Claim: Rafael Nadal played tennis professionally.

Rafael `` Rafa '' Nadal Parera -LRB- -LSB- rəfəˈɛɫ nəˈðaɫ pəˈɾeɾə -RSB- , -LSB- rafaˈel naˈðal paˈɾeɾa -RSB- ; born 3 June 1986 -RRB- is a Spanish professional tennis player . He is widely regarded as the greatest clay-court player in history , and owing to his dominance and success on the surface , he has been called `` The King of Clay '' . His evolution into an all-court threat has established him as one of the greatest players in tennis history , with some considering Nadal to be the greatest male player of all time .   Nadal has won 14 Grand Slam singles titles , the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles , an all-time record of 30 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles , tied with Novak Djokovic , and a record 18 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments . He was also a member of the winning Spain Davis Cup team in 2004 , 2008 , 2009 , and 2011 . In 2010 , he became the seventh male player in history and youngest of four in the Open Era to achieve the Career Grand Slam at age 24 . He is the second male player , after Andre Agassi , to complete the singles Career Golden Slam . In 2011 , Nadal was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year . The left-hander is the sixth player in the Open Era to reach more than 100 finals on the ATP World Tour .   Nadal and Mats Wilander are the only two male players who have won at least two Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces -- hard court , grass , and clay . By winning the 2014 French Open , Nadal became the third player to win a single Grand Slam tournament nine times -LRB- Martina Navratilova 9 , Margaret Court 11 -RRB- and the first male to win at least one Grand Slam tournament for ten consecutive years , breaking the record of eight consecutive years previously shared by Björn Borg , Pete Sampras , and Roger Federer . By winning the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2012 , Nadal became the only male player in the open era to win a tournament eight consecutive times . Nadal is the only male player in tennis history to win one Grand Slam and at least one Masters 1000 title for ten consecutive years from 2005 -- 2014 . He beat Guillermo Vilas 's Open Era record of 49 clay-court titles by winning the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2017 . Nadal became the first man to win the same tournament 10 times by wining the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2017 . He repeated this historic achievement by winning the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell for a 10th time just a few weeks later .