On this day: Rafael Nadal introduces himself to the tennis world

While his coevals were making their first steps on the junior tour, Rafael Nadal took a different approach. The Manacor native played just two events on the ITF junior Tour after turning 16 in 2002, reaching the semi-final at Wimbledon and winning the Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Final. His focus was on professional tennis even at such a young age, starting to compete on that level at 14 in 2001! Battling against much older and experienced rivals, Nadal failed to qualify for home Satellites and Futures, having a chance to compete in the qualifying round of the ATP 250 event at home in Mallorca. Rafa made his pro debut in the main draws at Spain F10 Futures in Madrid on September 11, 2001, wasting no less than 13 match points against Guillermo Platel-Varas in the opening round! A week later, the youngster received a wild card at Seville Challenger for a debut on that level, ousting world no. 751 Israel Matos Gil 6-4, 6-4 to claim his first pro triumph and earn the first five points in a career.

On September 24, Rafael Nadal appeared on the ATP ranking list for the first time, placed just outside the top-1000 as the third-youngest player in the world after Ivan Puchkarov and Richard Gasquet. By the end of 2001, Nadal would win seven more encounters at Spain 7 Masters, finishing the season just outside the top-800, preparing himself for a stellar 2002, when we consider his age. Working on his game regularly, a fantastic youngster cracked the top-200 at 16, winning six out of nine Futures he entered and scoring the first ATP victory at home in Mallorca, as one of ten 15-year-old players with an ATP win.

Rafael Nadal made an ATP rankings debut on this day in 2001.

A year later, Nadal would show his quality at the Masters 1000 level, reaching the third round in Monte Carlo and Hamburg and cracking the top-50 following two Challenger titles, the semi-final in Umag and the third round at Wimbledon. In 2004, the Spaniard claimed the first ATP title in Sopot, struggling with injuries but leaving all that behind him ahead of 2005 when he became one of the world's greatest players at 19, conquering four Masters 1000 crowns and the first Major at Roland Garros. Nadal cracked the top-10 in April 2005 and has never left the elite group, spending more than 15 years there and looking good to take that already impressive record to the unreachable level in the next couple of years. Nineteen years after his ATP rankings debut, Nadal is still among the world's best players, collecting 19 Major titles and seeking another one in Paris in the next couple of weeks. 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/35YTZNM