See main article: Rafael Nadal.
Fullname: | Rafael Nadal Parera |
Calendarprizemoney: | $3,881,202 (singles & doubles) |
Singlestitles: | 2 |
Currentsinglesranking: | No. 2 |
Australianopenresult: | QF |
Frenchopenresult: | W |
Wimbledonresult: | Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic |
Usopenresult: | A |
Currentdoublesranking: | No. 475 |
Previous Season: | 2019 |
Next Season: | 2021 |
The 2020 Rafael Nadal tennis season officially began on 3 January 2020, in the first round at the inaugural 2020 ATP Cup Group B venues in Perth.[1] [2]
Nadal started his season at the inaugural ATP Cup as part of the Spanish squad. Nadal will be playing in singles along with compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut, while the doubles team will consist of Feliciano López and Pablo Carreño Busta. Spain was placed in Group B and will play their round-robin matches against Japan, Uruguay, and Georgia in Perth.
In Nadal's round-robin singles matches, he defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili, Pablo Cuevas and Yoshihito Nishioka in straight sets. Nadal also played in the doubles match against Japan, along with Carreño Busta, and won the match in three sets. The Spanish team then moved on to Sydney to play in the QF. In the singles in QF, Nadal faced David Goffin, to whom he lost the match in straight sets. However, because compatriot Bautista Agut won his singles match, and Nadal and Carreño Busta won in the doubles, Spain moved on to the SF against Australia. There, Nadal defeated Alex de Minaur in the singles in 3 sets, and combined with Bautista Agut's defeat of Nick Kyrgios in straight sets earlier, moved Spain to the ATP Cup Final. In the final, they played against Serbia, with Nadal's singles match against World No. 2 Novak Djokovic. Nadal lost the match in straight sets to Djokovic, and with Spain's loss in doubles, Team Serbia won the ATP Cup.[3]
See also: 2020 Australian Open – Men's Singles. Nadal's second tournament of the season will be the 2020 Australian Open. He won his first two matches against Hugo Dellien and Federico Delbonis in straight sets. He defeated compatriot and the 27th seed Pablo Carreño Busta in the 3rd round, again in straight sets. He defeated Nick Kyrgios in 4 sets the 4th round. However, he lost to World No. 5 Dominic Thiem in 4 sets at the QF.[4]
Nadal's first tournament following the Australian Open was the Mexican Open. He defeated Pablo Andujar, Miomir Kecmanović, and Kwon Soon-woo, all in straight sets to set up a semi-final encounter with Grigor Dimitrov. He was able to defeat Dimitrov easily in straight sets to reach his first final in Acapulco since 2017, and his first final for the 2020 season. He defeated Taylor Fritz in the final in straight sets, to win his third title in Acapulco and his first title in 2020.[5]
On March 8, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season went on indefinite hiatus.[6] The following measures were taken:
Nadal opted to skip the Western and Southern Open and the US Open to prepare for the clay court season.[16]
Nadal's first match back was against fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, which he won 6–1, 6–1. In the next round, he played Serb Dušan Lajović, whom he defeated 6–1, 6–3. In the QF, he lost to Diego Schwartzman 2–6, 5–7.[17]
See also: 2020 French Open – Men's Singles. Nadal won his 13th Roland Garros title, beating Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the tournament's final, only losing seven games.[18] In doing so, he won his 20th Grand Slam title, equalling Roger Federer's record as the man with the most number of Grand Slam titles.[19] [20] It also marked his 100th win at the tournament, losing only twice in 16 years. His straight-sets victory over Djokovic marked also the 4th time that he won a Grand Slam without losing a set, all at the French Open doing it also in 2008, 2010 and 2017.[21] Nadal also became the first player to defeat Djokovic in a completed match all year, Djokovic being 37-1 on the season prior to the loss to Nadal, with his only loss being the us open default.[22]
Nadal lost to Alexander Zverev in the semifinals.[23]
Nadal defeated Andrey Rublev in his first round robin match. Two days later he lost to Dominic Thiem in two incredibly tight sets. He qualified for the semifinals with a three set win over Stefanos Tsitsipas. In the semis he faced Daniil Medvedev, and despite serving for a straight sets win, he lost in three sets, ending his bid to win his first ever title at the season ending event. [24]
This table chronicles all the matches of Rafael Nadal in 2020.
Per Rafael Nadal, the below was his 2020 schedule.
Date | Tournament | Location | Tier | Surface | Prev. result | Prev. points | New points | Result | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 January 2020– 12 January 2020 | Perth & Sydney (AUS) | Hard | N/A | N/A | 250 | Final (lost to Serbia, 1–2) | |||
20 January 2020– 2 February 2020 | Melbourne (AUS) | Hard | F | 1200 | 360 | Quarterfinals (lost to Dominic Thiem, 6–7(3–7), 6–7(4–7), 6–4, 6–7(6–8)) | |||
24 February 2020– 29 February 2020 | Acapulco (MEX) | Hard | R16 | 45 | 500 | Champion (defeated Taylor Fritz, 6–3, 6–2) | |||
9 March 2020– 22 March 2020 | Indian Wells (USA) | Hard | SF | 360 | 360 | Tournament cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.[25] | |||
13 April 2020–19 April 2020 | Monte-Carlo Masters | Monte Carlo (MON) | Masters 1000 | Clay | SF | 360 | 360 | ||
22 April 2020- 28 April 2020 | Barcelona Open | Barcelona (ESP) | 500 Series | Clay | SF | 180 | 180 | ||
4 May 2020–10 May 2020 | Madrid Open | Madrid (ESP) | Masters 1000 | Clay | SF | 360 | 360 | ||
29 June 2020–12 July 2020 | Wimbledon | London (GBR) | Grand Slam | Grass | SF | 720 | 720 | ||
27 July 2020–2 August 2020 | Summer Olympics | Tokyo (JPN) | Olympic Games | Hard | N/A | N/A | 0 | Tournament postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.[26] | |
10 August 2020–16 August 2020 | Canadian Open | Montreal (CAN) | Masters 1000 | Hard | W | 1000 | 1000 | Tournament cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. | |
31 August 2020–6 September 2020 | US Open | New York (USA) | Grand Slam | Hard | W | 2000 | 2000 | Chose not to participate amid COVID-19 concerns.[27] [28] | |
14 September 2020–20 September 2020 | Italian Open | Rome (ITA) | Masters 1000 | Clay | W | 1000 | 1000 | Quarterfinals (lost to Diego Schwartzman, 2–6, 5–7) | |
28 September 2020– 11 October 2020 [29] | Paris (FRA) | Grand Slam | Clay | W | 2000 | 2000 | Champion (defeated Novak Djokovic, 6–0, 6–2, 7–5) | ||
2 November 2020–8 November 2020 | Paris Masters | Paris (FRA) | Masters 1000 | Hard (i) | SF | 360 | 360 | Semifinals (lost to Alexander Zverev, 4–6, 5–7) | |
15 November 2020–22 November 2020 | ATP Finals | London (GBR) | Tour Finals | Hard (i) | RR | 400 | 400 | Semifinals (lost to Daniil Medvedev, 6–3, 6–7(4–7), 3–6) | |
Total year-end points | 9985 | 9450 | -495 difference |
Date | Tournament | Location | Tier | Surface | Prev. result | Prev. points | New points | Result | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 January 2020– 12 January 2020 | Perth & Sydney (AUS) | Hard | N/A | N/A | 95 | Final (lost to Serbia, 1–2) | |||
9 March 2020– 22 March 2020 | Indian Wells (USA) | Hard | SF | 360 | N/A | Tournament cancelled due to the Coronavirus | |||
Total year-end points | difference |
Rafael Nadal has a ATP match win–loss record in the 2020 season. His record against players who were part of the ATP rankings Top Ten at the time of their meetings is . Bold indicates player was ranked top 10 at the time of at least one meeting. The following list is ordered by number of wins:
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Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1–0 | Feb 2020 | Mexican Open, Mexico (3) | 500 Series | Hard | Taylor Fritz | 6–3, 6–2 | |
Win | 2–0 | French Open, France | Grand Slam | Clay | 6–0, 6–2, 7–5 |
Singles | |||
Event | Prize money | Year-to-date | |
---|---|---|---|
$595,650 | $595,650 | ||
A$525,000 | $956,483 | ||
Mexican Open | $372,785 | $1,329,268 | |
€75,000 | $1,418,097 | ||
French Open | €1,600,000 | $3,278,577 | |
€100,000 | $3,397,127 | ||
$459,000 | $3,856,127 | ||
$3,856,127 | |||
Doubles | |||
Event | Prize money | Year-to-date | |
$25,075 | $25,075 | ||
$25,075 | |||
Total | |||
$3,881,202 |
At the ATP Cup, Nadal's semifinals match versus Alex de Minaur averaged 320,000 viewers on Teledeporte,[30] and his final match versus Novak Djokovic averaged 953,000 viewers on RTVE's La 1.[31]
At the French Open, his semifinals match versus Diego Schwartzman averaged 403,000 viewers on DMAX and 232,000 viewers on Eurosport.[32] [33] His final match versus Djokovic averaged 1.5 million viewers on DMAX and 628,000 on Eurosport, combining for a 16.8% share.[34] [35]
At the ATP Finals, his semifinals match versus Daniil Medvedev averaged 274,000 vewiers on #Vamos.[36]