page_title: Rafael Nadal
section_title: 2013: Two major titles, back to No. 1
hierarchical_section_title: Rafael Nadal / Professional tennis career / 2013: Two major titles, back to No. 1
caption_attribution_description: 2013 BNP Paribas Open - Rafael Nadal vs Tomáš Berdych (semifinal)
context_page_description: Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player currently ranked world No. 2 in men's singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals.
  Nadal has won 19 Grand Slam singles titles, the second-most in history for a male player, as well as a record 35 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles, 21 ATP Tour 500 titles and the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles. In addition, Nadal has held the world No. 1 ranking for a total of 209 weeks, including being the year-end No. 1 five times. In majors, Nadal has won a record twelve French Open titles, four US Open titles, two Wimbledon titles and one Australian Open title, and won at least one Grand Slam every year for a record ten consecutive years. Nadal has won 85 career titles overall, including the most outdoor titles in the Open Era and a record 59 titles on clay. With 81 consecutive wins on clay, Nadal holds the record for the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era.
  Nadal has been involved in five Davis Cup titles with Spain, and currently has a 29-win streak and 29–1 record in singles matches at the event.
context_section_description: Two weeks prior to the Australian Open, Nadal officially withdrew from the tournament citing a stomach virus. Nadal's withdrawal saw him drop out of the ATP's Top Four for the first time since 2005. Playing in his first tournaments in South America since 2005, Nadal made his comeback at the VTR Open in Chile, where he was upset by Argentine No. 73 Horacio Zeballos in the final. At the Brasil Open, Nadal reached the final, where he defeated David Nalbandian. In the title match of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, Nadal defeated David Ferrer, losing just two games in the match.
  
  Nadal then returned to the American hard courts, playing the Indian Wells Masters as the fifth seed. He lost only one set, and defeated No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 6 Tomáš Berdych before beating Juan Martín del Potro in the final. After withdrawing from Miami, Nadal attempted to defend his title at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, but was beaten by Djokovic in straight sets. He then won his eight title at the Barcelona Open. Nadal went on to win the Mutua Madrid Open, beating Stanislas Wawrinka in the final. 
   In May, he defeated Roger Federer for his 7th championship at the 2013 Rome Masters. These victories raised his ranking to No. 4.
  Nadal won the 2013 French Open after beating Novak Djokovic in the semifinal and David Ferrer in the final, breaking the record for the most match wins in the tournament in the process with his 59th match victory. His match with Djokovic is widely considered one of the greatest clay court matches ever played, as Nadal came back from down a break in the fifth set to take out a hard-fought 4-hour, 37-minute victory. Nadal then lost his first-round match at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships in straight sets to unseeded Belgian Steve Darcis (ranked No. 135), the first time he had ever lost in the first round of a Grand Slam.
  In August, Nadal won a close semifinal match in Montreal, denying Djokovic his fourth Rogers Cup title. Nadal proceeded to win the title after beating Milos Raonic in the final in straight sets. He won his 26th ATP Masters 1000 in Cincinnati on Sunday 18 August after beating John Isner in the final. Nadal concluded a brilliant North American hard court season with his 4th hard court title of the year, defeating Djokovic at the 2013 US Open final in four sets, bringing his Grand Slam count to 13 and giving him a male tennis record paycheck of $3.6 million.
  Later in September, Nadal helped Spain secure their Davis Cup World Group Playoff spot for 2014, with a victory against Sergiy Stakhovsky and a doubles win with Marc Lopez. In October, he reached the final of the China Open, guaranteeing he would be back to the No. 1 ranking. In the final, he was beaten by Djokovic in straight sets. At the 2013 Shanghai Rolex Masters, he reached the semifinals but was defeated by Del Potro. In November, Nadal played his final event of the season in London at the 2013 ATP World Tour Finals where he secured the year-end No. 1 spot. He beat David Ferrer, Stanislas Wawrinka and Tomáš Berdych in the round robin stage to set up a semifinal victory over Roger Federer. Nadal met Djokovic in the final, losing in straight sets.
caption: Nadal at the 2013 BNP Paribas Open
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "3595", "Image ImageLength": "3227", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 6D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2013:03:20 14:20:26", "Image ExifOffset": "288", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[33, 434623/10000, 0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[116, 183351/10000, 0]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "306/5", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[20, 58, 41]", "GPS GPSSatellites": "12", "GPS GPSStatus": "A", "GPS GPSMeasureMode": "3", "GPS GPSDOP": "19/5", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "WGS-84", "GPS GPSDate": "2013:03:16", "Image GPSInfo": "872", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1246", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3583", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1600", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:03:16 12:59:08", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:03:16 12:59:08", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "665241/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "200", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1822", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2874", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "152", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "152", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "4", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "032024012941", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[70, 200, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "000080d186"}