Tennis
Spain has produced a number of tennis champions, excelling in tournaments held on clay courts such as the Roland Garros tournament.
Besides that, Spain has also won the Davis Cup five times (2000, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011) and the Fed Cup five other times (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998)
Rafael Nadal is considered the greatest Spanish tennis player of all time. He has won the French Open for four consecutive times and altogether won seven Roland Garros titles surpassing Björn Borg's record of six French Open titles. After defeating then world number #1 Roger Federer, Nadal claimed the Wimbledon trophy and became only the second Spaniard to do so. He also won the 2009 Australian Open, the first male Spaniard to do so. In 2009, he became the first player ever to simultaneously hold Grand Slam titles on clay, grass, and hardcourt. In addition, Nadal is the Gold Medalist at 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. As of now he has won 11 grand slam trophies; constituting seven French Open titles, two Wimbledon titles, one US Open title and one Australian Open title.
Spain has produced several other world number one players such us Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in 1995 (also a 3 times French Open champion in 1989, 1994 and 1998 and 1994 US Open Champion), Carlos Moyá in 1999 (1998 French Open champion) and Juan Carlos Ferrero in 2003 (2003 French Open Champion).
Other Grand Slam champions include Manuel Santana (1961,1964 French Opens, 1966 Wimbledon and 1965 US Open), Sergi Bruguera (1993–1994 French Opens), Andrés Gimeno (1972 French Open), Conchita Martínez (1994 Wimbledon) and Albert Costa (2002 French Open).
Other notable top 10 players from Spain include #2 Àlex Corretja, #4 David Ferrer, #5 Tommy Robredo, #7 Juan Aguilera, #7 Emilio Sánchez, #7 Alberto Berasategui, #7 Fernando Verdasco, #10 Carlos Costa and #10 Félix Mantilla
Tournaments held in Spain on the men's tour every year include Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, Spain. The women have events in Madrid, Barcelona, and Marbella.
Read more about this topic: Sport In Spain
Famous quotes containing the word tennis:
“I know some of my self-worth comes from tennis, and it’s hard to think of doing something else where you know you’ll never be the best. Tennis players are rare creatures: where else in the world can you know that you’re the best? The definitiveness of it is the beauty of it, but it’s not all there is to life and I’m ready to explore the alternatives.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)
“The boneless quality of English conversation, which, so far as I have heard it, is all form and no content. Listening to Britons dining out is like watching people play first-class tennis with imaginary balls.”
—Margaret Halsey (b. 1910)
“Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)