2012 Rafael Nadal Tennis Season

Asian/Pacific hard court season and Australian Open

 

Nadal began his World Tour season at the Qatar Open. He beat Philipp Kohlschreiber and qualifier Denis Gremelmayr in rounds one and two and then won against seventh-seeded Mikhail Youzhny. In the semifinal he played poorly and lost to Gaël Monfils in two routine sets.

Australian Open

In the Australian Open Nadal began the tournament by breezing past qualifier Alex Kuznetsov of United States. The second round against Tommy Haas, who has never won a set against Rafael, was a little tighter but Nadal again advanced in three straight sets. He outwitted compatriot Feliciano López in fourth round and won in the quarterfinals in an epic four-set match against Tomáš Berdych, who was playing at a high-level. He then beat Roger Federer, who was riding a 24-match win streak heading into the match, in a four-set match in the semifinals. With his win, he reached the finals of all four Grand Slams consecutively. In the final, on 29 January, he was beaten by Novak Djokovic in five sets, the match being the longest ever match for a Grand Slam title. The epic final lasted 5 hours and 53 minutes. They set a new world record, breaking the latest longest major singles final between Mats Wilander and Ivan Lendl, which lasted 4 hours and 54 minutes, at the US Open in 1988.

US hard court season

At Indian Wells, Nadal made it to the semifinals, where he was beaten by Roger Federer, who went on to win the tournament. However, he won the Doubles event of the tournament for the second time in succession after beating John Isner and Sam Querrey in the final.

He also made the semifinals in Miami, but withdrew because of problems with his knee, the hard-court season taking its toll on his weak spot once again.

European clay court season and the French Open

As the clay court season started, Nadal was seeded 2nd at the 2012 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in April. He was troubled in his opening round by seed number 47, Nieminen of Finland, but prevailed in two sets. He then went on to clinch his 8th Monte Carlo trophy in 9 tries by beating Qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin, easing through Stanislas Wawrinka, and defeating Gilles Simon in the Semifinal, before topping World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the final. This ended a streak of 7 straight final losses to Djokovic, which began at the 2011 Indian Wells Masters Final. Novak admitted that Nadal was just a better player, when asked whether the death of his grandfather early at the beginning of the tournament was affecting his whole play.

A day after the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Final, Nadal traveled to Barcelona where he received a 'bye' in the first round. His tremendous record on clay continued as he beat compatriot David Ferrer to clinch his seventh title in eight years at the Barcelona Open.

The Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open did not go very well for Nadal since he lost early in the 3R to Fernando Verdasco. Nadal stated that he was very unhappy with the new blue-colored clay and threatened not to attend in the future if the surface was not changed. Several other players such as Novak Djokovic agreed with Nadal in his criticism.

In the last tournament before the French Open Nadal went to Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. He won every single match in two sets finishing with his second victory over Novak Djokovic and his third title in 2012.

French Open

At the French Open, Nadal managed to win all six matches before facing Novak Djokovic in the Final, in which Nadal won in four sets. During the entire tournament, Nadal only lost a single set (against Djokovic in the final). With his seventh championship victory at Roland Garros, Nadal became the most successful tennis player at the French Open.

Throughout the entire Clay court season, Nadal did not drop a single set on the red clay across 3 tournaments and 23 matches, which started in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, BNL d'Italia and was ended by Novak Djokovic in the Final of the French Open. He collected 5 bagels along the way (a bagel is a score of 6–0 in a set of a tennis match).

European grass court season, Wimbledon Championships and the Summer Olympics

For the first time since his debut in 2005, Nadal revisited the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany. There he enrolled in both the Doubles and Singles events. He partnered up with Marcel Granollers as his Doubles teammate as well as "hitting company." After disappointing Quarter Finals losses at both the Singles and Doubles events of the Gerry Weber, Rafael Nadal took a week off from the tour and took a visit to his hometown, Manacor.

Wimbledon Championships

Wimbledon Championships did not go well for Nadal and was a disaster for him. He lost early in the second round to Lukáš Rosol in 5 sets in one of the greatest shocks in Grand Slam history. Rosol then succumbed to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the following round. After his loss, Nadal was off into yet another rest, this time in Sardinia.

London Olympics

Nadal's second appearance at the Summer Olympics, saw him chosen by the Spanish Sports Federation as the flag-bearer of Spain. He gained automatic entry to the Men's Singles Event, was the defending champion, and was the pre-tournament favourite to retain the Gold Medal, despite his early exit from Wimbledon in June.

But on 19 July, Nadal stated that he will be withdrawing from the Olympics citing a knee injury as his issue.

Summer US hard court season

After he withdrew from the London Olympics due to knee tendinitis, Nadal missed the rest of the US Open Series, leading up to the US Open, stating that he will not return to court before the recovery.

U.S. Open

On 15 August, Nadal announced via Twitter that he was withdrawing from the 2012 US Open (tennis). He had already withdrawn from the 2012 Rogers Cup and the 2012 Western & Southern Open.

Autumn season

On 3 September, Nadal announced on his homepage that he would not play for the next two months in order to rest and allow his knee to recover. He ultimately missed the remainder of the 2012 season, having received qualification for the ATP World Tour Finals in London after his second round exit from Wimbledon, before pulling out due to injury. Despite missing the final four months of the season, Nadal managed to finish ranked No. 4 in the world, his lowest year-end ranking in eight years.

Nadal stated in his announcement: "I have missed the Olympics and the US Open in the last few weeks, two of the most important tournaments of the year and that I really wanted to play. I really want to be back competing and enjoying the tennis tour, but I have many years in front of me and my knee needs some rest. I will be back when I have no pain and able to compete with guarantee[...]."

Singles matches

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponent	Rank	Result	Score
Qatar ExxonMobil Open Doha, Qatar ATP World Tour 250 Hard, outdoor 2 – 7 January 2012	1 / 658	1R	Philipp Kohlschreiber	43	Win	6–3, 6–7(2–7), 6–3
	2 / 659	2R	Denis Gremelmayr	189	Win	6–2, 6–2
	3 / 660	QF	Mikhail Youzhny	35	Win	6–4, 6–4
	4 / 661	SF	Gaël Monfils	15	Loss	3–6, 4–6
Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam Hard, outdoor 16 – 29 January 2012	5 / 662	1R	Alex Kuznetsov	167	Win	6–4, 6–1, 6–1
	6 / 663	2R	Tommy Haas	205	Win	6–4, 6–3, 6–4
	7 / 664	3R	Lukáš Lacko	113	Win	6–2, 6–4, 6–2
	8 / 665	4R	Feliciano López	19	Win	6–4, 6–4, 6–2
	9 / 666	QF	Tomáš Berdych	7	Win	6–7(5–7), 7–6(8–6), 6–4, 6–3
	10 / 667	SF	Roger Federer	3	Win	6–7(5–7), 6–2, 7–6(7–5), 6–4
	11 / 668	F	Novak Djokovic	1	Loss (1)	7–5, 4–6, 2–6, 7–6(7–5), 5–7
BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, United States ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 12 – 18 March 2012	–	1R	Bye
	12 / 669	2R	Leonardo Mayer	78	Win	6–1, 6–3
	13 / 670	3R	Marcel Granollers	26	Win	6–1, 6–4
	14 / 671	4R	Alexandr Dolgopolov	21	Win	6–3, 6–2
	15 / 672	QF	David Nalbandian	74	Win	4–6, 7–5, 6–4
	16 / 673	SF	Roger Federer	3	Loss	3–6, 4–6
Sony Ericsson Open Miami, United States ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 21 March – 4 April 2012	–	1R	Bye
	17 / 674	2R	Santiago Giraldo	57	Win	6–2, 6–0
	18 / 675	3R	Radek Štěpánek	25	Win	6–2, 6–2
	19 / 676	4R	Kei Nishikori	16	Win	6–4, 6–4
	20 / 677	QF	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	6	Win	6–2, 5–7, 6–4
	–	SF	Andy Murray	4	Withdrew	N/A
Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Monte Carlo, Monaco ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Clay, outdoor 15 – 22 April 2012	–	1R	Bye
	21 / 678	2R	Jarkko Nieminen	48	Win	6–4, 6–3
	22 / 679	3R	Mikhail Kukushkin	68	Win	6–1, 6–1
	23 / 680	QF	Stanislas Wawrinka	26	Win	7–5, 6–4
	24 / 681	SF	Gilles Simon	15	Win	6–3, 6–4
	25 / 682	W	Novak Djokovic	1	Win (1)	6–3, 6–1
Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell Barcelona, Spain ATP World Tour 500 Clay, outdoor 23 – 29 April 2012	–	1R	Bye
	26 / 683	2R	Guillermo García López	78	Win	6–1, 6–2
	27 / 684	3R	Robert Farah	246	Win	6–2, 6–3
	28 / 685	QF	Janko Tipsarević	8	Win	6–2, 6–2
	29 / 686	SF	Fernando Verdasco	20	Win	6–0, 6–4
	30 / 687	W	David Ferrer	6	Win (2)	7–6(7–1), 7–5
Mutua Madrid Open Madrid, Spain ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Clay, outdoor 7 – 13 May 2012	–	1R	Bye
	31 / 688	2R	Nikolay Davydenko	54	Win	6–2, 6–2
	32 / 689	3R	Fernando Verdasco	19	Loss	3–6, 6–3, 5–7
Internazionali BNL d'Italia Rome, Italy ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Clay, outdoor 13 – 20 May 2012	–	1R	Bye
	33 / 690	2R	Florian Mayer	28	Win	6–1, 7–5
	34 / 691	3R	Marcel Granollers	26	Win	6–1, 6–1
	35 / 692	QF	Tomáš Berdych	7	Win	6–4, 7–5
	36 / 693	SF	David Ferrer	6	Win	7–6(8–6), 6–0
	37 / 694	W	Novak Djokovic	1	Win (3)	7–5, 6–3
French Open Paris, France Grand Slam Clay, outdoor 28 May – 10 June 2012	38 / 695	1R	Simone Bolelli	111	Win	6–2, 6–2, 6–1
	39 / 696	2R	Denis Istomin	43	Win	6–2, 6–2, 6–0
	40 / 697	3R	Eduardo Schwank	192	Win	6–1, 6–3, 6–4
	41 / 698	4R	Juan Mónaco	15	Win	6–2, 6–0, 6–0
	42 / 699	QF	Nicolás Almagro	13	Win	7–6(7–4), 6–2, 6–3
	43 / 700	SF	David Ferrer	6	Win	6–2, 6–2, 6–1
	44 / 701	W	Novak Djokovic	1	Win (4)	6–4, 6–3, 2–6, 7–5
Gerry Weber Open Halle, Germany ATP World Tour 250 Grass, outdoor 11 – 17 June 2012	-	1R	Bye
	45 / 702	2R	Lukáš Lacko	58	Win	7–5, 6–1
	46 / 703	QF	Philipp Kohlschreiber	34	Loss	3–6, 4–6
Wimbledon Championships London, United Kingdom Grand Slam Grass, outdoor 25 June – 8 July 2012	47 / 704	1R	Thomaz Bellucci	80	Win	7–6(7–0), 6–2, 6–3
	48 / 705	2R	Lukáš Rosol	100	Loss	7–6(11–9), 4–6, 4–6, 6–2, 4–6

Doubles matches

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponents	Ranking	Result	Score
BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, United States ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 12 – 18 March 2012 Partner:   Marc López	1 / 150	1R	Michaël Llodra   Nenad Zimonjić	#5 / #6	Win	6–4, 6–4
	2 / 151	2R	Alexandr Dolgopolov   Xavier Malisse	#50 / #26	Win	6–4, 6–3
	3 / 152	QF	Leander Paes   Radek Štěpánek	#7 / #22	Win	6–4, 7–6(7–5)
	4 / 153	SF	Mariusz Fyrstenberg   Marcin Matkowski	#13 / #13	Win	6–2, 6–0
	5 / 154	W	John Isner   Sam Querrey	#33 / #35	Win	6–2, 7–6(7–3)
Sony Ericsson Open Miami, United States ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 21 March – 4 April 2012 Partner:   Marcel Granollers	6 / 155	1R	Marin Čilić   Ivo Karlović	#80 / #128	Win	6–1, 6–3
	7 / 156	2R	Mahesh Bhupathi   Rohan Bopanna	#13 / #12	Loss	4–6, 3–6
Gerry Weber Open Halle, Germany ATP World Tour 250 Grass, outdoor 11 – 17 June 2012 Partner:   Marcel Granollers	8 / 157	1R	Michal Mertiňák   Viktor Troicki	#78 / #76	Win	5–7, 6–2, [10–8]
	–	QF	Michael Kohlmann   Florian Mayer	#77 / #62	Withdrew

Singles schedule

Nadal's 2012 singles tournament schedule is as follows:

Date	Championship	Location	Category	Surface1	Outcome 2011	Points 2011	Points 2012	Outcome 2012
02.01.2012–07.01.2012	Qatar ExxonMobil Open	Qatar	ATP World Tour 250	Hard	SF	90	90	SF
16.01.2012–29.01.2012	Australian Open	Australia	Grand Slam	Hard	QF	360	1200	F
08.03.2012–18.03.2012	BNP Paribas Open	USA	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Hard	F	600	360	SF
21.03.2012–01.04.2012	Sony Ericsson Open	USA	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Hard	F	600	360	SF
15.04.2012–22.04.2012	Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters	Monaco	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Clay	W	1000	1000	W
23.04.2012–29.04.2012	Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell	Spain	ATP World Tour 500	Clay	W	500	500	W
06.05.2012–13.05.2012	Mutua Madrid Open	Spain	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Clay	F	600	90	R16
13.05.2012–20.05.2012	Internazionali BNL d'Italia	Italy	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Clay	F	600	1000	W
27.05.2012–10.06.2012	French Open	France	Grand Slam	Clay	W	2000	2000	W
11.06.2012–17.06.2012	Gerry Weber Open	Germany	ATP World Tour 250	Grass	DNS		45	QF
25.06.2012–08.07.2012	Wimbledon Championships	UK	Grand Slam	Grass	F	1200	45	2R
27.08.2012–09.09.2012	US Open	USA	Grand Slam	Hard	F	1200	0	DNS
29.10.2012–04.11.2012	BNP Paribas Masters	France	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Hard (i)	DNS
05.11.2012–12.11.2012	Barclays ATP World Tour Finals	UK	ATP World Tour Finals	Hard (i)	RR	200
Points earned at Davis Cup						280
Points earned at Non-Countable Tournaments						45
Total year points						11010	4320 2
Overall points							6690

¹ The symbol (i) = indoors means that the respective tournament will be held indoors.
² Difference between new points and previous points. ATP Points Distribution.

Head-to-head matchups

Ordered by number of wins

• 2012 Roger Federer tennis season
• 2012 Novak Djokovic tennis season