On Friday, Rafael Nadal was playing in the quarterfinal of the Madrid Open against fellow Spaniard, Carlos Alcaraz. For only the second time in 2022 Rafael Nadal lost a tennis match, dropping to Alcaraz 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. But what is truly remarkable is that this was the first time in Nadal's illustrious career that he lost a match to a teenager on a clay court.

Rafael Nadal has long since been known as the “King of Clay.” We are in the clay court part of the tennis season, with the Madrid Open being one of the bigger events. Nadal had previously won the title there five times. Yet, he was dominated by Alcaraz, who also became the first fellow Spaniard to defeat Nadal in the last 26 attempts.

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The crowning jewel of clay court season is, of course, the French Open. Nadal has won 13 career French Open titles. That includes winning it nine times in 10 years from 2005 through 2014. The only player with more than three French Open titles historically is Bjorn Borg, who has six.

Future ATP Hall of Fame tennis player Rafael Nadal recently won his 21st Grand Slam championship, winning the 2022 Australian Open. He did so in incredible fashion, erasing a two-set deficit, something he rarely does. That broke a three-way tie with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer for the most Grand Slam titles in men's tennis history.

Following the win, the 19-year-old moved up to number six in the ATP world rankings. He will now face the top ranked player in the world, Novak Djokovic, in the semi finals.