Nadal, Rafael

1986 – He was born on the the 3rd day of June of this year in Manacor, Malorca. Nadal plays left-handed, he is naturally right-handed. When he was younger, his coach, Toni Nadal, decided that his two-handed backhand would benefit from a strong right arm, so he taught Rafael to play with his left.

1991 – He began playing tennis at age five with his uncle Toni, who is his coach.

2002 – This year, the 15-year-old Nadal won his first ATP match, defeating Ramon Delgado in Majorca to become the ninth player in the open era to win an ATP match before his 16th birthday

2003 – He became the second-youngest player to be ranked among the world's top 100 singles players. He finished the year in the top 50, winning two Challenger titles. At his Wimbledon debut, Nadal, then 17, became the youngest male player to reach the third round since 16-year-old Boris Becker in 1984.

2005 – This year was his breakthrough year. At the Australian Open, he reached the fourth round and pushed the eventual runner-up, Lleyton Hewitt, to five sets. Two months later, he reached the final of the Miami Masters tournament indeed, was two points away from victory in straight sets, but was defeated in five sets by the world's number one player, Roger Federer. He also became the first teenager to win a Grand Slam singles title since Pete Sampras won the 1990 U.S. Open at age 19.

2006 – In March of this year, Nadal handed Federer his first loss of the year at the final in Dubai, winning 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Nadal defeated Federer again at the Monte Carlo Masters by a score of 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6.

2007 – As of March this year, he is ranked second in the world. Nadal's clay-court winning streak stands at 67 matches, the longest among male players in the open era. He has won two consecutive French Open singles titles, having never lost a match at the event.