A list of Rafael Nadal’s defeats on clay. Can you name the players who have beaten him on the red dirt?

Tennis Features
Rafael Nadal wipes his face

Diego Schwartzman joined a very unique club at the Italian Open as he became only the 24th player to beat Rafael Nadal in an ATP Tour-level match on the red dirt.

Nadal is not known as the King of Clay for nothing as he has a 91.5% success rate on the surface. Of the 479 matches he has played on the red dirt, he has won an astonishing 436 matches, winning 59 titles, with the defeat against Schwartzman only his 40th loss.

It was a case of 10th time lucky for Schwartzman as he had lost his previous nine encounters against Nadal, but he finally tasted success with a 6-2, 7-5 win in the quarter-final in Rome.

The Argentine is only the 10th active player to have achieved the feat with the others being Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Fernando Verdasco, Fabio Fognini, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Dominic Thiem, Pablo Cuevas and Stefanos Tsitispas.

World No 1 Djokovic has the best head-to-head record against the 12-time Roland Garros champion on clay as he has beaten him seven times with the first coming in Madrid in 2011 and the last one in Rome in 2016.

Newly-crowned US Open champion Thiem has four wins over Nadal with Fognini and Gaston Gaudio three while David Ferrer, Federer and Murray two each.

There are 17 players who have claimed one win over the Spaniard on clay with Olivier Rochus from Belgium the first player to do so when he beat Nadal in two sets in Mallorca in 2002 and Schwartzman joined that list on Saturday.

The other 15 players are Guillermo Coria, Alex Corretja, Nicolas Lapentti, Fernando Gonzalez, Carlos Moya, Olivier Mutis, Igor Andreev, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Robin Soderling, Verdasco, Horacio Zeballos, Nicolas Almagro, Stan Wawrinka, Cuevas and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Full list of Nadal’s 40 defeats on clay:
1. Olivier Rochus d. Rafael Nadal (WC) 6-2, 6-2 Mallorca 2002
2. Guillermo Coria d. Rafael Nadal (Q) 7-6(3), 6-2 Monte Carlo 2003
3. Alex Corretja (8) d. Rafael Nadal (WC) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 Barcelona 2003
4. Gaston Gaudio d. Rafael Nadal (Q) 6-2, 6-2 Hamburg 2003
5. Nicolas Lapentti (6) d. Rafael Nadal 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(6) Bastad 2003
6. Fernando Gonzalez (6) d. Rafael Nadal 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 Stuttgart 2003
7. Carlos Moya (1) d. Rafael Nadal (6) 6-4, 6-4 Umag 2003
8. Gaston Gaudio (2) d. Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-3 Bastad 2004
9. David Ferrer (11) d. Rafael Nadal (14) 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-5 Stuttgart 2004
10. Olivier Mutis d. Rafael Nadal (6) 6-3, 6-3 Palermo 2004
11. Gaston Gaudio (2) d. Rafael Nadal (7) 0-6, 6-0, 6-1 Buenos Aires 2005
12. Igor Andreev (7) d. Rafael Nadal (3) 7-5, 6-2 Valencia 2005
13. Roger Federer (1) d. Rafael Nadal (2) 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 Hamburg 2007
14. Juan Carlos Ferrero d. Rafael Nadal (2) 7-5, 6-1 Rome 2008
15. Roger Federer (2) d. Rafael Nadal (1) 6-4, 6-4 Madrid 2009
16. Robin Soderling (23) d. Rafael Nadal (1) 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(2) Roland Garros 2009
17. Novak Djokovic (2) d. Rafael Nadal (1) 7-5, 6-4 Madrid 2011
18. Novak Djokovic (2) d. Rafael Nadal (1) 6-4, 6-4 Rome 2011
19. Fernando Verdasco (15) d. Rafael Nadal (2) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 Madrid 2012
20. Horacio Zeballos d. Rafael Nadal (1) 6-7(2), 7-6(6), 6-4 Vina del Mar 2013
21. Novak Djokovic (1) d. Rafael Nadal (3) 6-2, 7-6(1) Monte Carlo 2013
22. David Ferrer (6) d. Rafael Nadal (1) 7-6(1), 6-4 Monte Carlo 2014
23. Nicolas Almagro (6) d. Rafael Nadal (1) 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 Barcelona 2014
24. Novak Djokovic (2) d. Rafael Nadal (1) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 Rome 2014
25. Fabio Fognini (4) d. Rafael Nadal (1) 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 Rio de Janeiro 2015
26. Novak Djokovic (1) d. Rafael Nadal (3) 6-3, 6-3 Monte Carlo 2015
27. Fabio Fognini (13) d. Rafael Nadal (2) 6-4, 7-6(6) Barcelona 2015
28. Andy Murray (2) d. Rafael Nadal (3) 6-3, 6-2 Madrid 2015
29. Stan Wawrinka (8) d. Rafael Nadal (4) 7-6(7), 6-2 Rome 2015
30. Novak Djokovic (1) d. Rafael Nadal (6) 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 Roland Garros 2015
31. Dominic Thiem (5) d. Rafael Nadal (1) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4) Buenos Aires 2016
32. Pablo Cuevas d. Rafael Nadal (1) 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 6-4 Rio de Janeiro 2016
33. Andy Murray (2) d. Rafael Nadal (5) 7-5, 6-4 Madrid 2016
34. Novak Djokovic (1) d. Rafael Nadal (5) 7-5, 7-6(4) Rome 2016
35. Dominic Thiem (8) d. Rafael Nadal (4) 6-4, 6-3 Rome 2017
36. Dominic Thiem (5) d. Rafael Nadal (1) 7-5, 6-3 Madrid 2018
37. Fabio Fognini (13) d. Rafael Nadal (2) 6-4, 6-2 Monte Carlo 2019
38. Dominic Thiem (3) d. Rafael Nadal (1) 6-4, 6-4 Barcelona 2019
39. Stefanos Tsitsipas (8) d. Rafael Nadal (2) 6-4, 2-6 6-3 Madrid 2019
40. Diego Schwartzman (8) d. Rafael Nadal (2) 6-2, 7-5 Rome 2020

*Stats correct until September 20, 2020

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