Rafael Nadal made tennis history on Wednesday by becoming only the fourth player ever to win 1000 matches on the ATP Tour. Nadal reached the milestone by beating fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 in the second round of the Paris Masters.
Nadal is joined on the list by Jimmy Connors of the United States, Roger Federer of Switzerland, and Ivan Lendl, who represented Czechoslovakia and the United States. Connors won 1274 matches from 1970 to 1995. Federer has won 1242 matches since 1998, while Lendl won 1068 matches from 1978 to 1994.
The player who Nadal has beaten the most in his career is Novak Djokovic. Nadal has beaten Djokovic 27 times. However, one must also realize that Djokovic has beaten Nadal 29 times.
Nadal has beaten three other players 20 or more times. He is 26-6 against David Ferrer of Spain, 24-16 against Federer, and 20-4 against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
Nadal has beaten 15 other players 10 times or more. They are Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland (19 wins), Andy Murray of Great Britain, and Fernando Verdasco of Spain (17 wins each), Richard Gasquet of France (16 wins), Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany and Nicolas Almagro of Spain (15 wins), Gael Monfils of France (14 wins), Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria (13 wins), Fabio Fognini of Italy (12 wins), Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina and Kei Nishikori of Japan (11 wins), and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, and Paul Henri Mathieu of France (10 wins). Nadal is also undefeated in his career against Gasquet and Mathieu.
Nadal is seeded first at the Paris Masters with the absence of Djokovic. On Thursday, he will try and make it 1001 wins when he faces Jordan Thompson of Australia in the third round.
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