Rafael Nadal

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Some interesting facts about Nadal

In preparation for an event, tennis great Pat Cash played a clay-court match against the then fourteen year-old Nadal. Cash was reluctant to play against Nadal and took this arranged match as an offence. In the end, he was surprised to find himself losing by a close margin

Although Nadal plays left-handed, he is naturally right-handed. When he was younger, his uncle and coach, Toni Nadal, decided that his two-handed backhand would benefit from a strong right arm, so he taught Rafael to play with his left.

After the 2006 French Open final against Federer, Nadal started by praising Federer in his speech. The translator mistranslated the speech, leading the public to think he was praising himself. Nadal was thus booed and whistled at throughout the speech.

When Nadal beat Federer by 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 and won the French Open title last year, that was the quickest French Open finals since 1980.

It is common for Nadal to spend as much as 38 seconds, 18 over the limit, between points on his service game. The rules of tennis state that a maximum of 20 seconds is allowed between the time at which the last point is finished to the time at which the next serve is delivered. Nadal has picked up numerous time violations for this breach of the rules and has received a number of warnings from tennis authorities

Nadal is the nephew of former Spanish footballer Miguel Ángel Nadal, one of Spain's most capped players. Miguel's brother Toni is the coach of Rafael

In 2006, Nadal and Roger Federer became the only two male players in the open era to reach the Wimbledon final after having both played in the French Open final just a month prior. There have been several men to reach the Wimbledon final after making the French Open final, but never had the same two men accomplished such a feat at the same time

Nadal has "Vamos Rafa" ("Let's go Rafa") written on his shoes, a common exhortation by his fans

He can curl 30kg with his left hand and 25kg with his right