2018 Rafael Nadal tennis season

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, in Abu Dhabi, the Brisbane International 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, 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 in the quarterfinals and Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinals, before losing in the final against Tomáš Berdych. Nadal closed his Australian Open preparation with another exhibition match against Dominic Thiem in the Margaret Court Arena, 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. Despite playing his first official match in more than two months, Nadal easily defeated Víctor Estrella Burgos in straight sets. Following strong performances in straight sets victories against Leonardo Mayer and Damir Džumhur, 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, 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 account, Nadal announced the withdrawal from the season's first two Masters 1000 tournaments: the Indian Wells Masters and the Miami Open. Despite his absence, Nadal regained the world No. 1 position on 2 April 2018, due to Roger Federer 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 captain Sergi Bruguera, Nadal represented his country participating in the Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal tie against Germany, in Valencia."Rafael Nadal back from injury for Davis Cup quarter-final"
''Eurosport'', 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 and Alexander Zverev, in straight sets, to help Spain advancing to the semifinals.

Monte-Carlo Masters

At the Monte-Carlo Masters, 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, Karen Khachanov, Dominic Thiem and Grigor Dimitrov. In the final, he halted former top 4 player Kei Nishikori'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 who stands at 30. His 36 straight sets won on clay also became a record, surpassing both Ilie Nastase and Guillermo Coria, 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

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