Rafael Nadal was born on June 3, 1986 in Manacor, Mallorca, Spain. Born in the tennis professional world. Like every players dream, Rafael??s dream is to become the number 1 ranked player in the world.
His uncle, Miguel Angel Nadal, is a professional soccer player with stints at FC Barcelona, Real Mallorca and Spanish national team, which competed in 2002 World Cup.
He started playing tennis when he was just three years old, after watching his Uncle Toni play the sport at a local tennis club. Rafael's uncle began teaching him how to play tennis and by the age of 11, Rafael was winning youth tennis tournaments all across Spain.
He became the youngest player to reach the top 100 in the world by breaking the record held by Roger Federer.
With his win over Roger Federer at the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami, Florida, he became the first teenager to beat a top-ranked player since an 18-year-old Andy Roddick upset Gustavo Kuerten in August 2001 at Montreal.
In 2005, Rafael Nadal claimed his second career Masters Series at the Telecom Italia Masters Roma, in Rome Italy. His first win came at the Masters Series Monte-Carlo, in Monaco.
He became the second-youngest Masters Series winner (18 years, 10 months) after Michael Chang (18 years, 5 months) won in Toronto in 1990, and the youngest winner in Monte-Carlo since Mats Wilander in 1983 (18 years, 7 months).
Used to spend time training hours and hours on court, Rafa is better equipped than the other young players. Juan-Carlos Ferrero praised, ???He??s very sturdy and he already has the physique to endure all of the efforts.
Though his full name is Rafael Nadal-Parera, he is generally known simply as Rafael Nadal... According to the ATP Tour site, he is "nicknamed 'Rafa' by his countrymen"... Nadal beat Mariano Puerta in the French Open final, 6-7 6-3 6-1 7-5... Mallorca is one of the Balearic Islands, which stand in the Mediterranean Ocean off the coast of Spain.
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