Rafael Nadal is one of the greatest tennis players in the history of the game and he owns several remarkable records from his stellar career.
The King of Clay won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, which includes a record 14 Roland Garros championships.
Nadal sits on several elite tennis record lists after winning 92 ATP titles during his two-decade run at the top of tennis.
While the Spaniard holds a number of impressive records, he still also has an accolade that he would much rather forget.
Rafael Nadal’s worst-ever ATP final loss
Nadal still holds the bizarre record of the most one-sided ATP final loss in history from when he was defeated at the Chennai Open by Mikhail Youzhny.
The Spaniard won just 17 points as he was dispatched 6-0, 6-1 by the Russian in an extremely out of character defeat.
Can you think of a more shocking Rafael Nadal moment in his career?
It’s a record Nadal will be praying someone else takes and it very nearly happened during Carlos Alcaraz’s dominant victory against Arthur Fils in the Qatar Open final.
| Tournament | Year | Winner name | Loser name | Loser points |
| Chennai Open | 2008 | Mikhail Youzhny | Rafael Nadal | 17 |
| Chang-Sat Bangkok Open | 2011 | Andy Murray | Donald Young | 20 |
| Acapulco Open | 2005 | Rafael Nadal | Albert Montanes | 22 |
| Swedish Open | 2014 | Pablo Cuevas | Joao Sousa | 22 |
| Shanghai Masters | 2003 | Mark Philippoussis | Jiri Novak | 23 |
| Metz Open | 2012 | Jo-Wilfried Tsonga | Andreas Seppi | 24 |
| Qatar Open | 2026 | Carlos Alcaraz | Arthur Fils | 24 |
Fils managed to win just 24 points against Alcaraz as he fell to a resounding 6-2 6-1 defeat at the ATP 500 event.
Alcaraz and Fils’ match is the seventh most one-sided final in history, with just seven points separating the match with Nadal vs Youzhny.
Nadal did, however, manage to place himself on the positive side of the record earlier on in his career as he dropped just 22 matches to win the Acapulco Open in 2005.
The King of Clay beat Albert Montanes 6-1, 6-0 to lift the trophy and put himself third on the list of the most one-sided matches in ATP final history.
What was said by Rafael Nadal and Mikhail Youzhny after bizarre Chennai final
Youzhny’s incredibly one-sided victory against Nadal is one of the biggest surprises in tennis history, and even the Russian couldn’t believe what he was seeing from his opponent across the net.
“This victory is a present from Rafa to me. I didn’t win today, Rafa just lost the match because he couldn’t move well,” said the Russian.
““I did not think it would be so easy. I thought he would come back strongly in the second set but once I broke him in the fourth game, I knew I only had to ensure I did not make mistakes.”
What would have happened if Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner played at the same time as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal?
Nadal, meanwhile, was typically magnanimous toward his opponent’s level, rather than his own display.
“Mikhail played unbelievable tennis and deserved to win. I will now go to Melbourne and practice for a week and hopefully I will be at my best at the Open.
“The good thing is I leave this tournament without any injury. It has been a good start to the year for me. I have had good practice.”
Nadal reached the Australian Open semi-finals a few weeks later, where he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets.
The Grand Slam was won by Novak Djokovic, who claimed the very first major title of his career.
