The numbers and the records that Rafael Nadal has achieved – especially on clay – in his glorious career, will remain forever engraved in the history of tennis, but there is a record that Novak Djokovic could take away from him, in 2025.
The 22-time Slam champion holds a particular record, difficult to beat. Rafa is the tennis player with the best percentage of victories in the fifth set. 345 victories, compared to only 46 defeats, for a crazy average of 88.23%, which also tells of the fighting spirit that Nadal has always shown on the court.
Only one player, at least in the short term, can threaten his record. It is obviously the Serbian champion, who could surpass it already in the next highly anticipated tennis season.
The Serb, despite having won more matches (405), has also lost more (59), with a success rate of 87.31%. Closing the podium is Bjorn Borg (86.05%). Also appearing in this ranking are Carlos Alcaraz, John McEnroe, Rod Laver.
Nadal said goodbye to tennis a few weeks ago. The Spanish champion’s last event was in the Davis Cup with his Spain, but it didn’t go as he wanted. This obviously didn’t tarnish his career in any way, which was absolutely extraordinary.
Meanwhile, Rafa is particularly enjoying these first weeks officially as a former professional tennis player. The former number 1 has been involved in a series of initiatives and wanted to participate in a golf tournament, but also visit the home of Manchester City and make a trip to Anfield to watch the big Champions League match between Liverpool and his Real Madrid up close. The Majorcan champion returned to talk about his glorious career on a very special occasion: he was a guest of the Spanish University Alfonso X to speak to students and answer all their questions.
“There are people who ask you, after the years, if you would have changed anything. There are those who say no, that they would not have changed anything. Well, either you are a super phenomenon or you are just super arrogant. They asked me and damn if I had changed things. I would have changed a lot, but I did my best. Even if I went back obviously I would have changed some episodes or aspects: we all make mistakes and we learn from this,” he explained.
