The 2012 Rafael Nadal tennis season officially began on 2 January with the start of the 2012 ATP World Tour.
Year summary
Asian/Pacific hard court season and Australian Open
Nadal began his World Tour season at the Qatar Open. He beat Philipp Kohlschreiber and qualifier Denis Gremelmayr in rounds one and two and then won against seventh-seeded Mikhail Youzhny. In the semifinal he played poorly and lost to Gaël Monfils in two routine sets.
Australian Open In the Australian Open Nadal began the tournament by breezing past qualifier Alex Kuznetsov of United States. The second round against Tommy Haas, who has never won a set against Rafael, was a little tighter but Nadal again advanced in three straight sets. He outwitted compatriot Feliciano López in fourth round and won in the quarterfinals in an epic four-set match against Tomáš Berdych, who was playing at arguably the peak of his career. He then beat Roger Federer, who was riding a 24-match win streak heading into the match, in a four-set match in the semifinals. With his win, he reached the finals of all four Grand Slams consecutively. It was one of two times in which Nadal reached consecutive hardcourt major finals, later doing so between the 2013 US Open and 2014 Australian Open. In the final, on 29 January, he was beaten by Novak Djokovic in five sets, the match being the longest ever match for a Grand Slam title. The epic final lasted 5 hours and 53 minutes. They set a new world record, breaking the latest longest major singles final between Mats Wilander and Ivan Lendl, which lasted 4 hours and 54 minutes, at the US Open in 1988.
US hard court season
At Indian Wells, Nadal made it to the semifinals, where he was beaten by Roger Federer, who went on to win the tournament. However, he won the Doubles event of the tournament for the second time in succession after beating John Isner and Sam Querrey in the final.
He also made the semifinals in Miami, but withdrew because of problems with his knee, the hard-court season taking its toll on his weak spot once again.
European clay court season and the French Open
As the clay court season started, Nadal was seeded 2nd at the 2012 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in April. He was troubled in his opening round by seed number 47, Nieminen of Finland, but prevailed in two sets. He then went on to clinch his 8th Monte Carlo trophy in 9 tries by beating Qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin, easing through Stanislas Wawrinka, and defeating Gilles Simon in the Semifinal, before topping World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the final. This ended a streak of 7 straight final losses to Djokovic, which began at the 2011 Indian Wells Masters Final. Novak admitted that Nadal was just a better player, when asked whether the death of his grandfather early at the beginning of the tournament was affecting his whole play.
A day after the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Final, Nadal traveled to Barcelona where he received a 'bye' in the first round. His tremendous record on clay continued as he beat compatriot David Ferrer to clinch his seventh title in eight years at the Barcelona Open.
The Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open did not go very well for Nadal since he lost early in the 3R to Fernando Verdasco. Nadal stated that he was very unhappy with the new blue-colored clay and threatened not to attend in the future if the surface was not changed. Several other players such as Novak Djokovic agreed with Nadal in his criticism.
In the last tournament before the French Open Nadal went to Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. He won every single match in two sets finishing with his second victory over Novak Djokovic and his third title in 2012.
French Open At the French Open, Nadal managed to win all six matches before facing Novak Djokovic in the final, in which Nadal won in four sets. During the entire tournament, Nadal only lost a single set (against Djokovic in the final). With his seventh championship victory at Roland Garros, Nadal became the most successful tennis player at the French Open. It was his fifth consecutive major final, his personal best streak of reaching a major final.
Throughout the entire Clay court season, Nadal did not drop a single set on the red clay across 3 tournaments and 23 matches, which started in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, BNL d'Italia and was ended by Novak Djokovic in the Final of the French Open. He collected 5 bagels along the way (a bagel is a score of 6–0 in a set of a tennis match).
European grass court season, Wimbledon Championships and the Summer Olympics
For the first time since his debut in 2005, Nadal revisited the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany. There he enrolled in both the Doubles and Singles events. He partnered up with Marcel Granollers as his Doubles teammate as well as "hitting company." After disappointing Quarter Finals losses at both the Singles and Doubles events of the Gerry Weber, Rafael Nadal took a week off from the tour and took a visit to his hometown, Manacor.
Wimbledon Championships Wimbledon Championships did not go well for Nadal and was a disaster for him. He lost early in the second round to Lukáš Rosol in 5 sets in one of the greatest shocks in Grand Slam history. Rosol then succumbed to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the following round. After his loss, Nadal was off into yet another rest, this time in Sardinia.
London Olympics Nadal's second appearance at the Summer Olympics, saw him chosen by the Spanish Sports Federation as the flag-bearer of Spain. He gained automatic entry to the Men's Singles Event, was the defending champion, and was the pre-tournament favourite to retain the gold medal, despite his early exit from Wimbledon in June.
But on 19 July, Nadal stated that he will be withdrawing from the Olympics citing a knee injury as his issue.
Summer US hard court season After he withdrew from the London Olympics due to knee tendinitis, Nadal missed the rest of the US Open Series, leading up to the US Open, stating that he will not return to court before the recovery.
U.S. Open On 15 August, Nadal announced via Twitter that he was withdrawing from the 2012 US Open (tennis). He had already withdrawn from the 2012 Rogers Cup and the 2012 Western & Southern Open.
Autumn season
On 3 September, Nadal announced on his homepage that he would not play for the next two months in order to rest and allow his knee to recover. He ultimately missed the remainder of the 2012 season, having received qualification for the ATP World Tour Finals in London after his second round exit from Wimbledon, before pulling out due to injury. Despite missing the final four months of the season, Nadal managed to finish ranked No. 4 in the world, his lowest year-end ranking in eight years.
Nadal stated in his announcement: "I have missed the Olympics and the US Open in the last few weeks, two of the most important tournaments of the year and that I really wanted to play. I really want to be back competing and enjoying the tennis tour, but I have many years in front of me and my knee needs some rest. I will be back when I have no pain and able to compete with guarantee[...]."
All matches
Singles matches Tournament Match Round Opponent Rank Result Score Qatar ExxonMobil OpenDoha, QatarATP World Tour 250Hard, outdoor2 – 7 January 2012 1 / 658 1R Philipp Kohlschreiber43 6–3, 6–7(2–7), 6–3 2 / 659 2R Denis Gremelmayr 189 6–2, 6–2 3 / 660 QF Mikhail Youzhny 35 6–4, 6–4 4 / 661 SF Gaël Monfils 15 3–6, 4–6 Australian OpenMelbourne, AustraliaGrand SlamHard, outdoor16 – 29 January 2012 5 / 662 1R Alex Kuznetsov 167 6–4, 6–1, 6–1 6 / 663 2R Tommy Haas 205 6–4, 6–3, 6–4 7 / 664 3R Lukáš Lacko 113 6–2, 6–4, 6–2 8 / 665 4R Feliciano López 196–4, 6–4, 6–2 9 / 666 QF Tomáš Berdych 7 6–7(5–7), 7–6(8–6), 6–4, 6–3 10 / 667 SF Roger Federer 3 6–7(5–7), 6–2, 7–6(7–5), 6–4 11 / 668 F Novak Djokovic 1 7–5, 4–6, 2–6, 7–6(7–5), 5–7 BNP Paribas OpenIndian Wells, United StatesATP World Tour Masters 1000Hard, outdoor12 – 18 March 2012 – 1R Bye 12 / 669 2R Leonardo Mayer 78 6–1, 6–3 13 / 670 3R Marcel Granollers 26 6–1, 6–4 14 / 671 4R Alexandr Dolgopolov 21 6–3, 6–2 15 / 672 QF David Nalbandian 74 4–6, 7–5, 6–4 16 / 673 SF Roger Federer 3 3–6, 4–6 Sony Ericsson OpenMiami, United StatesATP World Tour Masters 1000Hard, outdoor21 March – 4 April 2012 – 1R Bye 17 / 674 2R Santiago Giraldo 57 6–2, 6–0 18 / 675 3R Radek Štěpánek 25 6–2, 6–2 19 / 676 4R Kei Nishikori 16 6–4, 6–4 20 / 677 QF Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6 6–2, 5–7, 6–4 – SF Andy Murray 4 Withdrew N/A Monte-Carlo Rolex MastersMonte Carlo, MonacoATP World Tour Masters 1000Clay, outdoor15 – 22 April 2012 – 1R Bye 21 / 678 2R Jarkko Nieminen 48 6–4, 6–3 22 / 679 3R Mikhail Kukushkin 68 6–1, 6–1 23 / 680 QF Stanislas Wawrinka 26 7–5, 6–4 24 / 681 SF Gilles Simon 15 6–3, 6–4 25 / 682 W Novak Djokovic 1 6–3, 6–1 Barcelona Open Banco SabadellBarcelona, SpainATP World Tour 500Clay, outdoor23 – 29 April 2012 – 1R Bye 26 / 683 2R Guillermo García López 78 6–1, 6–2 27 / 684 3R Robert Farah 246 6–2, 6–3 28 / 685 QF Janko Tipsarević 8 6–2, 6–2 29 / 686 SF Fernando Verdasco 20 6–0, 6–4 30 / 687 W David Ferrer 6 7–6(7–1), 7–5 Mutua Madrid OpenMadrid, SpainATP World Tour Masters 1000Clay, outdoor7 – 13 May 2012 – 1R Bye 31 / 688 2R Nikolay Davydenko 54 6–2, 6–2 32 / 689 3R Fernando Verdasco 19 3–6, 6–3, 5–7 Internazionali BNL d'ItaliaRome, ItalyATP World Tour Masters 1000Clay, outdoor13 – 20 May 2012 – 1R Bye 33 / 690 2R Florian Mayer 28 6–1, 7–5 34 / 691 3R Marcel Granollers 26 6–1, 6–1 35 / 692 QF Tomáš Berdych 7 6–4, 7–5 36 / 693 SF David Ferrer 6 7–6(8–6), 6–0 37 / 694 W Novak Djokovic 1 7–5, 6–3 French OpenParis, FranceGrand SlamClay, outdoor28 May – 10 June 2012 38 / 695 1R Simone Bolelli 111 6–2, 6–2, 6–1 39 / 696 2R Denis Istomin 43 6–2, 6–2, 6–0 40 / 697 3R Eduardo Schwank 192 6–1, 6–3, 6–4 41 / 698 4R Juan Mónaco 15 6–2, 6–0, 6–0 42 / 699 QF Nicolás Almagro 13 7–6(7–4), 6–2, 6–3 43 / 700 SF David Ferrer 6 6–2, 6–2, 6–1 44 / 701 W Novak Djokovic 1 6–4, 6–3, 2–6, 7–5 Gerry Weber OpenHalle, GermanyATP World Tour 250Grass, outdoor11 – 17 June 2012 - 1R Bye 45 / 702 2R Lukáš Lacko 58 7–5, 6–1 46 / 703 QF Philipp Kohlschreiber 34 3–6, 4–6 Wimbledon ChampionshipsLondon, United KingdomGrand SlamGrass, outdoor25 June – 8 July 2012 47 / 704 1R Thomaz Bellucci 80 7–6(7–0), 6–2, 6–3 48 / 705 2R Lukáš Rosol 100 7–6(11–9), 4–6, 4–6, 6–2, 4–6
Doubles matches Tournament Match Round Opponents Ranking Result Score BNP Paribas OpenIndian Wells, United StatesATP World Tour Masters 1000Hard, outdoor12 – 18 March 2012 Partner: Marc López 1 / 150 1R Michaël Llodra Nenad Zimonjić #5 / #6 Win 6–4, 6–4 2 / 151 2R Alexandr Dolgopolov Xavier Malisse #50 / #26 Win 6–4, 6–3 3 / 152 QF Leander Paes Radek Štěpánek #7 / #22 Win 6–4, 7–6(7–5) 4 / 153 SF Mariusz Fyrstenberg Marcin Matkowski #13 / #13 Win 6–2, 6–0 5 / 154 W John Isner Sam Querrey #33 / #35 Win 6–2, 7–6(7–3) Sony Ericsson OpenMiami, United StatesATP World Tour Masters 1000Hard, outdoor21 March – 4 April 2012 Partner: Marcel Granollers 6 / 155 1R Marin Čilić Ivo Karlović #80 / #128 Win 6–1, 6–3 7 / 156 2R Mahesh Bhupathi Rohan Bopanna #13 / #12 Loss 4–6, 3–6 Gerry Weber OpenHalle, GermanyATP World Tour 250Grass, outdoor11 – 17 June 2012Partner: Marcel Granollers 8 / 157 1R Michal Mertiňák Viktor Troicki #78 / #76 Win 5–7, 6–2, [10–8] – QF Michael Kohlmann Florian Mayer #77 / #62 Withdrew
Tournament schedule
Singles schedule Nadal's 2012 singles tournament schedule is as follows: