2010 Rafael Nadal tennis season

Nadal began the year by participating in the Capitala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He defeated compatriot David Ferrer (7-6(3), 6-3) to reach his second final in the exhibition tournament. In the final, Nadal defeated Robin Söderling (7-6(3), 7-5).[3]

Secondly, Nadal participated in the Australian Open warm-up tournament, the Qatar ExxonMobil Open ATP 250 event in Doha, where he lost in the final.[4] He defeated the Italians Simone Bolelli in the first round (6-3, 6-3) and Potito Starace (6-2, 6-2) in the second round. In the quarter-finals, the Spaniard defeated the Belgian Steve Darcis: 6-1, 2-0(ret). After that, in the semi-final, Nadal defeated the fifth seed Viktor Troicki (6-1, 6-3), winning eleven games in a row. In the final, Nadal lost to Russian Nikolay Davydenko (6-0, 6-7(8), 4-6), despite dominating the opening set and holding two match points in the second set.[4] Davydenko had also defeated Roger Federer in the semi-final before facing Nadal in the final.[4]

In the first round of the Australian Open, Nadal defeated the Australian Peter Luczak (7-6(0), 6-1, 6-4).[5] In the second round, he beat Lukáš Lacko (6-2, 6-2, 6-2).[6] In the third round, he was tested by Philipp Kohlschreiber, finally beating him in four sets (6-4, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5).[7] In the fourth round, he beat the Croatian Ivo Karlović, (6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4).[8] In the quarter-finals, Nadal pulled out in the third set against Andy Murray, having lost the first two sets (6-3, 7-6(2)).[9] After having his knee examined, doctors told Nadal to take two weeks of rest followed by two weeks of rehabilitation.

In singles, Nadal reached the semi-finals at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells as the current defending champion. However, the eventual winner, Ivan Ljubičić, defeated him in three sets.[10] He and López won the doubles title by defeating the number one seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić.[11] This boosted Nadal's doubles ranking 175 places,[12] going from number 241 to being number 66 in the world.[13] After Indian Wells, Nadal reached the semi-finals of Sony Ericsson Open where he lost to the eventual champion Andy Roddick in three sets.[14]

Nadal reached the final of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in Monaco after beating the fellow Spaniard David Ferrer (6-3, 6-2) in the semi-finals. This was Nadal's first tour final since Doha earlier that year. He won the final with a (6-0, 6-1) score over his compatriot Fernando Verdasco. He lost fourteen games throughout all five matches, the fewest he had ever lost en route to a championship, and the tournament's final was the shortest Masters 1000 final in terms of games. With this win, Nadal became the first player in open history to win a tournament title for six straight years.[15]

Unlike previous years, Nadal chose to skip the Barcelona tournament despite the fact that he was the five-time defending champion.

His next tournament was the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia. He defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber, Victor Hănescu, and Stanislas Wawrinka all in straight sets to win his 57th straight match, in April. In the semi-finals, he faced a resilient Ernests Gulbis, who defeated Roger Federer earlier in the tournament and battled Nadal into a three-set-match for the first time in this clay court season. Nadal eventually prevailed with a (6-4, 3-6, 6-4) in two hours and forty minutes. Then he defeated compatriot David Ferrer in the final (7-5, 6-2) for his fifth title at Rome, to equal Andre Agassi's record of winning 17 ATP Masters 1000 titles.

Nadal then entered the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where he had finished runner-up the previous year. By being one of the top eight seeds, he received a bye in the first round. In the second round, he defeated the qualifier Oleksandr Dolgopolov, Jr. in straight sets. He then played the six-foot-nine American John Isner, and Nadal comfortably came through in straight sets, (7-5, 6-4). In the quarter-finals, he defeated Gaël Monfils (6-1, 6-3) and then his countryman Nicolás Almagro, who was playing the first Masters 1000 semifinal of his career, (4-6, 6-2, 6-2). The first set of his match against Almagro would be just the second set he lost on clay courts up to this point in 2010. Nadal then defeated his longtime rival Roger Federer (6-4, 7-6(5)), avenging his 2009 final loss to Federer. The win gave him his 18th Masters 1000 title, breaking the all-time record. He became the first player to win all three clay court Masters 1000 titles in a single year and the first player to win three consecutive Masters events. Nadal moved back to No. 2 in the rankings the following day.

Entering the French Open, many were expecting another Nadal-Federer final. However, this became impossible when rival Robin Söderling defeated Federer (3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4) in the quarter-finals.[16] The failure of Federer to reach the semi-finals would allow Nadal to regain the world number 1 ranking, if he were to win the tournament. Nadal advanced to the final and defeated Soderling (6-4, 6-2, 6-4) to win the French Open. The win gave Nadal his seventh Grand Slam, tying him with John McEnroe, John Newcombe and Mats Wilander on the all-time list, and allowed Nadal to reclaim the position of ATP World Number One; denying his biggest rival Roger Federer the all-time record for weeks at No. 1.[17][18] With this win, Nadal became the first man to win the three Masters series on clay and the French Open; this was dubbed by the media as the "Clay Slam". This victory at Roland Garros marked the second time that Nadal had won the French Open without dropping a single set (tying the record held by Björn Borg). With the win in Paris he also booked his place at the World Tour Finals in London, and became the first player to win five French Open titles in six years.

As of 2017, Nadal's clay season was the second most successful in his career, as he earned 5,000 points after winning 4 titles. This was only surpassed by his 2013 season, in which Nadal earned 5,100 points after winning Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and the French Open, and being runner-up in Monte-Carlo.[19]

In June, Nadal entered the Aegon Championships—which he won in 2008—at the prestigious Queen's Club. He played singles and doubles at this grass court tournament as a warm up for the Wimbledon Championships. By being one of the top eight seeds, he received a bye in the first round. In the second round, where he played his first match on grass since winning Wimbledon in 2008, he defeated the Brazilian Marcos Daniel easily in two sets, (6-2, 6-2). In the third round, he played Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, whom he defeated (7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4), to advance to the quarter-finals. However, in the quarter-finals he was defeated by his compatriot Feliciano López (6-7(5), 4-6), and left the competition without a title.

At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships Nadal started by beating Kei Nishikori (6-2, 6-4, 6-4) in the first round. In the second round, he fought hard and succeeded against Robin Haase after five sets (5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3). In the third round, he defeated Philipp Petzschner. The match was a 5-set thriller with Nadal triumphing (6-4, 4-6, 6-7, 6-2, 6-3). During this match, Nadal was warned twice for receiving coaching from his coach and uncle, Toni Nadal, resulting in a $2,000 fine by Wimbledon officials. Allegedly, encouraging words for Nadal shouted during the match were some sort of coaching code signal.[20][21] After that, Nadal comfortably beat the French Paul-Henri Mathieu in three sets (6-4, 6-2, 6-2). In the quarter-finals, he got past the Swedish Robin Söderling in four sets (3-6, 6-3, 7-6(7-4), 6-1). He then defeated Andy Murray in straight sets (6-4, 7-6(8-6), 6-4) to reach his fourth Wimbledon final.

In the 2010 Wimbledon men's title, Nadal won the tournament by defeating Tomáš Berdych in straight sets (6-3, 7-5, 6-4). After the win, Rafa said, "It is more than a dream for me" and thanked the crowd for being both kind and supportive to him during this match and also in the semi-final against Andy Murray.[22] The win gave him a second Wimbledon title and an eighth career major title,[23] at the age of 24.[24]

In his first hard-court tournament since Miami, Nadal advanced to the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup, along with No. 2 Novak Djokovic, No. 3 Roger Federer, and No. 4 Andy Murray, after coming back from a one-set deficit to defeat the German Philipp Kohlschreiber (3-6, 6-3, 6-4).[25] In the semifinal, defending champion Andy Murray defeated Nadal (6-3, 6-4), becoming the only player to triumph over the Spaniard twice in 2010.[26] Nadal also competed in the doubles tournament with Novak Djokovic in a one-time, high-profile partnership, not seen since 1976 when Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe as World No.1 and No.2 paired up, making a double dream team.[27] However, they lost in the first round to Canadians Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil.

The next week, Nadal was the top seed at the Cincinnati Masters, losing in the quarter-finals to 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis.

Rafael Nadal won the 2010 US Open title, thus completing the Career Grand Slam.

At the 2010 US Open, Nadal was the top seed for the second time in three years. He defeated Teymuraz Gabashvili, Denis Istomin, Gilles Simon, 23rd seed Feliciano López, 8th seed Fernando Verdasco, and 12th seed Mikhail Youzhny, all without dropping a set, to reach his first US Open final. By doing that he became the 8th man in the Open Era to reach the final of all four majors at the age 24; the second youngest to ever do so, behind only Jim Courier. In the final, he defeated 3rd seed Novak Djokovic (6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2), which completed the Career Grand Slam for Nadal, and he became the second male after Andre Agassi to complete a Career Golden Slam.[28] Nadal also became the first man to win Grand Slams on clay, grass, and hard court surfaces in the same year (later accomplished by Djokovic in 2021 after winning the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon Championships), and the first to win the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open in the same year since Rod Laver in 1969. With the US Open win, Nadal became, along with Mats Wilander, the only male players to win at least two Grand Slams each on clay, grass, and hard court in their careers (Novak Djokovic later completed this feat with his second French Open title in 2021). After all that, he also became the first left-handed man to win the US Open since John McEnroe in 1984.[29] This victory also clinched the year-end number one ranking for 2010, making Nadal the third player (after Ivan Lendl in 1989 and Roger Federer in 2009) to regain the year-end number one ranking after having lost it.[30]

Nadal began his Asian tour at 2010 PTT Thailand Open in Bangkok, where he reached the semi-finals, losing to his compatriot Guillermo García-López.

He was able to regroup, and at the 2010 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo (debut), he defeated Santiago Giraldo, Milos Raonic and Dmitry Tursunov. In the semi-finals against Viktor Troicki, Nadal saved two match points in the deciding-set tiebreaker, to win it 9-7 in the end. In the final, Nadal comfortably defeated Gaël Monfils (6-1, 7-5) for his 7th title of the season.

Nadal next played in the 2010 Shanghai Rolex Masters, in Shanghai, where he was the top seed, but lost to world's number twelve, Jürgen Melzer in the third round, stopping his record streak of 21 consecutive Masters quarter-finals. On 5 November, Nadal announced that he was pulling out of the Paris Masters due to tendinitis in his left shoulder.[31]

At the ATP World Tour Finals in London, Nadal defeated Andy Roddick (3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4) in the first match. He then beat Djokovic in a tight match where Djokovic had trouble with his contact lenses, prevailing (7-5, 6-2). A further victory against Berdych, (7-6(3), 6-1), sent him to his third World Tour Final semi-final. It was the first time he had won all three round-robins, in stark contrast to the previous year. In the semi-finals, he was thrice two points from defeat and was able to win the match on his third match point (7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(6)). In the final, Nadal lost against Roger Federer with a score of (3-6, 6-3, 1-6). This was Nadal's last tournament in the 2010 professional tennis season.

Finally, he played Federer in the two-match exhibition Match for Africa for the Roger Federer Foundation and the Rafa Nadal Foundation. The first match took place in Zürich on December 21, 2010, and was won by Federer, (4-6, 6-3, and 6-3). The following match was played in Madrid, and Nadal beat Federer with a score of (7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1).[32]

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponent (seed or key)	Rank	Result	Score
Qatar Open Doha, Qatar ATP Tour 250 Hard, outdoor 4 – 9 January 2010
	1 / 493	1R	Simone Bolelli	93	Win	6–3, 6–3
	2 / 494	2R	Potito Starace	62	Win	6–2, 6–2
	3 / 495	QF	Steve Darcis (Q)	122	Win	6–1, 2–0, retired
	4 / 496	SF	Viktor Troicki (5)	29	Win	6–1, 6–3
	5 / 497	F	Nikolay Davydenko (3)	6	Loss (1)	6–0, 6–7(8–10), 4–6
Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam tournament Hard, outdoor 18 – 31 January 2010
	6 / 498	1R	Peter Luczak	70	Win	7–6(7–0), 6–1, 6–4
	7 / 499	2R	Lukáš Lacko	75	Win	6–2, 6–2, 6–2
	8 / 500	3R	Philipp Kohlschreiber (27)	26	Win	6–4, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5
	9 / 501	4R	Ivo Karlović	39	Win	6–4, 4–6, 6–4, 6–4
	10 / 502	QF	Andy Murray (5)	4	Loss	3–6, 6–7(2–7), 0–3, retired
BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, United States ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 8 – 21 March 2010
	–	1R	Bye
	11 / 503	2R	Rainer Schüttler (Q)	90	Win	6–4, 6–4
	12 / 504	3R	Mario Ančić	694	Win	6–2, 6–2
	13 / 505	4R	John Isner (15)	20	Win	7–5, 3–6, 6–3
	14 / 506	QF	Tomáš Berdych (19)	25	Win	6–4, 7–6(7–4)
	15 / 507	SF	Ivan Ljubičić (20)	26	Loss	6–3, 4–6, 6–7(1–7)
Sony Ericsson Open Miami, United States ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 22 March – 4 April 2010
	–	1R	Bye
	16 / 508	2R	Taylor Dent	83	Win	6–4, 6–3
	17 / 509	3R	David Nalbandian (WC)	161	Win	6–7(8–10), 6–2, 6–2
	18 / 510	4R	David Ferrer (15)	17	Win	7–6(7–5), 6–4
	19 / 511	QF	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (8)	10	Win	6–3, 6–2
	20 / 512	SF	Andy Roddick (6)	8	Loss	6–4, 3–6, 3–6
Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Monte Carlo, Monaco ATP Tour Masters 1000 Clay, outdoor 12 – 18 April 2010
	–	1R	Bye
	21 / 513	2R	Thiemo de Bakker (Q)	77	Win	6–1, 6–0
	22 / 514	3R	Michael Berrer	51	Win	6–0, 6–1
	23 / 515	QF	Juan Carlos Ferrero (9)	16	Win	6–4, 6–2
	24 / 516	SF	David Ferrer (11)	17	Win	6–2, 6–3
	25 / 517	W	Fernando Verdasco (6)	12	Win (1)	6–0, 6–1
Internazionali BNL d'Italia Rome, Italy ATP Tour Masters 1000 Clay, outdoor 26 April – 2 May 2010
	–	1R	Bye
	26 / 518	2R	Philipp Kohlschreiber	29	Win	6–1, 6–3
	27 / 519	3R	Victor Hănescu	39	Win	6–3, 6–2
	28 / 520	QF	Stanislas Wawrinka	26	Win	6–4, 6–1
	29 / 521	SF	Ernests Gulbis	40	Win	6–4, 3–6, 6–4
	30 / 522	W	David Ferrer (13)	17	Win (2)	7–5, 6–2
Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open Madrid, Spain ATP Tour Masters 1000 Clay, outdoor 10 – 16 May 2010
	–	1R	Bye
	31 / 523	2R	Alexandr Dolgopolov (Q)	62	Win	6–4, 6–3
	32 / 524	3R	John Isner (13)	19	Win	7–5, 6–4
	33 / 525	QF	Gaël Monfils (12)	18	Win	6–1, 6–3
	34 / 526	SF	Nicolás Almagro	35	Win	4–6, 6–2, 6–2
	35 / 527	W	Roger Federer (1)	1	Win (3)	6–4, 7–6(7–5)
French Open Paris, France Grand Slam tournament Clay, outdoor 24 May – 6 June 2010
	36 / 528	1R	Gianni Mina (WC)	655	Win	6–2, 6–2, 6–2
	37 / 529	2R	Horacio Zeballos	44	Win	6–2, 6–2, 6–3
	38 / 530	3R	Lleyton Hewitt (28)	33	Win	6–3, 6–4, 6–3
	39 / 531	4R	Thomaz Bellucci (24)	29	Win	6–2, 7–5, 6–4
	40 / 532	QF	Nicolás Almagro (19)	21	Win	7–6(7–2), 7–6(7–3), 6–4
	41 / 533	SF	Jürgen Melzer (22)	27	Win	6–2, 6–3, 7–6(8–6)
	42 / 534	W	Robin Söderling (5)	7	Win (4)	6–4, 6–2, 6–4
Aegon Championships London, United Kingdom ATP Tour 250 Grass, outdoor 7 – 13 June 2010
	–	1R	Bye
	43 / 535	2R	Marcos Daniel	112	Win	6–2, 6–2
	44 / 536	3R	Denis Istomin (16)	72	Win	7–6(6–4), 4–6, 6–4
	45 / 537	QF	Feliciano López (8)	31	Loss	6–7(5–7), 4–6
The Championships, Wimbledon London, United Kingdom Grand Slam tournament Grass, outdoor 21 June – 4 July 2010
	46 / 538	1R	Kei Nishikori (WC)	189	Win	6–2, 6–4, 6–4
	47 / 539	2R	Robin Haase (PR)	151	Win	5–7, 6–2, 3–6, 6–0, 6–3
	48 / 540	3R	Philipp Petzschner (33)	41	Win	6–4, 4–6, 6–7(5–7), 6–2, 6–3
	49 / 541	4R	Paul-Henri Mathieu	66	Win	6–4, 6–2, 6–2
	50 / 542	QF	Robin Söderling (6)	6	Win	3–6, 6–3, 7–6(7–4), 6–1
	51 / 543	SF	Andy Murray (4)	4	Win	6–4, 7–6(8–6), 6–4
	52 / 544	W	Tomáš Berdych (12)	13	Win (5)	6–3, 7–5, 6–4
Rogers Cup Toronto, Canada ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 9 – 15 August 2010
	–	1R	Bye
	53 / 545	2R	Stanislas Wawrinka	24	Win	7–6(14–12), 6–3
	54 / 546	3R	Kevin Anderson (Q)	87	Win	6–2, 7–6(8–6)
	55 / 547	QF	Philipp Kohlschreiber	37	Win	3–6, 6–3, 6–4
	56 / 548	SF	Andy Murray (4)	4	Loss	3–6, 4–6
W&S Financial Group Masters Cincinnati, United States ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 16 – 22 August 2010
	–	1R	Bye
	57 / 549	2R	Taylor Dent (Q)	83	Win	6–2, 7–5
	58 / 550	3R	Julien Benneteau	32	Win	5–7, 7–6(8–6), 6–2
	59 / 551	QF	Marcos Baghdatis	20	Loss	4–6, 6–4, 4–6
US Open New York City, United States Grand Slam tournament Hard, outdoor 30 August – 12 September 2010
	60 / 552	1R	Teymuraz Gabashvili	93	Win	7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–4), 6–3
	61 / 553	2R	Denis Istomin	39	Win	6–2, 7–6(7–5), 7–5
	62 / 554	3R	Gilles Simon	42	Win	6–4, 6–4, 6–2
	63 / 555	4R	Feliciano López (23)	25	Win	6–3, 6–4, 6–4
	64 / 556	QF	Fernando Verdasco (8)	8	Win	7–5, 6–3, 6–4
	65 / 557	SF	Mikhail Youzhny (12)	14	Win	6–2, 6–3, 6–4
	66 / 558	W	Novak Djokovic (3)	3	Win (6)	6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 6–2
PTT Thailand Open Bangkok, Thailand ATP Tour 250 Hard, indoor 27 September – 3 October 2010
	–	1R	Bye
	67 / 559	2R	Ruben Bemelmans (Q)	195	Win	6–1, 6–4
	68 / 560	QF	Mikhail Kukushkin	83	Win	6–2, 6–3
	69 / 561	SF	Guillermo García López	53	Loss	6–2, 6–7(3–7), 3–6
Japan Open Tennis Championships Tokyo, Japan ATP Tour 500 Hard, outdoor 4 – 10 October 2010
	70 / 562	1R	Santiago Giraldo	63	Win	6–4, 6–4
	71 / 563	2R	Milos Raonic (Q)	200	Win	6–4, 6–4
	72 / 564	QF	Dmitry Tursunov	432	Win	6–4, 6–1
	73 / 565	SF	Viktor Troicki	54	Win	7–6(7–4), 4–6, 7–6(9–7)
	74 / 566	W	Gaël Monfils (5)	15	Win (7)	6–1, 7–5
Shanghai Rolex Masters Shanghai, China ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 11 – 17 October 2010
	–	1R	Bye
	75 / 567	2R	Stanislas Wawrinka	21	Win	6–4, 6–4
	76 / 568	3R	Jürgen Melzer (13)	12	Loss	1–6, 6–3, 3–6
Barclays ATP World Tour Finals London, United Kingdom ATP Finals Hard, indoor 22 – 28 November 2010
	77 / 569	RR	Andy Roddick (8)	8	Win	3–6, 7–6(7–5), 6–4
	78 / 570	RR	Novak Djokovic (3)	3	Win	7–5, 6–2
	79 / 571	RR	Tomáš Berdych (6)	6	Win	7–6(7–3), 6–1
	80 / 572	SF	Andy Murray (5)	5	Win	7–6(7–5), 3–6, 7–6(8–6)
	81 / 573	F	Roger Federer (2)	2	Loss (2)	3–6, 6–3, 1–6

Source (ATP)

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponents (seed or key)	Ranks	Result	Score
Qatar Open Doha, Qatar ATP Tour 250 Hard, outdoor 4 – 9 January 2010 Partner: Marc López
	1 / 127	1R	Mariusz Fyrstenberg / Marcin Matkowski (3)	#18 / #17	Loss	6–4, 2–6, [3–10]
BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, United States ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 8 – 21 March 2010 Partner: Marc López
	2 / 128	1R	Lukáš Dlouhý / Leander Paes (3)	#5 / #6	Win	6–4, 3–6, [10–6]
	3 / 129	2R	Feliciano López / Fernando Verdasco	#78 / #164	Win	6–4, 7–6(7–4)
	4 / 130	QF	Michaël Llodra / Andy Ram	#47 / #9	Win	6–2, 6–4
	5 / 131	SF	Simon Aspelin / Paul Hanley (6)	#15 / #20	Win	6–4, 6–4
	6 / 132	W	Daniel Nestor / Nenad Zimonjić (1)	#1 / #1	Win (1)	7–6(10–8), 6–3
Sony Ericsson Open Miami, United States ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 22 March – 4 April 2010 Partner: Bartolomé Salvá Vidal
	7 / 133	1R	Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan (2)	#3 / #3	Loss	0–6, 3–6
Aegon Championships London, United Kingdom ATP Tour 250 Grass, outdoor 7 – 13 June 2010 Partner: Marc López
	8 / 134	1R	Rainer Schüttler / Janko Tipsarević	#211 / #127	Win	6–4, 6–3
	–	2R	Robert Lindstedt / Horia Tecău (6)	#29 / #42	Withdrew	N/A
Rogers Cup Toronto, Canada ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 7 – 15 August 2010 Partner: Novak Djokovic
	9 / 135	1R	Vasek Pospisil / Milos Raonic (WC)	#178 / #492	Loss	7–5, 3–6, [8–10]

Source (ATP)