Rafael Nadal's worst streak at the clay-court Masters 1000 tournaments

With 25 titles from 48 tournaments, Rafael Nadal is the greatest clay-courter at the Masters 1000 series, scoring almost 200 victories and reaching at least the semis regularly.

Nadal's Masters 1000 debut came in Monte Carlo 2003, qualifying for the main draw and earning two victories, just like in Hamburg in May. Two years later, Nadal claimed the first Masters 1000 title in Monte Carlo and added another in Rome soon after that thrilling win over Guillermo Coria. Since then, Rafa has been the player to beat on clay, winning 25 Masters 1000 titles on the slowest surface and standing as the favorite at all three events in April and May.

Read also

Navratilova backs Rafael Nadal to play for good and chase 30 Roland Garros titles

The Spaniard has reached 36 clay-court Masters 1000 semi-finals, experiencing some early exits but constantly bouncing back to get back on a winning way. Nadal's 25th title came in Rome 2019 against Novak Djokovic, which turned out to be his last notable results at his beloved events so far! In 2020 and 2021, Rafa has played three tournaments of this series on clay and failed to score three wins and advance into the semis for his worst streak at these tournaments!

Diego Schwartzman beat Rafa 6-2, 7-5 in Rome last September, with the Spaniard chasing a better run in Monte Carlo this April. As it turned out, he suffered another quarter-final loss to Andrey Rublev, failing to match the rival's pace in the decider.

Read also

Rafael Nadal admits - 'I would give away my Roland Garros trophy to prevent pandemic'

Nadal advanced into another quarter-final in Madrid in front of the home crowd before Alexander Zverev ousted him 6-4, 6-4 on Friday. The German fired almost 30 winners and tamed his strokes nicely to secure three breaks and sail into the semis.