2021 Rafael Nadal tennis season

Main article: Rafael Nadal

The 2021 Rafael Nadal tennis season officially began on 9 February 2021, with the start of the Australian Open.

2021 Rafael Nadal tennis season

Full name	Rafael Nadal Parera
Country	Spain
Calendar prize money	$1,478,832
Singles
Season record	24–5 (82.8%)
Calendar titles	2
Current ranking	No. 6
Ranking change from previous year	4
Grand Slam & significant results
Australian Open	QF
French Open	SF
Wimbledon	A
US Open	A
Doubles
Season record	0–0
Current ranking	No. 511
Ranking change from previous year	36
← 2020 2022 →

Yearly summary

Early hard court season

ATP Cup

Rafael Nadal was scheduled to begin his season at the ATP Cup. However, despite being on the Spanish team, he did not play any matches due to minor back issues.^[1][2]

Australian Open

See also: 2021 Australian Open – Men's Singles

At the 2021 Australian Open, Nadal lost in the quarterfinals to Stefanos Tsitsipas, despite being two sets to love up. This marked only the second time Nadal has lost a grand slam match after being two sets up.^[3] It was overall the third time he lost from 2 sets up, the others happened at the US Open 2015 to Fabio Fognini, and Miami 2005 to Roger Federer in the final when Masters finals were best of 5.

Indian Wells Masters

Indian Wells Masters was scheduled to take place in March 2021 but was postponed due to coronavirus concerns.^[4]

Miami Open

Nadal withdrew from the Miami Open.^[5]

Spring clay court season

Monte-Carlo Masters

Nadal won his first two matches losing a total of just 5 games in both combined, but then lost to Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals in three sets.

Barcelona Open

Nadal saved a match point to defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas, in 3 hours and 38 minutes, the longest final since 1991 (when records began). This was his record-extending 12th title at the event. ^[6][7]

Madrid Open

Nadal lost to Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals.

Italian Open

Nadal saved two match points to defeat Denis Shapovalov. He then beat Alexander Zverev and Reilly Opelka to reach the final, where he defeated longtime rival Novak Djokovic in three sets.

French Open

See also: 2021 French Open – Men's Singles

At the French Open, Nadal entered as the heavy favorite seeking to become the first man to win 21 majors. He reached the semifinals after wins over Jannik Sinner and Diego Schwartzman, where he encountered Novak Djokovic in a rematch of the previous year's final. There, Nadal was upset by eventual champion Djokovic in four sets, in only his third-ever loss at the French Open.

Grass court season

Wimbledon

See also: 2021 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles

Nadal withdrew from both Wimbledon and the Olympics, citing schedule reasons.

North American hard court season

Washington (Citi Open)

Nadal made his Washington debut in 2021. He faced Jack Sock in his opener, his first match since losing to Novak Djokovic at the French Open. Nadal recovered from a break down in the third set, prevailing in a final set tiebreak. He lost in the round of 16 to Lloyd Harris (tennis) in three sets.

Following more injury problems, Nadal withdrew from Toronto and Cincinnati, and, on August 20, ended his season, citing his ongoing foot injury as the main issue.

All matches

This table chronicles all the matches of Rafael Nadal in 2021.

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

P#

DNQ

A

Z#

PO

G

S

B

NMS

NTI

P

NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Singles matches

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponent (seed or key)	Rank	Result	Score
ATP Cup Melbourne, Australia ATP Cup Hard, outdoor 2 – 7 February 2021
	Withdrew
Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam tournament Hard, outdoor 8 – 21 February 2021
	1 / 1209	1R	Laslo Đere	56	Win	6–3, 6–4, 6–1
	2 / 1210	2R	Michael Mmoh (Q)	177	Win	6–1, 6–4, 6–2
	3 / 1211	3R	Cameron Norrie	69	Win	7–5, 6–2, 7–5
	4 / 1212	4R	Fabio Fognini (16)	17	Win	6–3, 6–4, 6–2
	5 / 1213	QF	Stefanos Tsitsipas (5)	6	Loss	6–3, 6–2, 6–7^(4–7), 4–6, 5–7
Monte-Carlo Masters Monte Carlo, Monaco ATP Tour Masters 1000 Clay, outdoor 12 – 18 April 2021
	–	1R	Bye
	6 / 1214	2R	Federico Delbonis (Q)	87	Win	6–1, 6–2
	7 / 1215	3R	Grigor Dimitrov (14)	17	Win	6–1, 6–1
	8 / 1216	QF	Andrey Rublev (6)	8	Loss	2–6, 6–4, 2–6
Barcelona Open Barcelona, Spain ATP Tour 500 Clay, outdoor 19 – 25 April 2021
	–	1R	Bye
	9 / 1217	2R	Ilya Ivashka (Q)	111	Win	3–6, 6–2, 6–4
	10 / 1218	3R	Kei Nishikori	39	Win	6–0, 2–6, 6–2
	11 / 1219	QF	Cameron Norrie	58	Win	6–1, 6–4
	12 / 1220	SF	Pablo Carreño Busta (6)	13	Win	6–3, 6–2
	13 / 1221	W	Stefanos Tsitsipas (2)	5	Win (1)	6–4, 6–7^(6–8), 7–5
Madrid Open Madrid, Spain ATP Tour Masters 1000 Clay, outdoor 2 – 9 May 2021
	–	1R	Bye
	14 / 1222	2R	Carlos Alcaraz (WC)	120	Win	6–1, 6–2
	15 / 1223	3R	Alexei Popyrin (Q)	76	Win	6–3, 6–3
	16 / 1224	QF	Alexander Zverev (5)	6	Loss	4–6, 4–6
Italian Open Rome, Italy ATP Tour Masters 1000 Clay, outdoor 9 – 16 May 2021
	–	1R	Bye
	17 / 1225	2R	Jannik Sinner	18	Win	7–5, 6–4
	18 / 1226	3R	Denis Shapovalov (13)	14	Win	3–6, 6–4, 7–6^(7–3)
	19 / 1227	QF	Alexander Zverev (6)	6	Win	6–3, 6–4
	20 / 1228	SF	Reilly Opelka	47	Win	6–4, 6–4
	21 / 1229	W	Novak Djokovic (1)	1	Win (2)	7–5, 1–6, 6–3
French Open Paris, France Grand Slam tournament Clay, outdoor 30 May – 13 June 2021
	22 / 1230	1R	Alexei Popyrin	63	Win	6–3, 6–2, 7–6^(7–3)
	23 / 1231	2R	Richard Gasquet	53	Win	6–0, 7–5, 6–2
	24 / 1232	3R	Cameron Norrie	45	Win	6–3, 6–3, 6–3
	25 / 1233	4R	Jannik Sinner (18)	19	Win	7–5, 6–3, 6–0
	26 / 1234	QF	Diego Schwartzman (10)	10	Win	6–3, 4–6, 6–4, 6–0
	27 / 1235	SF	Novak Djokovic (1)	1	Loss	6–3, 3–6, 6–7^(4–7), 2–6
Citi Open Washington, United States ATP Tour 500 Hard, outdoor 31 July – 8 August 2021
	–	1R	Bye
	28 / 1236	2R	Jack Sock (WC)	192	Win	6–2, 4–6, 7–6^(7–1)
	29 / 1237	3R	Lloyd Harris (14)	50	Loss	4–6, 6–1, 4–6
Canadian Open Toronto, Canada ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 6 – 15 August 2021
	Withdrew

Exhibition matches

Singles

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponent (seed or key)	Rank	Result	Score
A Day at the Drive Adelaide, Australia Hard, outdoor 29 January 2021 ^[8]
	1	–	Dominic Thiem	3	Win	7–5, 6–4

Schedule

Per Rafael Nadal, this is his current 2021 schedule (subject to change).^[9] The ATP rankings are currently affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; they are on a Best of 24-month basis through the week of 15 March 2021. Until then, all the events are non-mandatory and players can use the best result from the same event in that 24-month span.^[10]

Singles schedule

Date	Tournament	Location	Tier	Surface	Prev. result	Prev. points	New points	Result
2 February 2021– 7 February 2021	ATP Cup	Melbourne (AUS)	ATP Cup	Hard	F	250	0 (250^[a])	Withdrew due to minor back issues
8 February 2021– 21 February 2021	Australian Open	Melbourne (AUS)	Grand Slam	Hard	QF	360	360	Quarterfinals (lost to   Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6–3, 6–2, 6–7^(4–7), 4–6, 5–7)
15 March 2021– 20 March 2021	Mexican Open	Acapulco (MEX)	500 Series	Hard	W	500	0 (500^[a])	Withdrew
22 March 2021– 4 April 2021	Miami Open	Miami (USA)	Masters 1000	Hard	NH	N/A	N/A	Withdrew
12 April 2021– 18 April 2021	Monte Carlo Masters	Monte Carlo (MON)	Masters 1000	Clay	SF	360	180	Quarterfinals (lost to   Andrey Rublev, 2–6, 6–4, 2–6)
19 April 2021– 25 April 2021	Barcelona Open	Barcelona (ESP)	500 Series	Clay	SF	180	500	Champion (defeated   Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-4, 6–7^(6–8), 7–5)
3 May 2021– 9 May 2021	Madrid Open	Madrid (ESP)	Masters 1000	Clay	SF	360	180	Quarterfinals (lost to   Alexander Zverev, 4–6, 4–6)
9 May 2021– 16 May 2021	Italian Open	Rome (ITA)	Masters 1000	Clay	QF	180 (1000^[a])	1000	Champion (defeated   Novak Djokovic, 7-5, 1–6, 6–3)
31 May 2021– 13 June 2021	French Open	Paris (FRA)	Grand Slam	Clay	W	2000	720 (1000^[b])	Semifinals (lost to   Novak Djokovic, 6–3, 3–6, 6–7^(4–7), 2–6)
28 June 2021– 11 July 2021	Wimbledon	London (GBR)	Grand Slam	Grass	SF	720	0 (360^[b])	Withdrew
31 July 2021– 8 August 2021	Citi Open	Washington (USA)	500 Series	Hard	A	N/A	45	Third round (lost to L Harris, 4–6, 6–1,4-6)
6 August 2021– 15 August 2021	Canadian Open	Toronto (CAN)	Masters 1000	Hard	NH	1000^[a]	0 (500^[b])	Withdrew
15 August 2021– 22 August 2021	Cincinnati Masters	Mason (USA)	Masters 1000	Hard	A	0	0
6 August 2021– 15 August 2021	US Open	New York (USA)	Grand Slam	Hard	A	0 (2000^[a])	0
4 October 2021– 11 October 2021	Indian Wells Masters	Indian Wells (USA)	Masters 1000	Hard	NH	360^[a]	0
1 November 2021– 7 November 2021	Paris Masters	Paris (FRA)	Masters 1000	Hard	SF	360	0
Total year-end points						9850	4875	4975 difference

Yearly records

Head-to-head matchups

Rafael Nadal has a 24–5 (82.8%) ATP match win–loss record in the 2021 season. His record against players who were part of the ATP rankings Top Ten at the time of their meetings is 4–4 (50.0%). Bold indicates player was ranked top 10 at the time of at least one meeting. The following list is ordered by number of wins:

•   Cameron Norrie 3–0
•   Alexei Popyrin 2–0
•   Jannik Sinner 2–0
•   Carlos Alcaraz 1–0
•   Pablo Carreño Busta 1–0
•   Federico Delbonis 1–0
•   Laslo Đere 1–0
•   Grigor Dimitrov 1–0
•   Fabio Fognini 1–0
•   Richard Gasquet 1–0
•   Ilya Ivashka 1–0
•   Michael Mmoh 1–0
•   Kei Nishikori 1–0
•   Reilly Opelka 1–0
•   Diego Schwartzman 1–0
•   Denis Shapovalov 1–0
•   Jack Sock 1–0
•   Stefanos Tsitsipas 1–1
•   Alexander Zverev 1–1
•   Novak Djokovic 1–1
•   Lloyd Harris 0–1
•   Andrey Rublev 0–1

* Statistics correct as of 5 August 2021^[update].

Top 10 wins

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score	RNR
1/175.	Stefanos Tsitsipas	5	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	F	6–4, 6–7^(6–8), 7–5	3
2/176.	Alexander Zverev	6	Rome, Italy	Clay	QF	6–3, 6–4	3
3/177.	Novak Djokovic	1	Rome, Italy	Clay	F	7–5, 1–6, 6–3	3
4/178.	Diego Schwartzman	10	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	QF	6–3, 4–6, 6–4, 6–0	3

Finals

Singles: 2 (2 titles)

Category Grand Slam (0–0) ATP Finals (0–0) Masters 1000 (1–0) 500 Series (1–0) 250 Series (0–0)

Titles by surface Hard (0–0) Clay (2–0) Grass (0–0)

Titles by setting Outdoor (2–0) Indoor (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Apr 2021	Barcelona Open, Spain** (12)	500 Series	Clay	Stefanos Tsitsipas	6–4, 6–7^(6–8), 7–5
Win	2–0	May 2021	Italian Open, Italy** (10)	Masters 1000	Clay	Novak Djokovic	7–5, 1–6, 6–3

(**) signifies tournaments where Nadal won the title after saving at least one match point.

Earnings

• Bold font denotes tournament win

Singles
Event	Prize money	Year-to-date
Australian Open	A$525,000	$360,832
Monte-Carlo Masters	€46,500	$416,144
Barcelona Open	€178,985	$629,046
Madrid Open	€58,370	$699,195
Italian Open	€245,085	$997,268
French Open	€375,000	$1,454,432
Washington Open	$24,400	$1,478,832
		$1,478,832
Total
		$1,478,832

Figures in United States dollars (USD) unless noted.

• source：2021 Singles Activity
• source：2021 Doubles Activity

Television

At the Barcelona Open, Nadal's semifinals match versus Pablo Carreño Busta averaged 773,000 viewers on RTVE's La 1 and 115,000 on #Vamos. The final match versus Stefanos Tsitsipas averaged 1.5 million viewers on La 1 (equivalent to a 11.3% share), 87,000 on #Vamos and 68,000 on Movistar Deportes.^{[11][12][13][14]}

At the Madrid Open, his quarter-finals match versus Alexander Zverev averaged 447,000 viewers on Teledeporte.^[15]

At the Italian Open, his final match versus Novak Djokovic averaged 363,00 viewers on #Vamos.^[16]

See also

• 2021 ATP Tour
• 2021 Novak Djokovic tennis season

Notes

1. Points carried over due to the Best of 24-month ranking being extended through and including the week of 1 March 2021.^[10]
2. Points carried over due to the Best of 24-month ranking being used for events between 4 March – 5 August 2019, that were not played in 2020, but weighted at 50%.^[10]

References

1. "Nadal Will Not Compete Against Australia Tuesday". atptour.com. 2 February 2021.
2. "Rafael Nadal: 'I'm not in a terrible shape, but I'm not well enough to play'". tennisworldusa.org. 5 February 2021.
3. "Rafael Nadal Is Out of the Australian Open". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
4. "Indian Wells: 2021 BNP Paribas Open postponed due to COVID-19 concerns". skysports.com. 29 December 2020.
5. "Nadal Announces Miami Withdrawal". ATP Tour. 16 March 2021.
6. "Rafael Nadal Saves M.P., Beats Stefanos Tsitsipas For 12th Barcelona Title | ATP Tour | Tennis". ATP Tour. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
7. Yahoo!news:Tennis-Nadal outlasts Tsitsipas to claim 12th Barcelona Open title
8. "Rafael Nadal beats Dominic Thiem at A Day at the Drive in Adelaide". tennisworldusa.org. 29 January 2021.
9. "Rafael Nadal's Schedule for the 2021 Season". essentiallysports.com. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
10. "FedEx ATP Rankings COVID-19 Adjustments FAQ". ATP. 13 January 2021.
11. 'Sábado deluxe' lidera con un gran 16,9% y 'laSexta noche' crece a un 8,5% en la semana política más tensa - Fórmula TV, 25 April 2021
12. El Real Madrid - Betis marca un 5,7% llevando al liderazgo a este partido en Movistar LaLiga - Fórmula TV, 25 April 2021
13. 'Conexión Honduras' (18,7%) gana en cuota, pero 'Mi hija' (17,3%) se corona como lo más visto en espectadores - Fórmula TV, 26 April 2021
14. El fútbol arrasa en Movistar con el partido entre el Athletic de Bilbao y el Atlético de Madrid (5%) a la cabeza - Fórmula TV, 26 April 2021
15. El final de 'Ciudad Cruel' (4,2%) arrasa y se impone en espectadores al ATP Masters 1000 de tenis en TDP (4%) - Fórmula TV, 8 May 2021
16. 'La casa del fútbol' (4%) y el Mundial de MotoGP (4,3%) enganchan a los espectadores del pago - Fórmula TV, 17 May 2021

External links

• Official website (in Spanish)
• ATP tour profile