Rafael Nadal

In 2007, this sportsman established the ‘Fundación Rafa Nadal’ with the objective of helping children and young adults. Apart from contributing to the development in his home town, he has also made it a point to visit India's Anantapur city, Andhra Pradesh.

He has assisted the ‘Vicente Ferrer Foundation’, in their 'Anantapur Educational Center project', and has also started a tennis academy for poor children, calling it the ‘Anantapur Sports Village’.

This player is known for his contribution to social and environmental causes, especially his participation in 'A Million Trees for the King' programme launched in Thailand, which was aimed at planting trees to commemorate King Bhumibol.

Rafael Nadal Parera was born to an entrepreneur Sebastián and his wife Ana María Parera, on June 3, 1986, in Manacor, Spain. He has a sibling, María Isabel, who is younger to him.

His uncles Miguel Ángel, and Toni were both professional sportsmen--while Miguel was a soccer player, Toni played tennis.

Rafael started playing tennis at the age of three, and by 1994, he had tasted victory at a regional tennis tournament for under-12 players.

Being trained under his uncle Toni, he learnt how to play with his left hand, despite being a right-hander.

By the age of twelve, he exceled in the game, and won several tournaments in his age group. By the time he was fifteen, he began playing professional tennis.

In 2002, the young boy participated in his first 'Association of Tennis Professionals' ('ATP') match, and emerged victorious against Ramón Delgado. With this victory, Nadal achieved the feat of becoming the ninth tennis player to win before sixteen years of age.

During 2003-2005, the talented young player beat Roger Federer in the 'Miami Masters' championship. In the same championship, he went on to become the youngest player since Boris Becker, to qualify to the third round.

In the same period, he participated in the 'Davis Cup', defeating Andy Roddick, 3-2, in the final and bringing home the 2004 trophy for Spain. On the clay court, he was victorious in 24 consecutive games, breaking the record of maximum consecutive wins, held by Andre Agassi.

Rafael also won championships like the 'Torneo Conde de Godó', Barcelona, 'Monte Carlo Masters', and 'Rome Masters'. However, his most important triumph came when he beat Argentinian player Mariano Puerta in the 'French Open' finals. The same year, in 2005, he also won a 'Grand Slam' championship, going up the world ranking to spot 3.

In 2006, he won several championships like the ‘Dubai Duty Free Men's Open’, ‘Masters Series Monte Carlo’, ‘Masters Series Internazionali BNL d'Italia’, defeating Roger Federer in all the finals.

In 2003, this spectacular tennis player was presented with the ‘ATP Newcomer of the Year Award’.

Two years later, in 2005, he was given the ‘Golden Bagel Award’, when he won eleven straight sets without conceding a single match. The same year, he won the ‘ATP Most Improved Player of the Year Award’.

In 2006, this sportsman was felicitated with the ‘Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year’.

Rafael was the recipient of the ‘Prince of Asturias Award for Sports’, the ‘ATP World Tour Champion trophy’, and ‘Best International Athlete ESPY Award’, in 2008.

From 2009-2010, this popular tennis player won the ‘Golden Bagel Award’ for the second time, the ‘Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award’, and the ‘BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year’.