2012 Rafael Nadal tennis season

2012 Rafael Nadal tennis season
Singles
Season record	17–3 (85.00%)
Calendar titles	0
Current ranking	No. 2
Ranking change from previous year	0
Doubles
Season record	0–0
Calendar titles	0
Current ranking	No.
Ranking change from previous year	0
	Last updated on: 7 January 2012.

The 2012 Rafael Nadal tennis season officially began on January 2 with the start of the 2012 ATP World Tour.

Year summary

Early hard court season and Australian Open

Nadal began his ATP 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.^[1] In the semifinal he played poorly and lost to Gaël Monfils in two routine sets.^[2]

In the Australian Open Nadal began the tournament by breezing past qualifier Alex Kuznetsov of United States.^[3] The second round against Tommy Haas, who has never won a set against Rafael, was a little tighter but Nadal again advanced in 3 straight sets.^[4] By reaching the finals, he has now done so in four consecutive Grand Slams for the first time in his career. On the final on January 29 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. The previous longest major singles final was Mats Wilander’s win over Ivan Lendl at the U.S. Open in 1988, which lasted 4 hours and 54 minutes. ^[5]

All matches

Key
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Q#	P#	DNQ	A	Z#	PO	G	S	B	NMS	NTI	P	NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Singles matches

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponent	Rank	Result	Score
Qatar ExxonMobil Open Doha, Qatar ATP World Tour 250 Hard, outdoor 2–7 January 2012	542	1R	Philipp Kohlschreiber	43	Win	6–3, 6–7^(2–7), 6–3
	543	2R	Denis Gremelmayr	189	Win	6–2, 6–2
	544	QF	Mikhail Youzhny	35	Win	6–4, 6–4
	545	SF	Gaël Monfils	15	Loss	3–6, 4–6
Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam Hard, outdoor 16–29 January 2012	546	1R	Alex Kuznetsov	167	Win	6–4, 6–1, 6–1
	547	2R	Tommy Haas	205	Win	6–4, 6–3, 6–4
	548	3R	Lukáš Lacko	113	Win	6–2, 6–4, 6–2
	549	4R	Feliciano López	19	Win	6–4, 6–4, 6–2
	550	QF	Tomáš Berdych	7	Win	6–7^(5–7), 7–6^(8–6), 6–4, 6–3
	551	SF	Roger Federer	3	Win	6–7^(5–7), 6–2, 7–6^(7–5), 6–4
	552	F	Novak Djokovic	1	Loss	7–5, 4–6, 2–6, 7–6^(7–5), 5–7
BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, United States ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 12–18 March 2012	–	1R	Bye
	553	2R	Leonardo Mayer	78	Win	6–1, 6–3
	554	3R	Marcel Granollers	26	Win	6–1, 6–4
	555	4R	Alexandr Dolgopolov	21	Win	6–3, 6–2
	556	QF	David Nalbandian	74	Win	4–6, 7–5, 6–4
	557	SF	Roger Federer	3	Loss	3–6, 4–6
Sony Ericsson Open Miami, United States ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Hard, outdoor 21st March - 4th April 2012	–	1R	Bye
	558	2R	Santiago Giraldo	57	Win	6–2, 6–0
	559	3R	Radek Stepanek	25	Win	6–2, 6-2
	560	4R	Kei Nishikori	16	Win	6–4, 6–4
	561	QF	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	6	Win	6–2, 5–7, 6–4
	562	SF	Andy Murray	4	Withdrew	N/A

Tournament schedule

Singles schedule

Nadal's 2012 singles tournament schedule is as follows:

Date	Championship	Location	Category	Surface	Result prev.	Points prev.	Points 2012	Outcome
January 1, 2012–January 7, 2012	Qatar Open	Qatar	ATP World Tour 250	Hard	SF	90	90	SF
January 16, 2012–January 29, 2012	Australian Open	Australia	Grand Slam	Hard	QF	360	1200	F
March 3, 2012–March 18, 2012	BNP Paribas Open	United States	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Hard	F	600	360	SF
March 21, 2012–April 1, 2012	Sony Ericsson Open	United States	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Hard	F	600	360	SF
April 6, 2012–April 8, 2012	Davis Cup World Group: Spain vs. Austria	Spain	Davis Cup	Clay
April 15, 2012–April 22, 2012	Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters	Monaco	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Clay	W	1000
23.04.2012–29.04.2012	Barcelona Open BancSabadell	Spain	ATP World Tour 500	Clay	W	500
May 6, 2012–May 13, 2012	Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open	Spain	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Clay	F	600
May 13, 2012–May 20, 2012	Internazionali BNL d'Italia	Italy	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Clay	F	600
May 27, 2012–June 10, 2012	French Open	France	Grand Slam	Clay	W	2000
June 11, 2012–June 17, 2012	Gerry Weber Open	Germany	ATP World Tour 250	Grass	DNS
June 25, 2012–July 8, 2012	The Championships, Wimbledon	United Kingdom	Grand Slam	Grass	F	1200
July 28, 2012–August 5, 2012	2012 Summer Olympics	United Kingdom	Olympic Games	Grass	W
August 6, 2012–August 12, 2012	Rogers Cup	Canada	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Hard	R32	45
August 13, 2012–August 19, 2012	Western & Southern Open	United States	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Hard	QF	180
August 27, 2012–September 9, 2012	US Open	United States	Grand Slam	Hard	F	1200
October 1, 2012–October 7, 2012	Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships	Japan	ATP World Tour 500	Hard	F	360
October 7, 2012–October 14, 2012	Shanghai Rolex Masters	China	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Hard	R16	90
October 29, 2012–November 4, 2012	BNP Paribas Masters	France	ATP World Tour Masters 1000	Hard (i)	DNS
November 5, 2012–November 12, 2012	Barclays ATP World Tour Finals	United Kingdom	ATP World Tour Finals	Hard (i)	RR	200
Points earned at other championships						30
Total year points						9595	600¹
Overall points							10195[1]