We are only two months into 2022 and Rafael Nadal has already captured three tennis titles.
Nadal started his year with a win at the Melbourne Summer Set. Then, he captured career Grand Slam No. 21 at the Australian Open, which also broke the record for most Grand Slam titles for a man in the Open Era.
Saturday marked Nadal’s fourth Mexican Open title. He now has three tournament titles in 2022, a good sign for the Spaniard with the French Open just three months away.
Nadal won Saturday with a commanding 6-4, 6-4 win over British player Cameron Norrie. Nadal previously beat world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals.
Winning the Mexican Open is quite the achievement for Nadal, especially considering he only played in seven tournaments last year due to mid-season foot injury. The last time he played before January was in early August 2021.
With this win, the the 35-year-old has 91 career ATP titles to his name. He remains in second place for most ATP titles behind Roger Federer, who has 103. Nadal is currently 15-0 this year. That marks his best record to start a season in his career.
The last time Nadal won at least three hard court titles in one year was in 2013, and he ended up winning 10 total titles that year.