2018 Rafael Nadal tennis season
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The 2018 Rafael Nadal tennis season officially began on 15 January 2018, with the start of the Australian Open, and ended on 8 September 2018, with a loss at the semifinals of the US Open and subsequent injury. The season was largely shortened by the hip, knee, abdominal and ankle injuries Nadal suffered during the year. He played only nine tournaments, his lowest since 2002 (which was his first year on the ATP tour). However, the season still saw Nadal win five titles including a record extending 11th title at the French Open, and have his highest winning percentage of a single season at 91.83%.


Year summary


Early hard court season


Exhibition matches

As of in his 2017 season, Nadal's schedule before the Australian Open included the
World Tennis Championship The Mubadala World Tennis Championship is a men's and women's singles Exhibition game, exhibition tournament. It has been held annually since 2009 at the Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. History In Novemb ...
, in Abu Dhabi, the
Brisbane International The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA Premier tournament of the WTA Tour and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 seri ...
and the Fast4 Showdown, in Sydney. However, he pulled out of all three events due to a knee injury. His season started in Melbourne with a match against
Richard Gasquet Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...
, included in the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament, which he lost in straight sets. On the day after, Nadal moved on to play the Tie Break Tens, another exhibition tournament where only tie-break matches are played. He defeated
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 the quarterfinals and
Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
in the semifinals, before losing in the final against
Tomáš Berdych Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champi ...
. Nadal closed his Australian Open preparation with another exhibition match against
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
Margaret Court Arena Margaret Court Arena is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment venue located in Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The arena, which was built in 1987 and redeveloped in the mid-2010s, has a capacity of 7,500. History Originally ...
, which he won in a third-set match tiebreaker.


Australian Open

In the first major tournament of the year, the Australian Open, Nadal was the top seed, knowing that he would need to reach the quarterfinals in order to secure the No. 1 position in 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 ...
. Despite playing his first official match in more than two months, Nadal easily defeated
Víctor Estrella Burgos Víctor Estrella Burgos (; born August 2, 1980) is a retired Dominican professional tennis player. In 2014, Estrella became the first Dominican to reach the top 100 in the ATP rankings. He also became the first Dominican player to reach the sem ...
in straight sets. Following strong performances in straight sets victories against
Leonardo Mayer Leonardo Martín Mayer (; ''Mayer'' locally or , ; born May 15, 1987) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. Mayer achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 21 in June 2015 and world No. 48 in doubles in January 2019. ...
and
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 ...
, he defeated Diego Schwartzman in the fourth round, reaching the quarterfinals and thus retaining the world No. 1 status. In the quarterfinals he faced World No. 6
Marin Čilić Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. Čilić has won 20 ATP Tour singles titles, including a major at the 2014 US Open. He was also runner-up at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and the 2018 Austral ...
, and despite leading two sets to one, he eventually had to retire after going down a break in the fifth set due to a hip injury.


Mexican Open

Having been relegated to No. 2 in the ATP rankings a week before, Nadal was set to play at the Mexican Open. However, he was forced to again pull out of the tournament due to the hip injury sustained at the Australian Open that was aggravated in a practice session. On 2 March 2018, through his
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
account, Nadal announced the withdrawal from the season's first two
Masters 1000 The ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (previously known as ATP Masters Series) is an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour. The series' events have been held in Europe and North America since the ...
tournaments: the
Indian Wells Masters The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is ...
and the Miami Open. Despite his absence, Nadal regained the world No. 1 position on 2 April 2018, due to
Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
losing in the second round of the Miami Open.


Spring clay court season


Davis Cup World Group quarterfinals

As announced on 27 March 2018 by the
Spain Davis Cup team The Spain men's national tennis team has represented Spain internationally since 1920. Organised by the Real Federación Española de Tenis (RFET), it is one of the 50 members of International Tennis Federation's European association (Tennis Europ ...
captain
Sergi Bruguera Sergi Bruguera i Torner (; born 16 January 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. He won consecutive men's singles titles at the French Open in 1993 and 1994, a silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in men's singles and reache ...
, Nadal represented his country participating in the Davis Cup World Group
quarterfinal A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
tie against
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, in Valencia."Rafael Nadal back from injury for Davis Cup quarter-final"
''
Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territories, ...
'', 27 March 2018. Retrieved on 28 March 2018.
These were Nadal's first matches since his Australian Open defeat, more than two months later. Nadal won both his singles rubbers, against
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 ...
and Alexander Zverev, in straight sets, to help Spain advancing to the
semifinals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final mat ...
.


Monte-Carlo Masters

At the
Monte-Carlo Masters The Monte-Carlo Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, a commune that borders on Monaco. The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association of Tennis Professiona ...
, Nadal successfully defended his title by winning an unprecedented 11th title in Monte-Carlo, reaching the finals without dropping a set and not losing more than 4 games in each set that he played against
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 ...
,
Karen Khachanov Karen Abgarovich Khachanov (russian: Каре́н Абга́рович Хача́нов; born 21 May 1996) is a Russian professional tennis player. Khachanov has won four ATP Tour singles titles, including a Masters 1000 title at the 2018 Paris ...
,
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 ...
and
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 the final, he halted former top 4 player
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 ...
's resurgence by beating him in straight sets, extending his clay winning streak to 36 sets in a row. Additionally, none of his opponents were able to win more than 4 games in each of those 36 sets. This tournament victory marked the Spaniard's 31st Masters 1000 title, putting him yet again at the top of most Masters 1000 titles won, passing rival
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 ...
who stands at 30. His 36 straight sets won on clay also became a record, surpassing both
Ilie Nastase Ilie is a Romanian name. It is both a masculine given name, cognate of Elijah, and a surname. The given name may refer to: * Ilie Antonescu, Romanian general * Ilie Baicu, Romanian football player * Ilie Balaci, Romanian football player * Ilie B ...
and
Guillermo Coria Guillermo Sebastián Coria (born 13 January 1982), nicknamed ''El Mago'' (''The Magician'' in Spanish), is an Argentine retired professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP world No. 3 singles ranking in May 2004. Coria achieved hi ...
, who won 34 and 35 straight sets respectively and are the only players to win 30 or more consecutive sets on clay other than Nadal. In that process, he also retained his World No. 1 ranking for another week.


Barcelona Open

Coming to Barcelona, Nadal again required to defend his title at the
Barcelona Open There are two sporting events named the Barcelona Open: * Barcelona Open (golf) * Barcelona Open (tennis) {{Short pages monitor


Schedule

Per Rafael Nadal, this is his current 2018 schedule (subject to change).


Singles schedule


Yearly records


Head-to-head matchups

Rafael Nadal had a ATP match win–loss record in the 2018 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 . Bold indicates player was ranked top 10 at time of at least one meeting. The following list is ordered by number of wins: *
Karen Khachanov Karen Abgarovich Khachanov (russian: Каре́н Абга́рович Хача́нов; born 21 May 1996) is a Russian professional tennis player. Khachanov has won four ATP Tour singles titles, including a Masters 1000 title at the 2018 Paris ...
3–0 * Diego Schwartzman 3–0 *
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 ...
3–1 *
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 ...
2–0 * Stefanos Tsitsipas 2–0 * Alexander Zverev 2–0 *
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 ...
2–1 *
Nikoloz Basilashvili Nikoloz Basilashvili ( ka, ნიკოლოზ ბასილაშვილი, tr, ; born 23 February 1992) is a Georgian professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 16 on 27 May 2019. In July 2018, ...
1–0 *
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 ...
1–0 *
Simone Bolelli Simone Bolelli (; born 8 October 1985) is an Italian professional tennis player. Bolelli is a Grand Slam champion, having won the 2015 Australian Open doubles event with Fabio Fognini, together becoming the first all-Italian men's pair to win a ...
1–0 *
Roberto Carballés Baena Roberto Carballés Baena (; born 23 March 1993) is a Spanish tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 71 on 15 November 2021. His preferred surface is clay, on which he has won one ATP title and 19 ITF titles i ...
1–0 *
Alex de Minaur Alex de Minaur ( ; es, Álex de Miñaur Román, ; born 17 February 1999) is an Australian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 15 on 28 June 2021 and a doubles ranking of No. 58 on 12 October 2020. ...
1–0 *
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 ...
1–0 *
Víctor Estrella Burgos Víctor Estrella Burgos (; born August 2, 1980) is a retired Dominican professional tennis player. In 2014, Estrella became the first Dominican to reach the top 100 in the ATP rankings. He also became the first Dominican player to reach the sem ...
1–0 *
David Ferrer David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour ( ATP 250, ATP 500, Masters 1000) except at a major, ...
1–0 *
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) ...
1–0 *
Guillermo García López Guillermo García López (, born 4 June 1983) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He has won five singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 23 in February 2011. As of 2021, he has collected thirteen w ...
1–0 *
Richard Gasquet Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...
1–0 *
David Goffin David Goffin (; born 7 December 1990) is a Belgian professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 7. He is currently the Belgian No. 1, and the first Belgian man to be ranked in the top 10. Goffin has won six ATP titles ...
1–0 *
Martin Kližan Martin Kližan (; born 11 July 1989) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. The winner of the 2006 French Open boys' singles title, Kližan turned pro in 2007 and had a career-high singles ranking of world No. 24, achieved on 27 April 2 ...
1–0 *
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 ...
1–0 *
Mikhail Kukushkin Mikhail Aleksandrovich Kukushkin (russian: link=no, Михаил Александрович Кукушкин; born 26 December 1987) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. Before 2008, he played for his country of birth, Russ ...
1–0 *
Maximilian Marterer Maximilian Marterer (born 15 June 1995) is a German tennis player. He has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 45, achieved in August 2018. Professional career 2015: ATP debut Marterer made his ATP main draw debut at the MercedesCup ...
1–0 *
Leonardo Mayer Leonardo Martín Mayer (; ''Mayer'' locally or , ; born May 15, 1987) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. Mayer achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 21 in June 2015 and world No. 48 in doubles in January 2019. ...
1–0 *
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 ...
1–0 *
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 ...
1–0 * Benoît Paire 1–0 *
Guido Pella Guido Pella (; born 17 May 1990) is an inactive Argentine professional tennis player. In August 2019, Pella reached his career best world No. 20 in singles. In July 2019, he peaked at No. 55 in doubles. Personal life His father, Carlos, taught ...
1–0 *
Vasek Pospisil Vasek Pospisil ( ; cs, Vašek Pospíšil, ; known in born June 23, 1990) is a Canadian professional tennis player. Pospisil has a career-high world singles ranking of No. 25, and No. 4 in doubles. Along with partner Jack Sock, he won the 2014 ...
1–0 *
Dudi Sela David "Dudi" Sela ( he, דודי סלע; born 4 April 1985) is an Israeli professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 29 in July 2009. Sela won the French Open 2003 junior doubles title. Representing Israe ...
1–0 *
Denis Shapovalov Denis Viktorovich Shapovalov (born 15 April 1999) is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 10 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) which he first achieved in September 2020. He is t ...
1–0 *
Jiří Veselý Jiří Veselý (; born 10 July 1993) is a Czech professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 35 on 27 April 2015. He is currently the No. 2 Czech tennis player in singles, as he lost his previous ...
1–0 * Stan Wawrinka 1–0 *
Marin Čilić Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. Čilić has won 20 ATP Tour singles titles, including a major at the 2014 US Open. He was also runner-up at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and the 2018 Austral ...
1–1 *
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 ...
1–1


Finals


Singles: 5 (5 titles)


Earnings

*Bold font denotes tournament win Figures in
United States dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...
s (USD) unless noted.


Television

Some of Nadal's matches had significant audiences on Spanish television: * At the
Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open: * Madrid Open (golf) The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...
, the round of 16 match versus Diego Schwartzman had an average 5.2% share and 780,000 viewers on Teledeporte, and the quarter-finals match versus
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 ...
had an average 7.9% share on Telemadrid. * At the French Open, the semifinals match versus
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 ...
had an average 3.4% share and 419,000 viewers, and the final match versus
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 ...
averaged 6.5% share and 877,000 viewers, both on Eurosport. * At the
Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...
, the semifinals match versus
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 ...
had an average 2.3% share and 244,000 viewers on Movistar #0, and an average 1.6% share and 175,000 viewers on Movistar Deportes. * At the Davis Cup quarter-finals tie versus Germany, the Saturday matches had an average 4.4% share on Teledeporte, and the Sunday matches had an average 5.6% share on Teledeporte.El España - Alemania de la Copa Davis lidera con un 5,6% en Teledeporte
- Fórmula TV, 9 April 2018


See also

* 2018 ATP World Tour *
2018 Roger Federer tennis season Roger Federer's 2018 tennis season officially began on 30 December 2017, with the start of the Hopman Cup, and ended on 17 November 2018, with a loss in the semifinals of the ATP Finals. He finished the year ranked No. 3 in the ATP rankings. This ...
* 2018 Novak Djokovic tennis season * 2018 Juan Martín del Potro tennis season


References


External links

*
ATP tour profile
{{Men's Tennis Player Seasons: 2010–2019 2018 Rafael Nadal tennis season Nadal tennis season Nadal 2018 in Spanish sport