Tennis in Spain

Rafael Nadal

Tennis is highly popular in Spain, and the country has produced several tennis players with international careers.

Spain has won the Davis Cup six times (2000, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2019) and the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly Fed Cup) five times (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1998).

Rafael Nadal is regarded as the greatest Spanish player of all time. He has won 22 Grand Slam men's singles titles, the second-most in tennis history. He has won the French Open a record 14 times, between 2005 and 2022.[1] After defeating then-world No. 1 Roger Federer in 2008, Nadal claimed the Wimbledon title in a historic final, having won the tournament twice thus far. In 2009, he became the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open, a feat he repeated at the 2022 Australian Open. After defeating Novak Djokovic in the 2010 US Open final, he became the first man in history to win majors on clay, grass, and hard courts in a calendar year (Surface Slam), and the first Spaniard to complete a Career Grand Slam, which he has achieved twice in singles (one of four men in history to do so). In addition, Nadal is one of two men to achieve the Career Golden Slam in singles and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning the singles event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the doubles event at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Spain has produced several other world No. 1 players; Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (a 3-time French Open champion in 1989, 1994 and 1998, and 1994 US Open champion), Carlos Moyá (1998 French Open champion), Juan Carlos Ferrero (2003 French Open champion), Garbiñe Muguruza (2016 French Open and 2017 Wimbledon champion) and Carlos Alcaraz (2022 US Open, 2023 and 2024 Wimbledon, and 2024 French Open champion).

Other Grand Slam champions are Manuel Santana (1961 and 1964 French Open, 1966 Wimbledon and 1965 US Open champion), Sergi Bruguera (1993 and 1994 French Open champion), Andrés Gimeno (1972 French Open champion), Manuel Orantes (1975 US Open champion), Conchita Martínez (1994 Wimbledon champion), and Albert Costa (2002 French Open champion).

Tournaments held in Spain on the men's tour every year include the Madrid Masters, Barcelona, and Mallorca. Madrid Masters is also contested by women in the WTA Tour.

List of Spanish tennis players (Open Era only)

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Only includes players ranked in the top 50. Bold names indicate currently active players.[2]

Grand Slam performances of Spanish tennis players

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Only includes players who have reached at least a Grand Slam quarterfinal

Player Australian Open Roland Garros Wimbledon US Open Total titles
Rafael Nadal Winner (2) Winner (14) Winner (2) Winner (4) 22
Manuel Santana DNP Winner (2) Winner Winner 4
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Runner up Winner (3) Runner up Winner 4
Carlos Alcaraz QF Winner Winner (2) Winner 4
Garbiñe Muguruza Runner Up Winner Winner 4R 2
Sergi Bruguera 4R Winner (2) 4R 4R 2
Conchita Martínez Runner up Runner up Winner SF 1
Juan Carlos Ferrero SF Winner QF Runner up 1
Manuel Orantes QF Runner up SF Winner 1
Andrés Gimeno Runner up Winner SF 4R 1
Carlos Moyá Runner up Winner 4R SF 1
Albert Costa QF Winner 2R 4R 1
Manuel Alonso DNP SF Runner up QF 0
Lili Álvarez DNP SF Runner up DNP 0
Àlex Corretja 3R Runner up 2R QF 0
Alberto Berasategui QF Runner up 1R 2R 0
David Ferrer SF Runner up QF SF 0
Fernando Verdasco SF 4R 4R QF 0
Roberto Bautista Agut 4R QF 4R SF 0
Félix Mantilla QF SF 3R 4R 0
Pablo Carreño Busta 3R QF 1R SF 0
José Higueras DNP SF 2R 4R 0
Emilio Sánchez 4R QF 4R QF 0
Tommy Robredo QF QF 4R QF 0
Virginia Ruano Pascual QF QF 4R 3R 0
Carla Suárez Navarro QF QF 4R QF 0
Feliciano López 3R 4R QF QF 0
Nicolás Almagro QF QF 3R 4R 0
Javier Sánchez 3R 4R 2R QF 0
Marta Marrero 4R QF 2R 1R 0
Albert Ramos Viñolas 2R QF 3R 2R 0
Paula Badosa 4R QF 4R 2R 0
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 2R QF 3R 4R 0

Spanish tennis achievements timeline

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Year Grand Slam

titles

Total titles (ATP + WTA) Team competitions Olympics Special achievements
1988 0 4 (2 ATP + 2 WTA) - 1 silver
1989 1 8 (3 ATP + 5 WTA) - - Arantxa Sánchez Vicario becomes the first Spanish woman to win a Grand Slam title
1990 0 12 (7 ATP + 5 WTA) Hopman Cup champions (1/4) -
1991 0 12 (8 ATP + 4 WTA) Fed Cup champions (1/5) -
1992 0 11 (8 ATP + 3 WTA) - 2 silvers, 1 bronze
1993 1 19 (10 ATP + 9 WTA) Fed Cup champions (2/5) -
1994 4 26 (14 ATP + 12 WTA) Fed Cup champions (3/5) - Sergi Bruguera and Alberto Berasategui play first all-Spanish Grand Slam final
Conchita Martínez becomes the first Spanish woman to win Wimbledon
1995 0 12 (4 ATP + 8 WTA) Fed Cup champions (4/5) - Arantxa Sánchez Vicario reaches #1 in both singles and doubles world rankings
1996 0 16 (12 ATP + 4 WTA) 2 silvers, 1 bronze
1997 0 16 (15 ATP + 1 WTA) - -
1998 2 17 (12 ATP + 5 WTA) Fed Cup champions (5/5) Àlex Corretja wins the Year-end Championships
1999 0 13 (9 ATP + 4 WTA) - Carlos Moyá reaches #1
2000 0 11 (9 ATP + 2 WTA) Davis Cup champions (1/6) 1 bronze
2001 0 18 (12 ATP + 6 WTA) -
2002 1 12 (10 ATP + 2 WTA) Hopman Cup champions (2/4) -
2003 1 13 (10 ATP + 3 WTA) - Juan Carlos Ferrero reaches #1
2004 0 9 (8 ATP + 1 WTA) Davis Cup champions (2/6) 1 silver
2005 1 16 (12 ATP + 4 WTA) -
2006 1 13 (10 ATP + 3 WTA) -
2007 1 13 (12 ATP + 1 WTA) -
2008 2 18 (16 ATP + 2 WTA) Davis Cup champions (3/6) 1 gold, 1 silver Rafael Nadal wins two majors including a 4th French Open title (the most by any Spaniard), an Olympic singles gold medal, and finishes the year as world No. 1 for the first time
2009 1 16 (13 ATP + 3 WTA) Davis Cup champions (4/6) - Rafael Nadal becomes the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open
2010 3 20 (19 ATP + 1 WTA) Hopman Cup champions (3/4) - Rafael Nadal becomes the first man to win majors on all three surfaces (clay, grass, and hard), the only Spaniard to complete the Career Golden Slam (second overall) and win Wimbledon twice, and ends the year as world No. 1
2011 1 18 (13 ATP + 5 WTA) Davis Cup champions (5/6) -
2012 1 15 (14 ATP + 1 WTA)
2013 2 17 (17 ATP + 0 WTA) Hopman Cup champions (4/4) - Rafael Nadal makes a stellar return to tennis in one of the greatest comeback seasons of all time, wins two majors including a 2nd US Open title (the most by any Spaniard), and ends the year as world No. 1
2014 1 14 (11 ATP + 3 WTA) -
2015 0 11 (10 ATP + 1 WTA) -
2016 1 13 (10 ATP + 3 WTA) 1 gold Garbiñe Muguruza wins a career-first Grand Slam title
2017 3 13 (11 ATP + 2 WTA) - Rafael Nadal makes a stellar comeback to tennis, wins two majors including a milestone 10th French Open title, and ends the year as world No. 1. Nadal and Garbiñe Muguruza top both the ATP and WTA rankings simultaneously
2018 1 10 (9 ATP + 1 WTA) -
2019 2 9 (8 ATP + 1 WTA) Davis Cup champions (6/6) -
2020 1 2 (2 ATP + 0 WTA) - Rafael Nadal wins a milestone 20th Grand Slam singles title, reaches 1000 career match wins (the most by any Spaniard), and becomes the first man to be ranked world No. 1 in three different decades
2021 0 12 (6 ATP + 6 WTA) 1 bronze Paula Badosa becomes the first Spanish woman to win the Indian Wells Masters
Garbiñe Muguruza becomes the first Spanish woman to win the WTA Finals
2022 3 9 (8 ATP + 1 WTA) - Rafael Nadal becomes the first man to win a 21st and 22nd Grand Slam singles title. Nadal becomes the fourth man to achieve a double Career Grand Slam in singles and the first to win multiple majors in three different decades
Paula Badosa becomes the fourth Spanish woman to reach the Top 5 of the WTA rankings

References

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  1. ^ "Fascinating facts about Rafael Nadal's net worth, wife, world rankings, trophies". sportsbrief.com. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
  2. ^ "Spanish tennis players with the most ATP titles". Puntodebreak.com. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
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