2016 Rafael Nadal Tennis Season

Australian Open Series

Qatar Open

Nadal began his year at the Qatar Open. He faced compatriot Pablo Carreño Busta in the first round and managed a comeback by defeating him in three sets. He then defeated Robin Haase in straight sets but then required three sets to defeat Andrey Kuznetsov in the quarter-finals. Nadal then defeated Illya Marchenko in the semifinals in straight sets to advance to the final, where he faced Novak Djokovic for the title. Nadal was crushed, winning just three games in a straight sets defeat, and thus lost his lead in his head-to-head record against Djokovic for the first time.

Australian Open

Nadal suffered a shocking defeat in the first round of the 2016 Australian Open at the hands of his compatriot Fernando Verdasco in five gruelling sets. This marked only the second time in his entire professional career that he has lost in the first round of a grand slam singles tournament. The only other first round loss was to Steve Darcis at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships.

South American Clay Court Season

Argentina Open

After receiving a bye in the first round, Nadal reached the semifinals of the Argentina Open by defeating Juan Mónaco and Paolo Lorenzi respectively in straight sets. However, he lost to an in-form young-gun Dominic Thiem in the semifinals in three sets after squandering 2 match points.

Rio Open

Nadal opens his Rio Open campaign by defeating compatriots Pablo Carreño Busta and Nicolás Almagro respectively in straight sets to book his place in the quarterfinals. He got a walkthrough to the semifinals after Alexandr Dolgopolov withdrew due to a right-shoulder injury. He eventually lost to Pablo Cuevas in the semifinals.

March Masters

Indian Wells Masters

After receiving a bye in the first round, Nadal recorded his first win after changing back to his old racket against Gilles Müller in three tight sets and booked his place in the fourth round winning his rematch against Fernando Verdasco in straight sets. Nadal reaches the quarterfinals for the second straight year after saving a match point against rising star Alexander Zverev to beat him in three gruelling-sets. He defeated Kei Nishikori in straight sets for his first top 10 win of the season to advance to the semifinals. He lost to Novak Djokovic 7–6, 6–2 in the semifinal after squandering a set point on Djokovic's serve in the first set making their head-to-head record 25–23 in Djokovic's favor.

Miami Masters

After a bye in the first round, Nadal lost to Damir Džumhur in the second round, retiring in the third set of their match citing dizziness due to the extreme heat at the end of the first set.

European Clay Court Season

Monte-Carlo Masters

 

Wikinews has related news:

• Nadal defeats Monfils to claim his ninth Monte Carlo Masters title

After receiving a bye in the first round, Nadal defeated Aljaž Bedene in straight sets and faced a more stringent test in the third round against the in-form Dominic Thiem. After two hours on the court, Nadal came out victorious, beating Thiem in straight sets 7–5, 6–3. Nadal reached the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters for the 2nd straight year after a dominant straight sets win in the quarterfinals against 2015 French Open champion Stan Wawrinka. After dropping the first set in the semifinals 2–6 to world #2 Andy Murray, Nadal rallied to beat Murray 6–4, 6–2, upping his head-to-head record against Murray to 17–6. In the final, Nadal defeated an in-form Gaël Monfils in three tough sets, winning 7–5, 5–7, 6–0 to claim his 9th Monte Carlo masters trophy, ending a nearly 2-years Masters 1000 title drought since his last Masters title in Madrid 2014. After leading the Masters 1000 title tally for several years Nadal was surpassed by Novak Djokovic in Miami 2016 but the Monte Carlo win ensures that Nadal is again tied with Djokovic for a record of 28 masters titles.

Barcelona Open

After a first round bye, Nadal continued his dominant form by dispatching compatriots Marcel Granollers and Albert Montañés in straight sets to proceed to the Quarterfinals. Nadal faced Fabio Fognini who defeated him 3 times the previous year and managed to close out the match in the 2nd set tiebreak in straight sets. Nadal reaches his 101st final beating German Philipp Kohlschreiber in a one-sided contest, winning in straight sets. He defeated two-time defending champion Kei Nishikori in the final 6–4, 7–5, winning the tournament without dropping a single set and winning a record 9th Barcelona Open and equalling the record of most clay court titles won with Guillermo Vilas with 49 clay court titles.

Madrid Open

After receiving a first round bye, Nadal put on a superb display against Russian Andrey Kuznetsov, beating him in straight sets along with Sam Querrey, dispatching him in a hard-fought straight sets win, nearly going 1–5 down in the first set after fending off a break point in his own serve in the 5th game and then winning 5 straight games to clinch the first set and reach the quarterfinals. Nadal progresses to the semis beating an in-form João Sousa in three-sets despite winning the first set in a bagel. He lost to Andy Murray in the semifinal with a score of 7–5, 6–4.

Italian Open

Nadal received an unfavorable draw and, after a bye in the first round, Nadal faced Philipp Kohlschreiber and beat him 6–3, 6–3. Nadal then faced Nick Kyrgios who famously beat Nadal at the 2014 Wimbledon and, despite Kyrgios winning the first set in a tiebreak, Nadal won the last 2 sets, breaking Kyrgios 3 times and winning in three sets to book his place in the quarterfinals, where he was beaten by Novak Djokovic in straight sets.

French Open

 

Wikinews has related news:

• Nadal withdraws from French Open 2016, suffers from wrist injury

Nadal gained a top 4 seeding for his French Open campaign after Federer withdrew with a back injury which guaranteed he won't be meeting Djokovic until the semifinals.^{[citation needed]} Nadal defeated Sam Groth in the first round 6-1 6-1 6–1. In the second round, Nadal defeated Facundo Bagnis. However, Nadal was forced to withdraw a day before his 3rd round match due to a wrist injury.

US Open Series

Rio Olympics

Having not played since May 28, Nadal took part in his first competitive match in the Rio Olympic Games. Nadal Faced Argentina's Federico Delbonis. Nadal was in no mood to mess around as he put in an excellent performance, winning 6–2 6–1. In the next round, he faced Andreas Seppi, but beat him in straight sets. Nadal faced Gilles Simon from France, and despite hitting 28 unforced errors in the first set, Nadal came through 7–6 6–3. Nadal then faced home favourite and fellow lefty Thomaz Bellucci. Nadal came through in 3 tough sets. He then faced a resurgent Juan Martín del Potro, the pair last met three years ago. Despite Nadal winning the first set, del Potro fought back to claim victory in an epic olympic semi-final. After the loss to del Potro, Rafa faced Kei Nishikori in the bronze medal match. A visibly exhausted Nadal lost the first set 6–2. He was then 5–2 down in the second, but Nishikori nerves were visible, Nadal levelling 7–6. But in the end, Nishikori was too good, prevailing 6–3 in the third.

Nadal saw more success in the doubles tournament playing alongside Marc López, winning the gold medal. Nadal was also set to play in the mixed doubles alongside Garbiñe Muguruza, but withdrew without playing a match, saying the medical staff advised that three tournaments could aggravate his wrist's recovery.

Cincinnati Masters

Nadal was defeated in the third round by Borna Ćorić 6–1, 6–3.

US Open

Entering the tournament as the fourth seed, Nadal advanced to the fourth round but was defeated by 24th seed Lucas Pouille in 5 sets.

Asian Swing

China Open

Nadal defeated Paolo Lorenzi and Adrian Mannarino in straight sets, then lost to Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in the quarterfinals.

Shanghai Masters

Nadal was defeated in straight sets in his opening round match by Victor Troicki. This was Nadal's final match of the 2016 season.

Singles matches

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponent (seed or key)	Rank	Result	Score
Qatar Open Doha, Qatar ATP Tour 250 Hard, outdoor 4–10 January 2016
	1 / 928	1R	Pablo Carreño	67	Win	6–7(5–7), 6–3, 6–1
	2 / 929	2R	Robin Haase	66	Win	6–3, 6–2
	3 / 930	QF	Andrey Kuznetsov	79	Win	6–3, 5–7, 6–4
	4 / 931	SF	Illya Marchenko	94	Win	6–3, 6–4
	5 / 932	F	Novak Djokovic (1)	1	Loss (1)	1–6, 2–6
Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam tournament Hard, outdoor 18–31 January 2016
	6 / 933	1R	Fernando Verdasco	47	Loss	6–7(6–8), 6–4, 6–3, 6–7(4–7), 2–6
Argentina Open Buenos Aires, Argentina ATP Tour 250 Clay, outdoor 8–14 February 2016
	–	1R	Bye
	7 / 934	2R	Juan Mónaco	55	Win	6–4, 6–4
	8 / 935	QF	Paolo Lorenzi	52	Win	7–6(7–3), 6–2
	9 / 936	SF	Dominic Thiem (5)	19	Loss	4–6, 6–4, 6–7(4–7)
Rio Open Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ATP Tour 500 Clay, outdoor 15–21 February 2016
	10 / 937	1R	Pablo Carreño	66	Win	6–1, 6–4
	11 / 938	2R	Nicolás Almagro	53	Win	6–3, 7–5
	–	QF	Alexandr Dolgopolov	33	Walkover	N/A
	12 / 939	SF	Pablo Cuevas	45	Loss	7–6(8–6), 6–7(3–7), 4–6
BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, United States ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 10–20 March 2016
	–	1R	Bye
	13 / 940	2R	Gilles Müller	45	Win	6–2, 2–6, 6–4
	14 / 941	3R	Fernando Verdasco	65	Win	6–0, 7–6(11–9)
	15 / 942	4R	Alexander Zverev	58	Win	6–7(8–10), 6–0, 7–5
	16 / 943	QF	Kei Nishikori (5)	6	Win	6–4, 6–3
	17 / 944	SF	Novak Djokovic (1)	1	Loss	6–7(5–7), 2–6
Miami Open Miami, United States ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 24 March – 3 April 2016
	–	1R	Bye
	18 / 945	2R	Damir Džumhur	94	Loss	6–2, 4–6, 0–3 ret.
Monte-Carlo Masters Monte-Carlo, Monaco ATP Tour Masters 1000 Clay, outdoor 11–17 April 2016
	–	1R	Bye
	19 / 946	2R	Aljaž Bedene	60	Win	6–3, 6–3
	20 / 947	3R	Dominic Thiem (12)	14	Win	7–5, 6–3
	21 / 948	QF	Stan Wawrinka (4)	4	Win	6–1, 6–4
	22 / 949	SF	Andy Murray (2)	2	Win	2–6, 6–4, 6–2
	23 / 950	W	Gaël Monfils (13)	16	Win (1)	7–5, 5–7, 6–0
Barcelona Open Barcelona, Spain ATP Tour 500 Clay, outdoor 18–24 April 2016
	–	1R	Bye
	24 / 951	2R	Marcel Granollers	50	Win	6–3, 6–2
	25 / 952	3R	Albert Montañés	104	Win	6–2, 6–2
	26 / 953	QF	Fabio Fognini (12)	31	Win	6–2, 7–6(7–1)
	27 / 954	SF	Philipp Kohlschreiber (10)	27	Win	6–3, 6–3
	28 / 955	W	Kei Nishikori (2)	6	Win (2)	6–4, 7–5
Madrid Open Madrid, Spain ATP Tour Masters 1000 Clay,outdoor 1–8 May 2016
	–	1R	Bye
	29 / 956	2R	Andrey Kuznetsov	39	Win	6–3, 6–3
	30 / 957	3R	Sam Querrey	37	Win	6–4, 6–2
	31 / 958	QF	João Sousa	35	Win	6–0, 4–6, 6–3
	32 / 959	SF	Andy Murray (2)	2	Loss	5–7, 4–6
Italian Open Rome, Italy ATP Tour Masters 1000 Clay,outdoor 9–15 May 2016
	–	1R	Bye
	33 / 960	2R	Philipp Kohlschreiber	26	Win	6–3, 6–3
	34 / 961	3R	Nick Kyrgios	20	Win	6–7(3–7), 6–2, 6–4
	35 / 962	QF	Novak Djokovic (1)	1	Loss	5–7, 6–7(4–7)
French Open Paris, France Grand Slam tournament Clay,outdoor 22 May – 5 June 2016
	36 / 963	1R	Sam Groth	95	Win	6–1, 6–1, 6–1
	37 / 964	2R	Facundo Bagnis	99	Win	6–3, 6–0, 6–3
	–	3R	Marcel Granollers	56	Withdrew	N/A
Summer Olympics Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Olympic Games Hard, outdoor 6–14 August 2016
	38 / 965	1R	Federico Delbonis	43	Win	6–2, 6–1
	39 / 966	2R	Andreas Seppi	74	Win	6–3, 6–3
	40 / 967	3R	Gilles Simon (15)	31	Win	7–6(7–5), 6–3
	41 / 968	QF	Thomaz Bellucci	54	Win	2–6, 6–4, 6–2
	42 / 969	SF	Juan Martín del Potro	165	Loss	7–5, 4–6, 6–7(5–7)
	43 / 970	SF-B	Kei Nishikori	7	Loss	2–6, 7–6(7–1), 3–6
Cincinnati Masters Cincinnati, United States ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 13–21 August 2016
	–	1R	Bye
	44 / 971	2R	Pablo Cuevas	19	Win	6–1, 7–6(7–4)
	45 / 972	3R	Borna Ćorić	49	Loss	1–6, 3–6
US Open New York City, United States Grand Slam tournament Hard, outdoor 29–11 September 2016
	46 / 973	1R	Denis Istomin	107	Win	6–1, 6–4, 6–2
	47 / 974	2R	Andreas Seppi	87	Win	6–0, 7–5, 6–1
	48 / 975	3R	Andrey Kuznetsov	47	Win	6–1, 6–4, 6–2
	49 / 976	4R	Lucas Pouille (24)	25	Loss	1–6, 6–2, 4–6, 6–3, 6–7(6–8)
China Open Beijing, China ATP Tour 500 Hard, outdoor 3–9 October 2016
	50 / 977	1R	Paolo Lorenzi	39	Win	6–1, 6–1
	51 / 978	2R	Adrian Mannarino (Q)	64	Win	6–1, 7–6(8–6)
	52 / 979	QF	Grigor Dimitrov	20	Loss	2–6, 4–6
Shanghai Masters Shanghai, China ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 10–16 October 2016
	–	1R	Bye
	53 / 980	2R	Viktor Troicki	31	Loss	3–6, 6–7(3–7)

Doubles matches

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponents (seed or key)	Ranks	Result	Score
Qatar Open Doha, Qatar ATP Tour 250 Hard, outdoor 4–10 January 2016 Partner:   Fernando Verdasco
	1 / 188	1R	Teymuraz Gabashvili /   Albert Ramos	#130 / #605	Loss	7–6(7–3), 4–6, [9–11]
BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, United States ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 10–20 March 2016 Partner:   Fernando Verdasco
	2 / 189	1R	Bob Bryan /   Mike Bryan	#5 / #6	Loss	6–3, 5–7, [8–10]
Miami Open Miami, United States ATP Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 24 March – 3 April 2016 Partner:   Fernando Verdasco
	3 / 190	1R	Simone Bolelli /   Andreas Seppi	#22 / #80	Win	6–3, 6–4
	–	2R	John Isner /   Nicholas Monroe	#120 / #53	Withdrew	N/A
Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Monaco ATP Tour Masters 1000 Clay, outdoor 9–17 April 2016 Partner:   Fernando Verdasco
	4 / 191	1R	Philipp Kohlschreiber /   Viktor Troicki	#250 / #177	Win	6–4, 6–2
	–	2R	Pierre-Hugues Herbert /   Nicolas Mahut	#8 / #5	Withdrew	N/A
Summer Olympics Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Olympic Games Hard, outdoor 6–14 August 2016 Partner:   Marc López
	5 / 192	1R	Robin Haase /   Jean-Julien Rojer	#14 / #157	Win	6–4, 6–4
	6 / 193	2R	Máximo González /   Juan Martín del Potro	#73 / #351	Win	6–3, 5–7, 6–2
	7 / 194	QF	Alexander Peya /   Oliver Marach	#23 / #37	Win	6–3, 6–1
	8 / 195	SF	Daniel Nestor /   Vasek Pospisil	#9 / #17	Win	7–6(7–1), 7–6(7–4)
	9 / 196	G	Horia Tecău /   Florin Mergea	#10 / #14	Win (1)	6–2, 3–6, 6–4
Davis Cup World Group Playoff: India vs Spain New Delhi, India Davis Cup Hard, outdoor 16–18 September 2016 Partner:   Marc López
	10 / 197	1R	Saketh Myneni /   Leander Paes	#119 / #63	Win	4–6, 7–6(7–2), 6–4, 6–4
China Open Beijing, China ATP Tour 500 Hard, outdoor 3–9 October 2016 Partner:   Pablo Carreño Busta
	11 / 198	1R	Rohan Bopanna /   Daniel Nestor (3)	#18 / #14	Win	7–6(7–3), 6–4
	12 / 199	QF	Gong Maoxin /   Zhang Ze (WC)	#105 / #144	Win	7–5, 6–3
	13 / 200	SF	Bob Bryan /   Mike Bryan (1)	#6 / #7	Win	7–5, 6–4
	14 / 201	W	Jack Sock /   Bernard Tomic	#22 / #230	Win (2)	6–7(6–8), 6–2, [10–8]

Mixed doubles matches

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponents (seed or key)	Ranks	Result	Score
2016 Summer Olympics Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Olympic Games Hard, outdoor 8–14 August 2016 Partner:   Garbiñe Muguruza
	–	1R	Lucie Hradecká /   Radek Štěpánek (IP)	#10 / #31	Withdrew	N/A

Exhibition matches

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponents (Seed or Key)	Rank	Result	Score
Mubadala World Tennis Championship Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Singles exhibition Hard, outdoor 31 December 2015 – 2 January 2016
	–	QF	Bye
	1	SF	David Ferrer (3)	7	Win	6–3, 6–7(4–7), 6–3
	2	W	Milos Raonic (6)	14	Win (1)	7–6(7–2), 6–3

Singles schedule

Nadal's 2016 singles tournament schedule is as follows: (Bolded letter indicates better or same result at the tournament)

¹ The symbol (i) = indoors means that the respective tournament will be held indoors.

² The ATP numbers between brackets = non-countable tournaments.

Head-to-head matchups

Rafael Nadal has a 39–14 (73.6%) match win–loss record in the 2016 season. His record against players who were part of the ATP rankings Top Ten at the time of their meetings was 4–5 (44.4%). The following list is ordered by number of wins: (Bolded number marks a top 10 player at the time of match, Italic means top 30)

Finals

Singles: 3 (2–1)

Outcome	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	10 January 2016	Qatar Open, Doha, Qatar	Hard	Novak Djokovic	1–6, 2–6
Winner	17 April 2016	Monte-Carlo Masters, Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Gaël Monfils	7–5, 5–7, 6–0
Winner	24 April 2016	Barcelona Open, Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Kei Nishikori	6–4, 7–5

Doubles: 2 (2–0)

Outcome	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	12 August 2016	Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Hard	Marc López	Florin Mergea   Horia Tecău	6–2, 3–6, 6–4
Winner	9 October 2016	China Open, Beijing, China	Hard	Pablo Carreño Busta	Jack Sock   Bernard Tomic	6–7(6–8), 6–2, [10–8]

Earnings

• Bold font denotes tournament win

• 2016 ATP World Tour
• 2016 Novak Djokovic tennis season
• 2016 Roger Federer tennis season
• 2016 Andy Murray tennis season
• 2016 Stan Wawrinka tennis season