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In pictures: Nadal’s 11 clay-court losses dating back to Roland-Garros 2015

A recap of Rafael Nadal’s clay-court losses dating back to the 2015 French Open, including Saturday’s setback against Diego Schwartzman in the Rome quarter-finals.

Rafael Nadal Rome 2020

Ricky Dimon

September 20, 2020

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Diego Schwartzman Rome 2020

Diego Schwartzman, 2020 Rome quarter-finals, 6-2, 7-5. Playing in a tournament for the first time in more than six months, Nadal was vulnerable. Schwartzman said afterward that he played the best tennis of his life, and it was enough to upset the nine-time Rome champion.
2/11

Stefanos Tsitsipas clay

Stefanos Tsitsipas clay
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Dominic Thiem - Barcelone 2019

Dominic Thiem, 2019 Barcelona semi-finals, 6-4, 6-4. Thiem is thought to be the heir apparent to Nadal on clay. The current US Open champion has plenty of head-to-head wins over Nadal on the red stuff, but never on the biggest stage of Roland-Garros.
4/11

Fabio Fognini - Monte Carlo 2019

Fabio Fognini, 2019 Monte-Carlo semi-finals, 6-4, 6-2. Even though Nadal is dominating the head-to-head series 12-4, this is still a “rivalry” of sorts. And it isn’t especially friendly. A rare clay-court win over Nadal propelled Fognini to a surprising Monte-Carlo title.
5/11

Dominic Thiem - Madrid 2018

Dominic Thiem, 2018 Madrid quarter-finals, 7-5, 6-3. Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Nadal loses in Madrid, goes on to win both Rome and the French Open. Yes, it also happened in 2018. Thiem toppled him in the high altitude but did not come close in the Roland-Garros final.
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Dominic Thiem Rome 2017

Dominic Thiem Rome 2017
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Novak Djokovic - Rome 2016

Novak Djokovic, 2016 Rome quarter-finals, 7-5, 7-6(4). The year 2016 was not one Nadal wants to remember. His fourth clay-court loss of the season came at the hands of Djokovic, who lost the Rome final to Andy Murray but eventually captured his first French Open title.
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Andy Murray - Madrid 2016

Andy Murray, 2016 Madrid semi-finals, 7-5, 6-4. Murray owns two career clay-court victories over Nadal. Unsurprisingly, both have come in the high altitude and faster conditions of Madrid. These two injury-plagued stars have not faced each other since this 2016 Madrid match.
9/11

Pablo Cuevas - Rio de Janeiro 2016

Pablo Cuevas, 2016 Rio de Janeiro semi-finals, 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 6-4. Nadal’s 2016 campaign was a tumultuous one. It started poorly with a loss to Fernando Verdasco in round one of the Australian Open and continued on the Golden Swing with an even worse loss to Cuevas.
10/11

Dominic Thiem - Buenos Aires 2016

Dominic Thiem, 2016 Buenos Aires semi-finals, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4). In between the setbacks against Verdasco and Cuevas, Nadal fell to Thiem in Buenos Aires. It marked the Austrian’s first-ever victory in this head-to-head series, which now stands at 9-5 in Nadal’s favor.
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Djokovic Nadal - Roland-Garros 2015

Djokovic Nadal - Roland-Garros 2015