Former World No. 1 Rafa Nadal admitted he has struggled of late to rekindle his passion for tennis on Thursday after defeat by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sent him spinning out of the ATP World Tour Finals at the group stage.
If there was any doubt that Rafa Nadal will reach the French Open quarter-finals on Monday, a simple look at the numbers should silence the sceptics.
Spanish top seed Rafa Nadal overcame stubborn second-set resistance from compatriot Tommy Robredo to reach the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals 6-1, 6-4 on Thursday. Second seed Novak Djokovic again looked impressive as he continued his imperious form in China with a 6-4, 6-2 thrashing of German qualifier Rainer Schuettler.
Novak Djokovic will arrive at Roland Garros seven wins away from becoming the first man for 43 years to hold all four grand Slam titles concurrently -- the only trouble is one of his victims will probably have to be claycourt king Rafa Nadal.
Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal will meet in the US Open final for the second year in a row after winning their semi-finals on a day of unrelenting drama and precision tennis at Flushing Meadows on Saturday.
World No 1 Rafael Nadal eased into the French Open final after defeating Britain's Andy Murray 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 at the Roland Garros on Friday.
Roger Federer will face World No 1 Rafael Nadal in the final of the French Open after the Swiss beat Serbian Novak Djokovic 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 in the semifinal of the French Open on Friday.
The current best player in the world meets the greatest claycourt player of all time in a French Open blockbuster on Friday -- but it is not even the final.
Rafa Nadal said he was not playing well enough to lift the French Open title despite breezing past Ivan Ljubicic in their fourth-round match on Monday.
Images from Day 7 at the French Open in Paris, on Saturday.
Real Madrid fan Rafa Nadal may be distracted by the thrilling climax to the soccer season during his Madrid Open final with arch rival Roger Federer on Sunday.
Despite his scintillating display, which included 65 clean winners, few are waging much money on the 100th-ranked Czech player reaching such heights again.
The message from Novak Djokovic could not have been more emphatic after the Serb retained his title at the ATP World Tour Finals with a crushing victory over Rafa Nadal on Monday.
Rafa Nadal suffered his first claycourt defeat in 23 matches on Thursday and threatened to boycott next year's Madrid Open if officials did not ditch the blue clay that players have labelled 'too slippery' and only fit for 'smurfs (to) play on'.
The Spaniard, sidelined by a rib injury at Indian Wells in March, hopes to build momentum in Rome before launching his campaign for a 14th French Open crown
Rafa Nadal kept the one major title missing from his glittering CV firmly in his sights on Wednesday as he took brutal advantage of Novak Djokovic's eye problems to notch his second win at the ATP World Tour Finals.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer in straight sets on Saturday and will play Rafa Nadal in the Rome Masters final for the second year in a row.
Rafa Nadal reclaimed his French Open crown in emphatic style on Sunday when he battered Sweden's Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to win the title for the fifth time in six years.
Factbox on Carlos Alcaraz, who beat seven-time champion Novak Djokovic
Rafa Nadal will seek to erase his shock fourth-round exit last year from the memory banks when the mighty Mallorcan makes his tournament bow at the French Open on Tuesday.
In an epic encounter, Rafael Nadal rallied from a set down to defeat Roger Federer 6-7, 6-2, 7-6, 6-4 in the Australian Open semi-final at Melbourne Park on Thursday.
Carlos Alcaraz said he could hold his head high despite being unseated from his Wimbledon throne by Jannik Sinner on Sunday and the Spaniard praised their hot rivalry for being several notches higher than the others on the men's tour.
Tennis World No 1 and Real Mallorca shareholder Rafa Nadal has hit out at governing body UEFA for excluding the financially-troubled La Liga club from European competition this season.
Top seed Rafa Nadal set up an all-Spanish final against David Ferrer at the Barcelona Open after blasting his way past compatriot Fernando Verdasco 6-0, 6-4 on Saturday.
Reports of Roger Federer's demise were as wide of the mark Rafa Nadal's own prediction he was not playing well enough to win a sixth Roland Garros title.
Novak Djokovic admitted reality was beginning to bite after the Serb was unable to bridge a 15-year age gap in a Wimbledon semi-final drubbing against Italian Jannik Sinner on Friday.
Spanish World No 2 Rafa Nadal showed little sign of post-US Open fatigue when he thrashed France's Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 in the opening singles rubber of their Davis Cup semi-final on Friday.
Top seed Rafa Nadal battled through a tricky second round tie against American James Blake on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the $6.6 million China Open. The world number two, playing his first tournament since picking up an injury at the US Open, was far from his rampaging best but again proved his fitness by winning 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 in a 143-minute contest.
Switzerland's challenge at the ATP World Tour Finals melted away like an Alpine glacier in a heatwave on Sunday as Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic marched on to the grand finale.
The sight of a stricken Rafa Nadal being finished off by fellow Spaniard David Ferrer at the Australian Open on Wednesday was a stark reminder of the precipice he walks in search of sporting perfection.
World number one Novak Djokovic and number two Andy Murray crashed out of the Western and Southern Open within an hour of each other on Friday, before Rafa Nadal restored order with a win over old rival Roger Federer.
Holder Roger Federer produced an hour of sublime quality to crush Rafa Nadal 6-3, 6-0 at the ATP World Tour Finals on Tuesday and clinch a place in the last four with a match to spare.
Former world number one Novak Djokovic, the last surviving member of tennis' "Big Four", said he does not plan on stopping any time soon but admitted that the retirement of rivals Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal has been overwhelming.
Top seed David Ferrer summed up his error-strewn defeat by qualifier Dmitry Tursunov as "one of the worst I have played" after falling at the first hurdle at the Barcelona Open on Wednesday.
Rafa Nadal will take on Brazilian world number 96 Marcos Daniel in his first round of the Australian Open but faces a rocky path in his bid to become the first man to hold all four grand slam crowns simultaneously since Rod Laver in 1969.
France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga suffered a surprise defeat to qualifier Alex Bogomolov while Spain's Rafa Nadal and world number one Novak Djokovic passed their second-round tests at the Cincinnati Open on Wednesday.
Rafa Nadal fears the chance to carry Spain's flag at an Olympics opening ceremony may not come around again after being forced to withdraw from the London 2012 tennis event with a knee injury.
Novak Djokovic's gamble to test his injured ankle at the Monte Carlo Masters appeared to be backfiring but he dug his heels in to battle past Russian Mikhail Youzhny 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the second round on Wednesday.
Being neither 'arrogant' nor 'crazy', Rafa Nadal is refusing to think about a third Wimbledon title ahead of his first-round match against Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci on Tuesday.
'My big farewell would be a joy of winning with everyone'
