Who your favourite tennis player?

Rafael Nadal - Rafael Nadal
Romania
December 16, 2006 7:17am CST
My favourite tennis player is Rafael Nadal. In 2002, the 15-year-old Nadal won his first ATP match, defeating Ramon Delgado in Majorca to become the ninth player in the open era to win an ATP match before his 16th birthday. In 2003, Nadal became the second-youngest player to be ranked among the world's top 100 singles players. He finished the year in the top 50, winning two Challenger titles. At his Wimbledon debut, Nadal, then 17, became the youngest male player to reach the third round since 16-year-old Boris Becker in 1984. 2005 was Nadal's breakthrough year. At the Australian Open, he reached the fourth round and pushed the eventual runner-up, Lleyton Hewitt, to five sets. Two months later, he reached the final of the Miami Masters tournament — indeed, was three points away from victory in straight sets — but was defeated in five sets by the world's #1 player, Roger Federer. Shifting to the clay court season, Nadal won two ATP Masters Series events in Monte Carlo and Rome. At one point in the year, Nadal won 24 consecutive matches, the longest winning streak of any teenager in the open era, topping Andre Agassi's run of 23 matches in 1988. By May 2005, Nadal had reached the top 5 in the world rankings, becoming the youngest player to break into the top 10 since Andrei Medvedev in 1993. Nadal entered his first French Open among the favorites. He beat two of France's local hopes, Sebastien Grosjean and Richard Gasquet, to reach the semifinals. On his 19th birthday, he defeated Federer, preventing the Swiss from achieving a career Grand Slam. Two days later, he became the fourth-youngest French Open champion in the open era, defeating Argentina's Mariano Puerta in the final. He became the seventh player to win a Grand Slam in his first appearance at the event and the first since Agassi at the 1995 Australian Open. He also became the first teenager to win a Grand Slam singles title since Pete Sampras won the 1990 U.S. Open at age 19. Nadal is the first teenager to win at least six titles in a year since Agassi in 1988 at the age of 18. Three days after his victory in Paris, his winning streak was snapped on the grass courts of Halle, Germany, where he was beaten by German Alexander Waske in the first round. He suffered another disappointment at Wimbledon, where he was eliminated in the second round by Gilles Müller of Luxembourg. Nadal started his 2005 hardcourt season by defeating Agassi in the final of the Canada Masters. Nadal was seeded second at the U.S. Open but was eliminated in the third round by American James Blake in four sets. Despite the loss, his second seeding and third round performance were both career highs. After the U.S. Open, Nadal won two more hard court tournaments. In September, he defeated Guillermo Coria in the final of the China Open in Beijing, and in October, he won his fourth Masters Series event, defeating Ivan Ljubicic in five sets in the final of the Madrid Masters. He then suffered a foot injury that kept him out of the Tennis Masters Cup in 2005 and the start of 2006, causing him to miss the Australian Open. Overall, Nadal matched world No. 1 Roger Federer's standard in ATP titles won in a single season, eleven, and Masters Series events won, four. He won 79 matches in 2005, second only to Federer's 81.
8 responses
• Italy
16 Dec 06
roger federer - number 1
i prefer roger federer because is the best player in the world...
• Romania
16 Dec 06
hehe...i hate him because he wins everything
@secretbear (19448)
• Philippines
29 Mar 07
wow! that's a lot of information! it seems that nadal is your top favorite! he's my favorite too! so thanks for all those info. he's just awesome right? ^__^ federer might be the favorite of many but i will stick to Nadal! i just love him! hey, he just recently won the Pacific Life Open Tournament! hurrah for him! ^__^
@kunalvijan (3411)
• India
11 Jan 07
Roger Federer
@Manly001 (707)
• India
30 Dec 06
for me also , nice
@yueliu (1619)
• China
30 Jan 07
yeah,Nadal is one of my favorate tennis players. man:Nadal and Safin. woman:Sharapove.
@umitcicek (463)
• Turkey
27 Mar 07
I used to love Gustavo Kuerten and Pete Sampras.Especially Sampras was a legend..Agassi was the most powerful opponent of him.Now,absolutely the best player is Roger Federer.To beat him is almost impossible.Nadal is also quite capable player,Roddick and Safin are good but my favourite is Marat Safin.I want to watch a Safin-Federer Wimbledon final.
@barcir (932)
• Italy
29 Dec 06
Yes, Nadal is a very good player, but I like more Roger Federer. Nadal is the king of the red, but Roger is the king of all
@mmmayekar (103)
• India
16 Dec 06
federer he simply rocks