Spanish tennis was in good shape when a young Rafael Nadal took to the court to play his maiden ATP match at the 2002 Mallorca Open.
At the time, three men from his country were in the ATP top 20 with Juan Carlos Ferrero (now coach of Carlos Alcaraz) being the highest-ranked at No.3. A handful of Spanish men had claimed Grand Slam titles such as Manuel Santana who won four majors during the 1960s, Sergi Bruguera won twice at the French Open in the 1990s and Carlos Moya won the 1998 French Open. On top of this, the women’s game also had stars such as Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Conchita Martinez.
However, the achievements of those players were later matched and exceeded by Nadal who transformed tennis in his country. His French Open dominance, rivalries with the other Big Three members, and success at the highest level elevated him to becoming one of the most recognizable figures of any sport in Spain. Over two decades, he claimed 92 ATP titles with 22 of those being at Grand Slam events.
The numbers behind Nadal’s career are extraordinary but it doesn’t tell the story of his influence on tennis in his country. The best way to get an insight into this is by speaking with those whose job has been to follow the King of Clay throughout his career. From personal experience, I have witnessed the army of Spanish journalists in action in both Madrid and elsewhere around the world, covering every aspect of Nadal’s career.
Some of those who I spoke to turned to journalism when Nadal was playing and others have been in the profession for many years before he even started his career.
“Tennis was in a very good position before Nadal. We had a few very big tennis players like Bruguera, Costa, Moyà or Ferrero in the ’90s, but then, he came up and everything changed.” Jose Moron, Director of the website Punto de Break (Point Break), tells me.
“Tennis before Rafa in Spain was something totally different than it is today. It is on another different level. A lot of kids in Spain picked up a racquet and tried to imitate him. Carlos Alcaraz himself said he wanted to become a tennis player thanks to him.
“He left everything he had on the court. Numbers are there, titles as well, but the best legacy he leaves for us is being an example for the kids and us, as a society too. We all have a lesson learned thanks to Rafa and he made us a better person.”
It is hard to quantify the king of Clay’s impact on his homeland. The development of tennis in Spain has been overseen by the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation (RFET) since 1907. During an email exchange, a member of RFET confirmed they don’t have any data that measures how Nadal’s career has impacted the sport’s growth in the country. However, without a doubt, it has been significant.
In June 2019 Nadal was named Spain’s greatest athlete of all time in a poll conducted by the newspaper Marca with the tennis titan receiving in the region of 65,000 votes. Two years later he was regarded as the ‘most admired’ personality in Spain based on a worldwide survey conducted by YouGov. Most recently in July ESPN ranked him as the 12th best professional athlete since 2000. He is the highest-ranking athlete from his country on this list but three tennis players are ranked above him – Novak Djokovic (No.11), Roger Federer (No.6) and Serena Williams No.2.
“There will never be another Rafa Nadal. That is something we were clear about from the beginning, before reaching the 22 Grand Slams with which he will close his sporting career,” TV commentator and writer Fernando Murciego said of the tennis star.
“The arrival of the Balearic player gave this country hope and an unknown confidence. Spain was already good at tennis… but Nadal is something else.
“A new mentality was born in the population, an idea that went beyond competing to win a trophy from time to time or being on the front page of a newspaper. Nadal established the greatness of the superhero who completes the feat every weekend.
“He removed the complexes we had in the world of sport and invited us to dream higher than ever, showing that a Spaniard could not only achieve success but could remain successful for almost two decades and even eat at the table of the best of all time.
“That door had been closed for a long time for a country not accustomed to success, until that boy with hair blowing in the wind, a look of joy and a smile on his face, came to Spain. He showed us the way to glory, where only legends coexist. Only he, with that naturalness and humility of birth, could make us part of such an amazing journey.”
Whilst Nadal made his ATP Tour debut in 2002, he played on the Challenger tour before this. Segovia, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León, was where he won his first ATP title of any sort on home territory in 2003. Manuel Poyan, a former employee of Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) in the 1980s and 1990s before moving to Eurosport, is among those who witnessed the tennis star rise from a nobody in the sport to one of the all-time greats. Poyan is known for his distinctive voice which is instantly recognised by many in his homeland when he commentates on matches.
“In 2003 he (Nadal) won an ATP Challenger in Segovia. There were not many journalists in that match (the final) he played against Tomas Zib,” he recounts.
“The last 21 years have been amazing. Nadal is one of the great ambassadors for Sport. Not only in Spain but around the world. Okay for his victories because that is important. But his behavior on the court, makes him a legend.”
“Thanks to Nadal a lot of work has been created for journalists.”
Nadal has selected Malaga, which is hosting the Davis Cup Finals, as his farewell event. Leading up to the tournament, a massive 2,600-square-metre canvas featuring a 15-meter image of Nadal covered the Málaga City Stadium with the words ‘Thank You.’ Those behind the idea, claim it is one of the biggest advertising banners that has ever been constructed in Spain. Furthermore, there will also be tributes located at the Palacio de los Deportes metro station, areas of this sports complex, screens in the area and social media networks with the hashtag #GraciasRafa. Elsewhere in the world, Nike will have a 10M tall image of Nadal projected on the Parvis des Droits de L’Homme at the Trocadero in Paris.
“I will never have the chance to thank everybody in Spain, the support that I received and the love that I felt always. The media, the crowd, the kids, always had a great connection with them,” Nadal told reporters on Monday ahead of his country’s tie with the Netherlands.
“I have been very fortunate to enjoy all that I enjoyed and feel myself the way that I feel during all these years. It is a very special thing that I felt very well loved.”
Among those watching Nadal play his final week of tennis as a professional will be El Pais journalist Alejandro Ciriza who wrote the book “Vamos, Rafa!” in 2023, which documented his career in the sport.
“The impact of Nadal in the modern evolution of Spanish tennis has been enormous. He changed absolutely everything: diffusion, investment, structure, popularity. A new look,” he said.
“There is a before and an after Rafa. There is a star like Carlos Alcaraz because Nadal previously opened the way and focused more attention on a sport that was already popular in this country. His successes transformed the mentality of a generation of players and also that of many boys and girls who are being trained in the academies and who perceive in his powerful message a perfect manual to grow and evolve.
“He has shown that everything is possible and has created a style, a motto: the famous “Come on, Rafa!”. That shout, that look and that way of clenching his fist symbolize a way of believing.
“His triumphs and his leadership have driven the best version of his compatriots, and today he is a magnificent legacy and the best inspiration for the new generations.”
Nadal’s influence in the sport will continue thanks to his academies. The Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca was created in 2016 and has evolved into an international business with other bases having been built in places such as Mexico, Greece and Hong Kong. His departure from the sport with inevitably leave a big gap, as was the case with his former nemesis Roger Federer who retired in 2022.
Alcaraz, who already has 16 ATP titles to his name at the age of 21, is tasked with filling the void left by Nadal. He has spoken on numerous occasions about not wanting to be compared with his idol and instead wanting to create his own piece of history. Only time will tell how dominant Alcaraz will be as he embraces the position of trying to live up to the high expectations of his compatriots, something Nadal had to do for more than 20 years.
“We will start a new era. 2025 will be known as 1 AR, year one after Rafa,” Moron concludes.
Nadal’s career in numbers
- 5 Davis Cup titles
- 11 doubles trophies won
- 15 Grand slams missed due to injury or illness.
- 16 times qualified for the ATP Finals
- 53 combined wins over Novak Djokovic (29) and Roger Federer (24)
- 92 titles won – 22 Grand Slams, 36 Masters 1000 titles, 23 ATP 500’s/International series, 10 ATP 250’s/international series and one Olympic gold
- 97.4% win rate at Roland Garros
- 186 wins over top-10 players
- 209 weeks as world No.1
- 912 consecutive weeks in the top 10
- 1080 Tour-level matches won
- $134,946,100 in prize money earned