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50 free Rafael Nadal trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Rafael Nadal won the French Open 14 times, more than anyone has won any tournament, and went 112–4 at Roland Garros across two decades. He was a right-hander turned lefty by his uncle Toni, a teenager who won his first major on his 19th birthday weekend, and the man who ended Roger Federer's Wimbledon reign in near darkness in 2008. These 50 questions cover the whole arc: Manacor and the football-playing uncle, the 81-match clay streak, La Décima, the 2012 Australian Open marathon, the career Golden Slam, Olympic golds in singles and doubles, the head-to-heads with Federer and Djokovic, the water bottles and the 55-pound strings, and the off-court life of a Real Madrid fan, Dragon Ball devotee, RCD Mallorca shareholder and, since 2025, Spanish marquess. Easy questions stick to titles and home island; the expert tier asks about 2005 finalists, asteroids and wedding castles. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation that adds one more fact. Play it solo or print it for a tennis-club quiz night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which Spanish island was Rafael Nadal born?
Mallorca
His hometown is Manacor, where his uncle Toni coached at the local tennis club.
Q 02How many French Open singles titles did Nadal win?
14
It is a record for any single tournament, men's or women's.
Q 03How many Grand Slam singles titles did Nadal win in total?
22
Only Novak Djokovic, with 24, has more among men.
Q 04Which uncle introduced Nadal to tennis at age three and coached him until 2017?
Toni
Toni made the young Rafa pick up the balls and sweep the courts after group sessions.
Q 05Nadal's uncle Miguel Ángel played which sport professionally?
Football
He played for Mallorca, Barcelona and Spain, and got young Rafa a photo with Ronaldo in the Barça dressing room.
Q 06Although he plays tennis left-handed, which hand does Nadal favour for everything else?
Right
Toni encouraged him to play left-handed after studying his two-handed forehand.
Q 07How old was Nadal when he won his first major, the 2005 French Open?
19
He beat Roger Federer in the semi-final on his 19th birthday, then Mariano Puerta in the final.
Q 08Whom did Nadal beat in the 2005 French Open final?
Mariano Puerta
It made him only the second man to win the French Open on his first attempt.
Q 09Nadal's 81 consecutive wins on clay ended in 2007 at which tournament?
Hamburg
Federer ended the record streak in the final; Nadal won the French Open a fortnight later.
Q 10Where did Nadal and Federer play the 2007 'Battle of Surfaces' on a half-grass, half-clay court?
Mallorca
The exhibition was squeezed in between the Barcelona and Rome tournaments.
Q 11What was the fifth-set score when Nadal won the 2008 Wimbledon final in near darkness?
9–7
At 4 hours 48 minutes it was then the longest Wimbledon final by time on court.
Q 12Nadal first became world No. 1 in August 2008 after winning which event?
Beijing Olympics
The gold medal ended Federer's record four-and-a-half-year reign at the top.
Q 13Whom did Nadal defeat in the 2008 Olympic singles final?
Fernando González
Nadal was the first Spaniard to finish a year as No. 1 in the Open Era.
Q 14Who ended Nadal's 31-match French Open win streak in the 2009 fourth round?
Q 21Who beat Nadal 13–15 in the fifth set at Wimbledon 2017?
Gilles Müller
The Luxembourger had also beaten him at Wimbledon in 2005.
Q 22Nadal's 14th French Open title in 2022 came against which finalist?
Casper Ruud
At 36 he became the then-oldest French Open champion.
Q 23From what position did Nadal come back to beat Daniil Medvedev in the 2022 Australian Open final?
Two sets down
The win gave him a record-breaking 21st men's major title.
What was Nadal's final career win–loss record at the French Open?
Robin Söderling
It was his first loss at Roland Garros; he lost only three more times there in his career.
Q 15Nadal completed his career Grand Slam by beating Djokovic in the final of which event?
2010 US Open
At 24 he was then the youngest man in the Open Era to win all four majors.
Q 16In 2010 Nadal became the first man to win majors on how many different surfaces in one year?
Three
He took the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, the first to do so since Rod Laver in 1969.
Q 17How long did the 2012 Australian Open final between Nadal and Djokovic last?
5 hours 53 minutes
It remains the longest Grand Slam final by duration and the longest match of both men's careers.
Q 18Nadal publicly criticised which surface change at the 2012 Madrid Open?
Blue clay
He lost there to Fernando Verdasco, a player he had beaten 13 times in a row.
Q 19Who beat Nadal in the first round of Wimbledon 2013, his first first-round loss at a major?
Steve Darcis
A year earlier Rosol had beaten him in the second round.
Q 20Nadal won his 10th French Open, 'La Décima', in 2017 by beating whom in the final?
Stan Wawrinka
He dropped only 35 games in seven matches, the second-fewest by any man on the way to a major.
112–4
The fourth loss came to Alexander Zverev in the first round in 2024.
Q 25What was Nadal's head-to-head record against Roger Federer?
24–16
He led 14–2 on clay and 10–4 in Grand Slam matches.
Q 26How many times did Nadal and Djokovic meet, an Open Era record?
60
Djokovic led 31–29 overall, but Nadal led 20–9 on clay and 11–7 at Grand Slams.
Q 27For how many weeks was Nadal ranked world No. 1?
209
He finished five seasons as year-end No. 1, with a record 11-year gap between his first and last.
Q 28How many ATP singles titles did Nadal win in his career?
92
Sixty-three of them came on clay, another Open Era record.
Q 29With whom did Nadal win Olympic doubles gold at Rio 2016?
Marc López
He became the second man in the Open Era with gold in both singles and doubles.
Q 30How many Davis Cup titles did Nadal help Spain win?
Five
His Davis Cup singles record was 29–1 when Spain won the 2019 Finals.