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Rafael Nadal has had a blockbuster start to the 2022 season so far, winning 15 matches on the trot to mark his best ever start to any year.
The Mallorcan has won all three tournaments he has competed in. He began the season by clinching the Melbourne Summer Set 1 and followed it up by winning his 21st Grand Slam at the Australian Open. In the process, he became the first man in tennis history to reach the milestone. The Spaniard then picked up the Mexican Open title at the end of February.
Nadal will now turn his attention to the Indian Wells Masters, a tournament where he has already won the title thrice in 2007, 2009 and 2013. The tournament features a very strong line-up that includes World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev, World No. 3 Alexander Zverev and World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas among others.
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Nadal is a marginal favorite to win the ATP 1000 event and is certainly the most in-form player heading into the desert, though he will undoubtedly face stiff competition. In addition to his fourth title of the year, there are also a few other records that are at stake for the serial champion at Indian Wells.
Here's a look at five such records:
#1 Oldest male player to win the Indian Wells Masters
Roger Federer holds the current record for the oldest male player to win the Indian Wells Masters. The Swiss won the tournament in 2017, at the age of 35 years, seven months and 11 days.
If Rafael Nadal wins the 2022 edition, he is bound to beat that record by two months. The World No. 4 will be 35 years and nine months old by the time of completion of the tournament. He will replace his arch-nemesis and good friend Federer atop the list of oldest men's players to win the Indian Wells Open.
#2 Best win percentage at the Indian Wells Masters
The record for the best win percentage at the Indian Wells Massters is currently held by World No. 2 Novak Djokovic. The Serb has won 50 matches and lost only nine for a win percentage of 84.75% at the tournament.
Rafael Nadal, on the other hand, has won 54 matches so far and lost 10 for a win percentage of 84%. This year, the 35-year-old will need to win six matches to win the tournament (all seeded players get a bye in their first round). That will give the Spaniard a win/loss record of 60-10 and a win percentage of 85.71%, thus making him the new record-holder in this category.
Even if he gets a walkover in one of these rounds, Nadal will have a win percentage of 85.50% (59 wins in 69 matches). Interestingly, the 21-time Grand Slam champion will become the man with the best win percentage in the desert even if he wins only two matches and gets a walkover in the rest of his matches.
While the situation is unlikely to come to fruition, it will leave him with 56 wins in 66 matches for a win percentage of 84.85%, marginally higher than Djokovic's record.
#3 Third longest win-streak to begin a season
Rafael Nadal's current win-streak of 15 matches since the turn of the New Year could grow to 21 by the time the Indian Wells Masters is done and dusted. It will mark the fourth longest unbeaten streak by a male player to start the season, beating Pete Sampras' 17-0 start to the 1997 season.
The record for both the second longest and the third longest win-streak at the beginning of the year belongs to Novak Djokovic. The Serb won 26 matches on the trot in the 2020 season. It is a record that will become attainable for the World No. 4 at his next tournament if he triumphs in Indian Wells.
Djokovic's longest streak, however, is 41 matches long. While the record seems almost unattainable, it will be possible for the Mallorcan if he manages to enter the clay season without a loss against his name.
Djokovic, the World No. 2, also won seven consecutive titles in 2011 before succumbing to a defeat against Roger Federer in the semifinals of the French Open.
John McEnroe holds the record for the longest win-streak of all-time, having gone 42-0 in 1984.
#4 Second longest personal win-streak on hardcourts
All 15 of Rafael Nadal's wins in 2022 so far have come on hardcourts, marking the third longest win-streak on the surface in his career. The Spaniard has a chance of overtaking his second longest streak of 16 wins on the trot with a title run at the 2022 Indian Wells Masters.
His longest streak, however, is 26 matches long and came all the way back in 2013. That streak began with the Indian Wells Masters and ended at the China Open.
It is likely that the Mallorcan will have to wait until the US Open to have a shot at that record.
#5 Rafael Nadal could equal Novak Djokovic's record of 37 Masters titles
The most important statistic that is on the line for Rafael Nadal at the 2022 Indian Wells Masters is a shot at winning his 37th Masters title. The 35-year-old has 36 ATP 1000 titles at the moment, one behind Novak Djokovic's all-time record of 37 Masters triumphs.
Winning the Indian Wells Open will also make Nadal the sole occupant of the second position on the list of players with the most titles at the tournament. He will be just one behind Roger Federer and Djokovic's haul of five each.
Nadal is currently tied with Michael Chang and Jimmy Connors, who have also won three titles apiece.
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