Masters

Indian Wells Masters

After receiving a bye in the first round, Nadal recorded his first win after changing back to his old racket against

Gilles Müller Gilles Müller (; born 9 May 1983) is a former professional tennis player from Luxembourg. He is a two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist and the most successful male tennis player in the history of his country. Müller won two titles on the ATP W ...

in three tight sets and booked his place in the fourth round winning his rematch against

in straight sets. Nadal reaches the quarterfinals for the second straight year after saving a match point against rising star Alexander Zverev to beat him in three gruelling-sets. He defeated

Kei Nishikori is an inactive Japanese professional tennis player. He is the second male Japanese player to have been ranked in the top 5 in singles (after Jiro Sato), and the only one to do so in the Open Era. Nishikori first reached his career-high singles ...

in straight sets for his first top 10 win of the season to advance to the semifinals. He lost to

7–6, 6–2 in the semifinal after squandering a set point on Djokovic's serve in the first set making their head-to-head record 25–23 in Djokovic's favor.

Miami Masters

After a bye in the first round, Nadal lost to

Damir Džumhur Damir Džumhur ( ; born 20 May 1992) is a professional tennis player from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is currently Bosnia and Herzegovina's No. 1 player. His career-best singles ranking of World No. 23 achieved on 2 July 2018, makes him the highes ...

in the second round, retiring in the third set of their match citing dizziness due to the extreme heat at the end of the first set.

European Clay Court Season

Monte-Carlo Masters

After receiving a bye in the first round, Nadal defeated

Aljaž Bedene Aljaž Bedene (born 18 July 1989) is a Slovenian former professional tennis player. He was British nationality law, a naturalised Briton and played with this nationality from 2015 to 2017, returning to represent Slovenia in 2018. Bedene has won ...

in straight sets and faced a more stringent test in the third round against the in-form

. After two hours on the court, Nadal came out victorious, beating Thiem in straight sets 7–5, 6–3. Nadal reached the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters for the 2nd straight year after a dominant straight sets win in the quarterfinals against

2015 French Open The 2015 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 119th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 24 May to 7 June and consisted of ...

champion Stan Wawrinka. After dropping the first set in the semifinals 2–6 to world #2 Andy Murray, Nadal rallied to beat Murray 6–4, 6–2, upping his head-to-head record against Murray to 17–6. In the final, Nadal defeated an in-form

Gaël Monfils Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in November 2016. His career hig ...

in three tough sets, winning 7–5, 5–7, 6–0 to claim his 9th Monte Carlo masters trophy, ending a nearly 2-years Masters 1000 title drought since his last Masters title in Madrid 2014. After leading the Masters 1000 title tally for several years Nadal was surpassed by

in Miami 2016 but the Monte Carlo win ensures that Nadal is again tied with Djokovic for a record of 28 masters titles.

Barcelona Open

After a first round bye, Nadal continued his dominant form by dispatching compatriots Marcel Granollers and Albert Montañés in straight sets to proceed to the Quarterfinals. Nadal faced

Fabio Fognini Fabio Fognini (; born 24 May 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ranking of world No. 9 achieved on 15 July 2019. He is currently ranked (July 2022) in 64th place by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

who defeated him 3 times the previous year and managed to close out the match in the 2nd set tiebreak in straight sets. Nadal reaches his 101st final beating German

Philipp Kohlschreiber Philipp Eberhard Hermann Kohlschreiber (; born 16 October 1983) is a German former professional tennis player. The right-hander won eight singles and seven doubles titles on the ATP World Tour and made the quarterfinals at the 2012 Wimbledon Cha ...

in a one-sided contest, winning in straight sets. He defeated two-time defending champion

in the final 6–4, 7–5, winning the tournament without dropping a single set and winning a record 9th Barcelona Open and equalling the record of most clay court titles won with

Guillermo Vilas Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. Vilas was the No. 1 of the Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977, and won four Grand Slam tournaments, one year-end Masters, nine Grand Prix Super Se ...

with 49 clay court titles.

Madrid Open

After receiving a first round bye, Nadal put on a superb display against Russian Andrey Kuznetsov, beating him in straight sets along with

Sam Querrey Samuel Austin Querrey (; born October 7, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known for his powerful serve ...

, dispatching him in a hard-fought straight sets win, nearly going 1–5 down in the first set after fending off a break point in his own serve in the 5th game and then winning 5 straight games to clinch the first set and reach the quarterfinals. Nadal progresses to the semis beating an in-form

João Sousa João Pedro Coelho Marinho de Sousa (born 30 March 1989), known as João Sousa (), is a Portuguese professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 28 on 16 May 2016 and a doubles ranking of No. 26 on 13 May 2 ...

in three-sets despite winning the first set in a bagel. He lost to Andy Murray in the semifinal with a score of 7–5, 6–4.

Italian Open

Nadal received an unfavorable draw and, after a bye in the first round, Nadal faced

and beat him 6–3, 6–3. Nadal then faced Nick Kyrgios who famously beat Nadal at the 2014 Wimbledon and, despite Kyrgios winning the first set in a tiebreak, Nadal won the last 2 sets, breaking Kyrgios 3 times and winning in three sets to book his place in the quarterfinals, where he was beaten by

in straight sets.

French Open

Nadal gained a top 4 seeding for his French Open campaign after Federer withdrew with a back injury which guaranteed he won't be meeting Djokovic until the semifinals. Nadal defeated

Sam Groth Samuel Groth OLY, MP (born 19 October 1987) is an Australian politician and a former professional tennis player. Sitting as a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Groth represents the Liberal Party in the seat of Nepean. He is also th ...

in the first round 6-1 6-1 6–1. In the second round, Nadal defeated

Facundo Bagnis Facundo Bagnis (; born 27 February 1990) is an Argentine professional tennis player. He has won 1 ATP doubles event at Stuttgart and 16 Challengers in singles, achieving a career-high singles ranking of World No. 55 in November 2016. Tennis care ...

. However, Nadal was forced to withdraw a day before his 3rd round match due to a wrist injury.

US Open Series

Rio Olympics

Having not played since May 28, Nadal took part in his first competitive match in the Rio Olympic Games. Nadal Faced Argentina's Federico Delbonis. Nadal was in no mood to mess around as he put in an excellent performance, winning 6–2 6–1. In the next round, he faced Andreas Seppi, but beat him in straight sets. Nadal faced Gilles Simon from France, and despite hitting 28 unforced errors in the first set, Nadal came through 7–6 6–3. Nadal then faced home favourite and fellow lefty

Thomaz Bellucci Thomaz Cocchiarali Bellucci (born 30 December 1987, in Tietê) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21 in July 2010. Bellucci used a string of ATP Challenger Tour victories early i ...

. Nadal came through in 3 tough sets. He then faced a resurgent

Juan Martín del Potro Juan Martín del Potro () (born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine inactive professional tennis player. Del Potro's biggest achievement is a major title: the 2009 US Open, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and the five-time defen ...

, the pair last met three years ago. Despite Nadal winning the first set, del Potro fought back to claim victory in an epic olympic semi-final. After the loss to del Potro, Rafa faced Kei Nishikori in the bronze medal match. A visibly exhausted Nadal lost the first set 6–2. He was then 5–2 down in the second, but Nishikori nerves were visible, Nadal levelling 7–6. But in the end, Nishikori was too good, prevailing 6–3 in the third. Nadal saw more success in the doubles tournament playing alongside

Marc López Marc López Tarrés (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish retired professional tennis player and coach. His career-high ATP singles ranking was world No. 106 (May 2004) and world No. 3 in doubles (January 2013). Partnering Feliciano López, M ...

, winning the gold medal. Nadal was also set to play in the mixed doubles alongside

Garbiñe Muguruza Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (; born 8 October 1993) is a Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. ...

, but withdrew without playing a match, saying the medical staff advised that three tournaments could aggravate his wrist's recovery.Rafa Nadal withdraws from Olympics mixed doubles
/ref>

Cincinnati Masters

Nadal was defeated in the third round by

Borna Ćorić Borna Ćorić (; born 14 November 1996) is a Croatian professional tennis player. On 5 November 2018, he reached his best singles ranking of world No. 12. On 21 August 2022, Ćorić became the lowest-ranked champion in Masters 1000 history when ...

6–1, 6–3.

US Open

Entering the tournament as the fourth seed, Nadal advanced to the fourth round but was defeated by 24th seed

Lucas Pouille Lucas Pouille (, born 23 February 1994) is a French professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 10, achieved on 19 March 2018 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 79, achieved on 11 April 2016. ...

in 5 sets.

Asian Swing

China Open

Nadal defeated

and

Adrian Mannarino Adrian Mannarino (born 29 June 1988) is a French professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 22, attained on 19 March 2018. He won his first ATP Tour singles title at the 2019 Rosmalen Open on grass. He is c ...

in straight sets, then lost to

Grigor Dimitrov Grigor Dimitrov ( bg, Григор Димитров, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved o ...

in straight sets in the quarterfinals.

Shanghai Masters

Nadal was defeated in straight sets in his opening round match by

Victor Troicki Viktor Troicki ( sr-Cyrl, Виктор Троицки, ; born 10 February 1986) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. He won his first ATP singles title at the 2010 Kremlin Cup, and his second and third ATP singles titles at the 2015 ...

. This was Nadal's final match of the 2016 season.

All matches

Singles matches

Doubles matches

Mixed doubles matches

Exhibition matches

Tournament schedule

Singles schedule

Nadal's 2016 singles tournament schedule is as follows: (Bolded letter indicates better or same result at the tournament) ¹ The symbol (i) = ''indoors'' means that the respective tournament will be held indoors. ² The ATP numbers between brackets = non-countable tournaments.

Yearly records

Head-to-head matchups

Rafael Nadal has a match win–loss record in the 2016 season. His record against players who were part of the

ATP rankings The Pepperstone ATP rankings are the merit-based method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for determining the qualification for entry as well as the seeding of players in all singles and doubles tournaments. The first rankings ...

Top Ten at the time of their meetings was . The following list is ordered by number of wins: (Bolded number marks a top 10 player at the time of match, Italic means top 30)

Finals

Singles: 3 (2–1)

Doubles: 2 (2–0)

Earnings

*Bold font denotes tournament win

References

External links

*
ATP tour profile
{{Men's Tennis Player Seasons: 2010–2019 2016 Rafael Nadal tennis season Nadal Nadal tennis season Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics