4 tournaments where Rafael Nadal has had the most missed opportunities

Rafael Nadal has been one of the standout performers on the ATP tour for one and a half decades. Together with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, Nadal forms the 'Big 3' trifecta of men's tennis

The Spaniard's 83.2% career win-loss is the best in the Open Era, while his Grand Slam title tally of 19 is only one short of Federer's record of 20. Nadal holds the record for most Grand Slam titles at a single tournament (Roland Garros-12), while he along with Federer are the only players in the Open Era to contest at least 5 finals at all the 4 Grand Slam tournaments.

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Nadal is the all-time Masters 1000 title leader (35 titles) and also the all-time Masters 1000 match wins leader (384). The left-hander's 11 titles in Monte Carlo is a record for most titles at a Masters 1000 tournament.

Nadal's triumph at the Principality in 2017 marked the first instance of a player winning 10 titles at a claycourt tournament, a feat that the Spaniard has matched or exceeded at two other tournaments: Roland Garros - 12 titles, and Barcelona - 11 titles.

The 19-time Grand Slam titlist became the only player in the Open Era after Rod Laver (1969) to win 3 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments in the same season, when he lifted titles at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open in 2010. Nadal is the youngest of 5 players in the Open Era to achieve the coveted feat of winning the career Grand Slam.

In exactly 50 tournaments contested by Nadal during the course of his illustrious career, a tally which also includes two team events (Davis Cup and Laver Cup), the Spaniard has reached the final in 35 different tournaments, winning the title at 26 of them. Nadal's record of 69% success in tournament finals is the 9th best in the Open Era, and better than that of his Big 3 peers Djokovic (10th) and Federer (19th).

Nadal has never lost a final in 14 tournaments (12 at Roland Garros, 11 in Barcelona, 5 at the Coupe Rogers, 3 in Stuttgart and 1 apiece at 10 different tournaments). However, despite possessing an exemplary record in title matches, the Spaniard has had his share of near misses or missed opportunities at some tournaments.

Nadal has come up short in the final in 21 different tournaments. Let us have a look at 4 tournaments where the Mallorcan has endured 3 or more final defeats.

#4 Madrid - 3 defeats in 8 finals

Nadal suffered his 3rd Madrid final defeat in 2015 to Andy Murray

One of two players, the other being Federer, to win the Madrid Masters on two different surfaces, four-time Madrid champion Nadal has suffered all 3 of his final defeats in the Spanish capital after the tournament transitioned to clay in 2009.

Nadal went down to Federer in straight sets in the 2009 final, and two years later it was Djokovic who lifted the title at the expense of the Spaniard. After his only successful title defence at the tournament in 2014, Nadal lost to Andy Murray in the 2015 final.

It is at this tournament that Nadal endured a loss against his compatriot Fernando Verdasco for the first time in 14 matches. Nadal squandered a double break lead at 5-2 in the deciding set of the pair's 2012 Madrid Masters Round of 16 clash, in the only edition of the tournament on blue clay.

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#3 Wimbledon - 3 defeats from 5 finals

Nadal suffered his 3rd Wimbledon final defeat in 2011 against Novak Djokovic

Two-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal defied expectations by becoming the first Spaniard in exactly four decades (since Manolo Santana in 1966) to reach the Wimbledon final in 2006. But on the other side of the net was a dominant World No. 1 Roger Federer, who had reigned at the grasscourt Major for three years.

Despite Federer losing his seven-Slam 100% final record at Roland Garros to Nadal earlier in the season, the Swiss maestro proved a far tougher nut to crack on the mowed lawns of SW19. Nadal was second best for large swathes of the final, struggling to contain the brilliance of Federer, but managed to avert a straight-sets defeat by taking the third set tiebreak. Federer soon ran away with the match in the fourth.

A year later, the pair met again for the title match at Wimbledon. Although it was a tighter affair than their previous clash, it was Federer who escaped multiple break points in the fifth set to become the first player since Bjorn Borg (1980) to win 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles.

Nadal did break through Federer's favourite bastion in 2008 by prevailing in an epic final, and also landed a second title by beating Tomas Berdych in 2010.

In 2011, Nadal lost to a resurgent Novak Djokovic in four sets, to lose 3 finals at a tournament for only the second time in his career. Following a spate of early exits to lower-ranked players, it would be seven years before Nadal made another semifinal at the tournament (lost to Djokovic 9-7 in the fifth in 2018).

The next year, it was Federer who stopped the Spaniard at the same stage of the tournament.

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Although Wimbledon is one of nine tournaments where Nadal has won at least 50 matches, it is is one of four in which he has suffered three or more defeats in the title match.

#2 Australian Open - 4 defeats from 5 finals

Nadal suffered his first straight-set loss in a Slam final at the 2019 Australian Open

Following respective five-set wins over compatriot Fernando Verdasco and then 13-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the semifinal and final, Nadal in 2009 became the first Spanish player to reign at the Australian Open.

But the 'Happy Slam' has been anything but happy for the Spaniard ever since.

In the longest ever men's single's final in the Open Era, Nadal squandered a deciding set break to go down to Novak Djokovic in an epic 5-hour 53-minute Australian Open 2012 final.

Two years later, Nadal thwarted Federer's hopes of making a first-ever all-Swiss Grand Slam final. But he went down to the 'other Swiss' Stan Wawrinka in the final, despite having never lost a set against the Swiss No. 2 in 12 previous matches. This marked the first time Nadal lost to a first-time Slam finalist.

In 2017, both Nadal and Federer defied expectations by coming off long injury lay-offs to make the Australian Open final, which marked the pair's first Grand Slam final meeting since 2011 Roland Garros. The final lived up to its pre-match hype but it was Nadal who came up second best in a Melbourne final, for the third time.

The Spaniard lost five games in a row against an inspired Federer after leading 3-1 in the fifth set.

After retiring against Marin Cilic in the 2018 quarterfinals, Nadal made a 5th title match in Melbourne in 2019. But Nadal's hopes of becoming the first player in the Open Era to win the double career Slam were dashed for a fourth time when Djokovic handed the Spaniard his first ever straight-set loss in a Grand Slam final.

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#1 Miami: 5 defeats from 5 finals

Nadal came up second for the 5th time in as many Miami title matches in 2017

The second Masters 1000 tournament of the ATP calendar, the Miami Masters, is one of 9 tournaments where Nadal has reached 5 or more finals. But it is the only tournament where the Spaniard has failed to remain the last man standing on no fewer than 5 occasions.

In his first Miami final in 2005, the then 18-year-old Nadal led a dominant World No. 1 Roger Federer by two sets. And at 5-5 in the third set tiebreak, he stood two points away from his first Masters 1000 title.

That would be the closest Nadal would ever come to lifting the Miami title. Federer took the third set and then dropped just four games in the next two to win the Indian Wells-Miami double.

Three years later it was Nikolay Davydenko who thwarted Nadal in straight sets in the Miami final, before Novak Djokovic upended the Spaniard in a third set tiebreak in 2011. Djokovic again dashed the Spaniard's Miami ambitions in the 2014 final.

In 2017, Nadal met Federer in the Miami final, 12 years after the pair's only title match at the tournament. The outcome remained the same as the Swiss maestro won in straight sets to lift his 26th Masters 1000 title, and third at the tournament.