Twenty-one years after scoring his first ATP win, Rafael Nadal is still ranked in the top-15. That will change in a couple of weeks, with a 22-time Major winner skipping his beloved Roland Garros and dropping out from the top-100 for the first time since 2003!

Nadal has won 1068 ATP matches, hoping for at least a couple more in 2024, his most probably final season on the Tour. Rafa's first ATP win came on April 29, 2002, with the 15-year-old using the invitation at the home Mallorca event with both hands.



Instead of focusing on the junior events, Nadal had other plans in 2002, eager to take further steps on the professional Tour and gather precious experience. The youngster made an ATP debut at the home ATP 250 event in Mallorca, receiving a wild card as one of the most promising players of his generation.

Rafa needed no second invitation to reveal his full potential at the home ATP event, toppling a top-100 player Ramon Delgado from Paraguay 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 23 minutes.

Rafael Nadal scored his first ATP victory in Mallorca on April 29, 2002.

Thus, he joined an exclusive list of nine players with an ATP victory before turning 16 (Richard Gasquet did that in Monte Carlo a few weeks earlier).

At 15, ordinary competitors are only starting their junior careers. However, Nadal was in a different world in comparison to his coevals. The Spaniard embraced the professional journey a year earlier and earned his first pro victory at Sevilla Challenger in September 2001, debuting on the ATP list.

By April 2002, Rafa had already cracked the top-800, and a wild card for the ATP 250 event at home in Mallorca was a natural step in his rapid development. The young Spaniard broke Delgado five times from seven opportunities and fended off six out of nine break points he faced.


Nadal overpowered an almost ten years older opponent with steady and consistent groundstrokes that were the sign of what was about to come in two or three years. Juniors often struggle to find their first serve. However, Rafa landed in 59 out of 66 first serves on his ATP debut.

It helped him control the pace and enter history books. Olivier Rochus ousted the young Mallorcan 6-2, 6-2 in the second round, although he was more than happy with performing in his first ATP tournament. Nadal turned 16 in June and conquered his first Futures title in Alicante just a month later, followed by a jaw-dropping five by the end of the year!

Rafa advanced into his first Challenger semi-final in Barcelona and ended the season inside the top-200 way before his 17th birthday. Nadal was already a well-established clay-courter in 2003, earning Challenger titles and the Masters 1000 wins at 16 and almost reaching the first ATP final in Umag in July. The rest is history, and it all started in Mallorca at the end of