French Open 2013 Champion and Winner Rafael Nadal

Congrats to the French Open 2013 champion Rafael Nadal. The top Spanish player beat fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 to claim his 12th Grand Slam championship trophy.

TWELVE GRAND SLAM TITLES

* French Open 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013; Wimbledon 2008, 2010; U.S. Open 2010; Australian Open 2009

* Became first man since Swede Mats Wilander in 1982 to win the French Open title on debut with a four-set victory over Argentine Mariano Puerta in June 2005.

* A year later won his second French Open title with victory over Roger Federer in the final.

* In 2007, became first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win hat-trick of French Open titles.

* The following year matched Borg’s record of four successive French Open titles (1978 to 1981) to make it 28 wins from 28 at Roland Garros.

* Later in 2008 beat then world number one and defending champion Federer to win his first Wimbledon title. The final is widely considered by pundits as the greatest tennis match of all time. Nadal became the first Spanish man to triumph at the grasscourt major since Manuel Santana in 1966.

* In 2009 beat Federer in the final in Melbourne to become the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open in another classic five-set showdown.

* Was beaten in the French Open for the first time when he lost to Robin Soderling in the fourth round in 2009. It was his first defeat after winning 31 successive matches at Roland Garros.

* Became only the second man after Borg to win five French Open titles when he regained his Roland Garros crown in 2010, beating Soderling in the final.

* His fifth French Open title came without the loss of a set and he became the first man to complete the “clay slam”, winning the big four clay tournaments in the same season.

* In 2010, he also won Wimbledon for the second time. He finished the year by winning his first U.S. Open title, becoming the seventh man to win all four grand slam titles.

* In 2011 he won his sixth French Open title, equalling the record set by Borg.

* From 2008 to 2011 he won seven out of seven grand slam finals that he contested but this run came to an end against Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2011. The Serbian went on to beat Nadal in the final of the U.S. Open that year and the Australian Open at the start of 2012.

* He ended world number one Djokovic’s hopes of holding all four grand slam titles at the same time by winning his seventh French Open title at Roland Garros 2012, winning 6-4 6-3 2-6 7-5.

* He became the first man with eight titles at the same grand slam tournament when he beat fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in Sunday’s French Open final.