Rafael Nadal is all set to miss out on the US Open this year, but in the 2010s decade, he proved to be the most dominant player in the last Grand Slam of the tennis season. The 22-time Majors champion won in 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2019. In 2019, one point of significance was the prize money he earned, a record $3.85 million. When Nadal won for the first time in 2010, he had beaten Djokovic in the final and took home a cool $1.7 million.
Novak Djokovic topped Nadal’s 2010 effort with a victory of his own in 2011 and it was the same story when he won in 2018, a year after Nadal won in 2017. The US Open increased its prize money every year in that decade, which made the 2019 edition a significant one in the Grand Slam’s history.
How the Spanish legend created a 2019 record which will take years to break
Rafael Nadal prepped up well for the US Open 2019 with his 5th Masters title win in Canada. However, he was expected to be challenged by upcoming youngsters and more so, Novak Djokovic who was the defending champion and the top seed who had won the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles that year.
Nadal started off in style, beating Australia’s John Millman in straight sets in Round 1. He got a bye in Round 2 while he also did not face much trouble in overcoming South Korea’s Chung Hyeon in Round 3. His first major challenge came up against the 2014 champion, Marin Cilic in Round 4. But Nadal was very much up for it and won despite losing the second set.
However, in an incredible twist in the tale, Djokovic retired in between his Round of 16 match against Stan Wawrinka due to a shoulder injury. That seemed to have given Nadal much-needed confidence and made him the favourite as the Spaniard defeated Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman in the quarterfinals. After Djokovic, Federer followed him at the exit door in the quarterfinals as Grigor Dimitrov proved to be the giant-killer on the day with a 5-set win.
Nadal was the oldest amongst the last 4 remaining. Yet there was no letup on the big semifinal day as he cruised through with a straight sets win again, against Italy’s Matteo Berrettini on that instance. With Daniil Medvedev beating Grigor Dimitrov in the other semi-final, it was all set to be an intense clash between generations in the finale.
Typically as seen of Rafael Nadal over the years, he gave it his complete power and energy in the first set by winning 7-5 and carried the momentum into the second, with a 6-3 win. But Medvedev has a reputation of being a hard court specialist, having clinched the Cincinnati Masters title too, prior to the US Open. He levelled up things with a 7-5 win of his own in the third set, as he upped the ante with his speed of his shots and serves as well as frequency of coming to the net. While the Russian bagged the fourth set, 6-4 as well to set up a one-set shootout.
However, in the fifth set, Nadal broke Medvedev twice which proved to be enough despite being broken himself once and squandering 2 match points. The Spaniard won 6-4 to clinch his 19th Grand Slam title, in the year which happened to be 2019 and his 4th US Open major. With the victory, he not only inched closer to the World No.1 ranking again but earned a then record $3.85 million. It proved to be $50,000 more than what Djokovic bagged for being the champion in 2018.
With the US Open 2023 prize money for the men’s singles champion being $3 million, it could take the entire 2020s decade before Nadal’s feat could be replicated. Nadal’s $3.85 million is the most won by any player in any Grand Slam played in the Open Era.
Rafael Nadal vs Novak Djokovic head to head and prize money earnings
In terms of prize money, currently it is Novak Djokovic who rules the roost with $171 million to his name. It is the most for any men’s singles player ever. Rafael Nadal comes second at $135 million.
Nadal has a record 14 French Open titles, while Djokovic happens to be the second best ever with 3 of them at Roland Garros. He also leads the US Open tally 4-3. However, the Serbian makes up for that with a whopping 10 Australian Open titles and 7 Wimbledon titles. On the other hand, the Spanish champion has 2 majors each in Melbourne and London.
On head-to-head, Djokovic leads narrowly 30-29. Remarkably, both the players have won 20 matches against each other, with Nadal doing on clay out of their 28 matches while Djokovic achieving the same on hard courts out of 27 matches. While on grass, they are level at 2-2. In Grand Slams, Nadal leads 11-7 while in overall finals, Djokovic has the upper hand just about at 15-13.
