Across an illustrious two-decade-long career, Rafael Nadal has an unbelievable 91% win rate on clay. The Mutua Madrid Open is merely one of the many tournaments that the Spaniard has had success in. By lifting the Madrid Masters trophy a total of 5 times, the ‘Raging Bull’ was rewarded with a total of $4.24 million in prize money (without taxes and other deductions).
Despite having won the Madrid Open more times than any other player in history, Nadal has underperformed at Madrid, as per his standards. The Spaniard came out on top in 5 out of 8 final appearances. Additionally, among the 3 ATP Masters 1000 clay tournaments, i.e the Monte-Carlo Masters, Madrid Open and the Italian Open, the southpaw had the worst winning record (83%) in Madrid.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner won his first title at the Madrid Open in his very first final appearance. Going up against Ivan Ljubicic, Nadal clinched a 3–6, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4, 7–6 win in a five-set thriller. According to rafaelnadalfans.com, the King of Clay received $450,000 in prize money at the time.
Ending a 5-year drought, Nadal won the ATP 1000 tournament next in 2010. After defeating Roger Federer in straight sets, Rafa was rewarded with $724,988 in prize money.
Nadal would go on to win the tournament on 3 more occasions – 2013, 2014, and 2017 – defeating Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, and Dominic Thiem, respectively. As a result, a total amount of $3 million was presented to Rafa, per Perfect Tennis.
Here’s a complete list of the Rafael Nadal prize money winnings from each of his 5 title-winning years at the Madrid Open:-
2005 – $450,000
2010 – $724,988
2013 – $828,006
2014 – $1,099,974
2017 – $1,140,459
Total – $4,243,427
Rafael Nadal earnings in prize money for 2024
Due to the injuries he’s been battling, Rafael Nadal hasn’t played many tournaments this 2024 season. After losing the quarterfinal at the Brisbane International to Jordan Thompson, Nadal decided to skip the Australian Open 2024.
Nadal also withdrew from the Indian Wells Masters that was held in the second week of March. However, the legend was in action in a tournament he’s won 12 times – the Barcelona Open. Playing on the clay court surface after 681 days, Rafa won his opening round match against Flavio Cobolli. But the dream return was stopped by Alex de Minaur in the very next round.
Rafa’s two wins at the Brisbane International 2024 and the lone win at the Barcelona Open 2024 have resulted in him earning $39,829 as prize money so far. The Spaniard’s next assignment is the Madrid Masters and he is set to play Darwin Blanch in the first round on Wednesday, 24th April, 4 AM ET.
