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There are many sports in the world, and these many sports have many players. These players in these different sports have different beginnings, and different heritages. One of these players is one of the best known in the tennis community. This is the one and only, Rafael Nadal. Rafael "Rafa" Nadal-Parera has been named "The King of Clay," due to his dominance and success on the surface of clay ( Wikipedia ). Turning pro at the age of only 14, he is now ranked #5 out of all the tennis players in the world ( Tennis.com ). But Nadal also had his own beginning.

Nadal was born June 3rd, 1936, in Mallorca, Spain, to businessman Sebastien and his wife Ana Maria. A the age of only three years old, his uncle, Toni Nadal, a former professional tennis player, noticed his nephew's natural talent for the sport and introduced him to it ( Bio ). At the age of 8, Nadal won an under-12 regional tennis championship, giving his uncle the motivation to step up his training ( Bio ). Toni also noticed at the time that Rafael played with two hands for his forehand shots, so he encouraged him to play left-handed, thinking it could give Nadal an advantage on the court ( Bio ). When Nadal was only 12 years old, he won the Spanish and European tennis titles in his age group ( Bio ). When he reached the age of 15, he turned pro ( Bio ). At this very moment in time, Toni Nadal is still Rafael's coach ( Bio ). At the age of 16, Nadal made it to the semifinals of the Boy's Singles tournament at Wimbledon. AT the age of 17, he became the youngest male to reach the third round at Wimbledon ever since Boris Becker ( Bio ), At 19, in 2005, Nadal won the French Open the first time he completed in the tournament ( Bio ). His world ranking went straight to #3. In that same year, Nadal won 11 singles titles that year, eight of which were on clay, which gave him the title "The King of Clay ( Bio )."

Even though he had many shoulder and foot injuries, Nadal won his second straight French Open and added four more titles in 2006 ( Bio ). The year after that, he won again at Roland Garros and took home five other titles ( Bio ). Nadal poured it on in 2008, winning the French Open again, also winning Wimbledon- where he beat his rival Roger Federer in the longest final in Wimbledon history- as well as gold as the Beijing Olympics ( Bio ). After Wimbledon, Nadal's winning streak stayed at a best for his career of 32 won matches ( Bio ). Since Nadal had very powerful topspin-heavy shots, speed and mental toughness, Nadal occupied the position as one of the "Big Four" of men's tennis (along with Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray) for the next several years ( Bio). He took over as the world's #1 in 2008, and won his first Austrailian Open in 2009 ( Bio ).

In 2010, he was triumphant at the French Open and Wimbledon, and his consecutive winning streak at the U.S. Open made him just the second men's player to achieve the career Golden Slam, with victories at all four of the majors, as well as achieving an Olympic Gold medal ( Bio ). The year after that, Nadal led the Spanish David Cup team to victory for the 4th time, but he then surrendered his #1 ranking after he lost to Djokovic in the Wimbledon final ( Bio ). He gained some of his revenge by defeating the Serbian Star at Rosol Garros the following spring to claim another record of 7thFrench Open singles crown ( Bio ). But Nadal followed with a surprising second-round loss to Czech player Lukas Rosol at Wimbledon, a match that some commentators labeled on of the greatest upsets in the tennis history as a whole ( Bio ). After this, Nadal announced that he was withdrawing from the 2012 Summer Olympics due to having knee tendinitis, an injury that knocked him out of action for several months.

In conclusion, Nadal was and still is one of the best tennis players in the history of this sport. This shows how much potential that this Spanish player had, and how we can use our time wisely and correctly. We all have enough potential to be just like him, or if you want to be something else. Rafael Nadal is a very inspiring role model because he did so many things while he was young, and he still is young. We cando many more things then just sit and wait for something to happen to us, while we can be the ones doing it.


 * Works Cited**

"PLAYERS." Rafael Nadal. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2016 I trust this website because it is copyrighted and because this website is the core website for all things about tennis, "Rafael Nadal." //Bio.com// A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016 I trust this website because this website has their own fact checkers, so this is trustable. "Rafael Nadal." Fact Monster. InformationPlease, n.d. Web. 5 May 2016 I trust this website because it has many sources because it is copyrighted. "Rafael Nadal." //Wikimedia.// Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Jan. 2005. Web. 29 Apr. 2016 I trust this website because it uses sources that has facts.