Nadal breaks another Vilas’ record

# In the picture Guillermo Vilas at the US Open 1977 and Rafael Nadal during the Monte Carlo final 2011

Rafael Nadal in 2006 overcame a record which belonged 29 years (!) to Guillermo Vilas of the most consecutive wins on clay, surpassing it considerably afterwards. The Spaniard yesterday broke another Vilas’ record of the most consecutive titles in one tournament, this record the Argentinian held for 33 years (Nadal tied it last year winning Monte Carlo for the sixth straight time). Nadal needs another Monte Carlo title though, to overcome other interesting record belonging to Bjorn Borg – the most consecutive wins in one tournament. Five  interesting stats below:

Nadal’s 37 consecutive wins in Monte Carlo:

2005: Monfils 6-3 6-2, Malisse 6-0 6-3, O.Rochus 6-1 6-2, Gaudio 6-3 6-0, Gasquet 6-7(6) 6-4 6-3, Coria 6-3 6-1 0-6 7-5 – 2006: Clement 6-4 6-4, Lisnard 6-4  6-1, Vliegen 6-3 6-3, Coria 6-2 6-1, Gaudio 5-7 6-1 6-1, Federer 6-2 6-7(2) 6-3 7-6(5) – 2007: Chela 6-3 6-1, Vliegen 6-1 6-1, Kohlschreiber 6-2 6-3, Berdych 6-0 7-5, Federer 6-4 6-4 – 2008: Ancic 6-0 6-3, Ferrero 6-4 6-1, Ferrer 6-1 7-5, Davydenko 6-3 6-2, Federer 7-5 7-5 – 2009: Chela 6-2 6-3, Lapentti 6-3 6-0, Ljubicic 6-3 6-3, Murray 6-2 7-6(4), Djokovic 6-3 2-6 6-1 – 2010: De Bakker 6-1 6-0, Berrer 6-0 6-1, Ferrero 6-4 6-2, Ferrer 6-2 6-3, Verdasco 6-0 6-1 – 2011: Nieminen 6-2 6-2, Gasquet 6-2 6-4, Ljubicic 6-1 6-3, Murray 6-4 2-6 6-1, Ferrer 6-4 7-5

Longest winning streaks in one tournament:

41 – Bjorn Borg (Wimbledon 1976-81) *
40 – Roger Federer (Wimbledon 2003-2008 & US Open 2004-09)
38 – Guillermo Vilas (Buenos Aires 1973-81) **
37 – Rafael Nadal (Monte Carlo 2005-11) ***
31 – Pete Sampras (Wimbledon 1997-01), Nadal (Roland Garros 2005-09)
29 – Balazs Taroczy (Hilversum 1978-83), Federer  (Halle 2003-10)
28 – Borg (Roland Garros 1978-81), Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Moscow 1997-02)
27 – Ivan Lendl (US Open 1985-88)
26 – Jimmy Connors (Birmingham 1974-80), Andre Agassi (Australian Open 2000-2004)

* Both Borg and Federer won 5 consecutive Wimbledons and Federer won also five consecutive US Opens, in all three cases their streaks were ended in the finals, Borg has one win more because Federer got two walkovers en route to the Wimbledon (2007) and the US Open (2004) title
** Vilas did not play the tournament in 1978 and 1980
*** Nadal has also won 24 consecutive matches in Barcelona where he plays this week, if he wins the tournament without a walkover he will tie Taroczy’s ’29’; Federer did not play in Halle ’09

Most clay-court titles:

45 – Guillermo Vilas
40 – Thomas Muster
30 – Bjorn Borg, Manuel Orantes, Rafael Nadal
28 – Ivan Lendl, Ilie Nastase
21 – Jose Luis Clerc

Most ‘Masters 1000’ titles:

19 – Rafael Nadal
17 – Andre Agassi, Roger Federer
11 – Pete Sampras
8 – Thomas Muster
7 – Michael Chang & Novak Djokovic

Most consecutive wins on clay:

81 – Rafael Nadal (2005–07) *
53 – Guillermo Vilas (1977)
46 – Bjorn Borg (1977–79)
40 – Thomas Muster (1995)
38 – Muster (1995-96)

* Nadal has 29-clay-court match winning streak after Monte Carlo

“Rafa is incredible on clay. I mean, he’s everywhere at the same time. He’s the best player on clay in history,” stated David “Pics” Ferrer after the Monte Carlo final 2011.

Highlights of the MC final