South American clay court season

Following 222 days injured, Nadal returned to the tennis court on February 5 at the Chile Open. He played both single and double-events and reached the final in both tournaments.^[2] At the double-event he partnered up with the Argentine Juan Mónaco.

The next event for Nadal was the Brasil Open. He again played both the singles and doubles events, in which he partnered up with David Nalbandian who also was his opponent in the final of the singles event. Nadal managed to overcome Nalbandian to win his first title in 2013.^[3]

Two weeks later Nadal played the Mexico Open, where he beat David Ferrer in the final to win his second title in a row.^[4] Following the Golden Swing Nadal confirmed his participation for the hardcourt event BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in the USA taking place from March 4 to March 18.

Indian Wells

In Indian Wells Nadal received a Bye in the first round. In the second round he faced Ryan Harrison and managed to beat him in straight sets. Nadal was drawn to face Leonardo Mayer next, but Mayer withdrew from the tournament due to an injury. Nadal's next opponent was Ernests Gulbis who was on a thirteen match winning streak before Nadal defeated him in three tight sets to reach the quarterfinals where he played against his long-time rival Roger Federer. Nadal was able to overcome Federer in two sets. In the semifinals he played the World No. 6 Tomáš Berdych and managed again to win in two sets, which helped him to reach the final for the fourth time in his career. His opponent was Juan Martín del Potro who had previously beaten world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. Nadal defeated del Potro in three sets, winning his record-breaking twenty-second ATP Masters 1000 event and his third Indian Wells title.^[5][6] Nadal subsequently withdrew from the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami in order to rest and prepare for the clay court season.

European Clay Court Season

At Monte-Carlo Nadal reached his ninth straight final but lost in two sets to Djokovic.^[7][8] He won in Barcelona in straight sets and then won the Madrid title for a record-breaking 23rd Masters 1000 title, before extending the record to 24 with three top 6 wins in a row against Ferrer, Berdych, and then Federer in an easy two set victory at the 2013 Rome Masters.^[9][10][11] Nadal capped off his streak with a ninth straight final this year at the 2013 French Open, defeating Djokovic in an epic match that finished 9–7 in the fifth set. Nadal won the first set and led in the second by a break, but Djokovic then took four straight games to win the set. Nadal responded by dominating the third and led twice by a break in the fourth, but Djokovic broke back on both occasions. As a result, Nadal failed to serve out the match and faltered in the subsequent tiebreak. The momentum seemed to be with Djokovic, who broke at the beginning of the fifth and led 4–2 before Nadal made an impressive comeback. The match was reminiscent of their 2012 encounter at the Australian Open final. This time the match time was 4:37. In the final Nadal thrashed an in-form Ferrer in straight sets, breaking his own record and winning an unprecedented 8th French Open Championship.^[12]

During the European clay season, Nadal earned a total of 5,100 points, making it (as of 2023) its most successful year in his entire career.^[13]

Grass Court Season

Nadal withdrew from Halle and played at Wimbledon. He was on a 22 match winning streak, when for the first time in his career, he lost a first round match at a Grand Slam, losing in three sets to lower-ranked Steve Darcis of Belgium. Many people speculated that this was the end of the year for Nadal, who was limping and visibly uncomfortable in his match.

American Hard Court Season

Nadal took a break after Wimbledon. He regained his form in Montreal, destroying dangerous server Jerzy Janowicz in the first round. He then put up a strong performance to beat No.1 Djokovic on the hard courts during the semifinal, beating him in the tie-breaker in the final set. He defeated Milos Raonic in the final in straight sets to win his third title in Montreal and a record 25th masters title. Nadal broke his own record yet again and won his 26th ATP Masters 1000 in Cincinnati Masters, beating Benjamin Becker, Dimitrov, Federer in the QF, Tomas Berdych, and finally John Isner in the final on Sunday 18 August.^[14] Nadal entered the final Major of the year having missed the previous edition last year due to injury. Cruising through the first three rounds, he defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber in 4 sets in the 4th round, and then reached the final in winning the rest of matches in straight sets. In the final, Nadal yet again faced Djokovic. This was their 6th meeting in a Major final. Rafa took the first set, Novak took the second. But Rafa then gained momentum and won the next two sets to win the title. Thus Rafael Nadal won his second US Open Championship, and his 13th Major overall, putting him third on the all-time list behind Federer (17) and Sampras (14). He became the 3rd player after Patrick Rafter and Andy Roddick to win the Summer Slam (Won Canada, Cincinnati, and the US Open in the same year). He remained undefeated so far on Hard Courts in 2013.

Asian Fall & Indoor Hard Court Season

At the China Open Nadal returned to the No.1 ranking by reaching the final. He had a noteworthy comeback in the quarter-finals against Fabio Fognini, where he fought back from a set and break down to secure the victory. In the final he lost to Djokovic in two sets. Nadal was defeated at the Shanghai Masters by del Potro in the semi-finals. Nadal's final tournament of the year before the World Tour Finals was at the Paris Masters. In Paris, Nadal reached the semifinals where he was defeated by compatriot David Ferrer for the first time in their last 10 head-to-head meeting. At the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Nadal was unbeaten (3–0) in round robin play and by winning his first 2 matches sealed the Year End ATP World No. 1 Ranking in the process. In the semifinals Nadal faced long time rival Roger Federer, and recorded his first indoor win against the Swiss at the ATP World Tour Finals in straight sets. In the final he faced Novak Djokovic but lost in straight sets.

Singles matches

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponent	Rank	Result	Score
Chile Open Viña del Mar, Chile ATP World Tour 250 Clay, outdoor February 4–10, 2013	–	1R	Bye
	1 / 706	2R	Federico Delbonis	122	Win	6–3, 6–2
	2 / 707	QF	Daniel Gimeno-Traver	60	Win	6–1, 6–4
	3 / 708	SF	Jérémy Chardy	25	Win	6–2, 6–2
	4 / 709	F	Horacio Zeballos	73	Loss (1)	7–6(7–2), 6–7(6–8), 4–6
Brasil Open São Paulo, Brazil ATP World Tour 250 Clay, indoor February 11–17, 2013	–	1R	Bye
	5 / 710	2R	João Souza	140	Win	6–3, 6–4
	6 / 711	QF	Carlos Berlocq	78	Win	3–6, 6–4, 6–4
	7 / 712	SF	Martín Alund	111	Win	6–3, 6–7(2–7), 6–1
	8 / 713	W	David Nalbandian	93	Win (1)	6–2, 6–3
Abierto Mexicano Telcel Acapulco, Mexico ATP World Tour 500 Clay, outdoor February 25– March 2, 2013	9 / 714	1R	Diego Schwartzman	157	Win	6–2, 6–2
	10 / 715	2R	Martín Alund	91	Win	6–0, 6–4
	11 / 716	QF	Leonardo Mayer	77	Win	6–1, 7–5
	12 / 717	SF	Nicolás Almagro	12	Win	7–5, 6–4
	13 / 718	W	David Ferrer	4	Win (2)	6–0, 6–2
BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, United States ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Hardcourt, outdoor March 7–17, 2013	–	1R	Bye
	14 / 719	2R	Ryan Harrison	73	Win	7–6(7–3), 6–2
	–	3R	Leonardo Mayer	64	Walkover	N/A
	15 / 720	4R	Ernests Gulbis	67	Win	4–6, 6–4, 7–5
	16 / 721	QF	Roger Federer	2	Win	6–4, 6–2
	17 / 722	SF	Tomáš Berdych	6	Win	6–4, 7–5
	18 / 723	W	Juan Martín del Potro	7	Win (3)	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Monte Carlo, Monaco ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Clay, outdoor April 14–21, 2013	–	1R	Bye
	19 / 724	2R	Marinko Matosevic	54	Win	6–1, 6–2
	20 / 725	3R	Philipp Kohlschreiber	21	Win	6–2, 6–4
	21 / 726	QF	Grigor Dimitrov	34	Win	6–2, 2–6, 6–4
	22 / 727	SF	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	8	Win	6–3, 7–6(7–3)
	23 / 728	F	Novak Djokovic	1	Loss (2)	2–6, 6–7(1–7)
Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell Barcelona, Spain ATP World Tour 500 Clay, outdoor April 22–28, 2013	–	1R	Bye
	24 / 729	2R	Carlos Berlocq	63	Win	6–4, 6–2
	25 / 730	3R	Benoît Paire	33	Win	7–6(7–2), 6–2
	26 / 731	QF	Albert Ramos	64	Win	6–3, 6–0
	27 / 732	SF	Milos Raonic	13	Win	6–4, 6–0
	28 / 733	W	Nicolás Almagro	12	Win (4)	6–4, 6–3
Mutua Madrid Open Madrid, Spain ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Clay, outdoor May 5–12, 2013	–	1R	Bye
	29 / 734	2R	Benoît Paire	37	Win	6–3, 6–4
	30 / 735	3R	Mikhail Youzhny	31	Win	6–2, 6–3
	31 / 736	QF	David Ferrer	4	Win	4–6, 7–6(7–3), 6–0
	32 / 737	SF	Pablo Andújar	113	Win	6–0, 6–4
	33 / 738	W	Stanislas Wawrinka	15	Win (5)	6–2, 6–4
Internazionali BNL d'Italia Rome, Italy ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Clay, outdoor May 12–19, 2013	–	1R	Bye
	34 / 739	2R	Fabio Fognini	25	Win	6–1, 6–3
	35 / 740	3R	Ernests Gulbis	46	Win	1–6, 7–5, 6–4
	36 / 741	QF	David Ferrer	4	Win	6–4, 4–6, 6–2
	37 / 742	SF	Tomáš Berdych	6	Win	6–2, 6–4
	38 / 743	W	Roger Federer	3	Win (6)	6–1, 6–3
French Open Paris, France Grand Slam tournament Clay, outdoor May 26– June 9, 2013	39 / 744	1R	Daniel Brands	59	Win	4–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–4, 6–3
	40 / 745	2R	Martin Kližan	35	Win	4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 6–3
	41 / 746	3R	Fabio Fognini	29	Win	7–6(7–5), 6–4, 6–4
	42 / 747	4R	Kei Nishikori	15	Win	6–4, 6–1, 6–3
	43 / 748	QF	Stanislas Wawrinka	10	Win	6–2, 6–3, 6–1
	44 / 749	SF	Novak Djokovic	1	Win	6–4, 3–6, 6–1, 6–7(3–7), 9–7
	45 / 750	W	David Ferrer	5	Win (7)	6–3, 6–2, 6–3
Wimbledon Championships London, United Kingdom Grand Slam tournament Grass, outdoor June 24– July 7, 2013	46 / 751	1R	Steve Darcis	135	Loss	6–7(4–7), 6–7(8–10), 4–6
Rogers Cup Montreal, Canada ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Hardcourt, outdoor August 5–11, 2013	–	1R	Bye
	47 / 752	2R	Jesse Levine	132	Win	6–2, 6–0
	48 / 753	3R	Jerzy Janowicz	18	Win	7–6(8–6), 6–4
	49 / 754	QF	Marinko Matosevic	74	Win	6–2, 6–4
	50 / 755	SF	Novak Djokovic	1	Win	6–4, 3–6, 7–6(7–2)
	51 / 756	W	Milos Raonic	13	Win (8)	6–2, 6–2
Western & Southern Open Cincinnati, United States ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Hardcourt, outdoor August 11–18, 2013	–	1R	Bye
	52 / 757	2R	Benjamin Becker	100	Win	6–2, 6–2
	53 / 758	3R	Grigor Dimitrov	29	Win	6–2, 5–7, 6–2
	54 / 759	QF	Roger Federer	5	Win	5–7, 6–4, 6–3
	55 / 760	SF	Tomas Berdych	6	Win	7–5, 7–6(7–4)
	56 / 761	W	John Isner	22	Win (9)	7–6(10–8), 7–6(7–3)
US Open New York City, United States Grand Slam tournament Hardcourt, outdoor August 26– September 9, 2013	57 / 762	1R	Ryan Harrison	97	Win	6–4, 6–2, 6–2
	58 / 763	2R	Rogerio Dutra Silva	134	Win	6–2, 6–1, 6–0
	59 / 764	3R	Ivan Dodig	38	Win	6–4, 6–3, 6–3
	60 / 765	4R	Philipp Kohlschreiber	25	Win	6–7(4–7), 6–4, 6–3, 6–1
	61 / 766	QF	Tommy Robredo	22	Win	6–0, 6–2, 6–2
	62 / 767	SF	Richard Gasquet	9	Win	6–4, 7–6(7–1), 6–2
	63 / 768	W	Novak Djokovic	1	Win (10)	6–2, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1
Davis Cup World Group Playoffs: Spain vs Ukraine Madrid, Spain Davis Cup Clay, outdoor September 13–15, 2013	64 / 769	RR2	Sergiy Stakhovsky	92	Win	6–0, 6–0, 6–4
China Open Beijing, China ATP World Tour 500 Hardcourt, outdoor September 30– October 6, 2013	65 / 770	1R	Santiago Giraldo	87	Win	6–2, 6–4
	66 / 771	2R	Philipp Kohlschreiber	25	Win	6–4, 7–6(7–3)
	67 / 772	QF	Fabio Fognini	19	Win	2–6, 6–4, 6–1
	68 / 773	SF	Tomas Berdych	5	Win	4–2 ret.
	69 / 774	F	Novak Djokovic	1	Loss (3)	3–6, 4–6
Shanghai Rolex Masters Shanghai, China ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Hardcourt, outdoor October 6–13, 2013	–	1R	Bye
	70 / 775	2R	Alexandr Dolgopolov	34	Win	6–3, 6–2
	71 / 776	3R	Carlos Berlocq	44	Win	6–1, 7–6(7–5)
	72 / 777	QF	Stanislas Wawrinka	8	Win	7–6(12–10), 6–1
	73 / 778	SF	Juan Martín del Potro	5	Loss	2–6, 4–6
BNP Paribas Masters Paris, France ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Hardcourt, indoor October 28 – November 3, 2013	–	1R	Bye
	74 / 779	2R	Marcel Granollers	39	Win	7–5, 7–5
	75 / 780	3R	Jerzy Janowicz	14	Win	7–5, 6–4
	76 / 781	QF	Richard Gasquet	10	Win	6–4, 6–1
	77 / 782	SF	David Ferrer	3	Loss	3–6, 5–7
ATP World Tour Finals London, United Kingdom ATP World Tour Finals Hardcourt, indoor November 4–11, 2013	78 / 783	RR	David Ferrer	3	Win	6–3, 6–2
	79 / 784	RR	Stanislas Wawrinka	8	Win	7–6(7–5), 7–6(8–6)
	80 / 785	RR	Tomas Berdych	6	Win	6–4, 1–6, 6–3
	81 / 786	SF	Roger Federer	7	Win	7–5, 6–3
	82 / 787	F	Novak Djokovic	2	Loss (4)	3–6, 4–6

Doubles matches

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponents	Ranks	Result	Score
Chile Open Viña del Mar, Chile ATP World Tour 250 Clay, outdoor 4–11 February 2013 Partner: Juan Mónaco	1 / 158	1R	František Čermák Lukáš Dlouhý	35 57	Win	6–3, 6–2
	2 / 159	QF	Guillaume Rufin Filippo Volandri	899 170	Win	6–2, 7–6 (7–4)
	3 / 160	SF	Carlos Berlocq Leonardo Mayer	112 221	Win	6–3, 6–4
	4 / 161	F	Paolo Lorenzi Potito Starace	454 84	Loss (1)	2–6, 4–6
Brasil Open São Paulo, Brazil ATP World Tour 250 Clay, indoor 11–17 February 2013 Partner: David Nalbandian	5 / 162	1R	Pablo Andújar Guillermo García-López	99 294	Win	6–3, 3–6, [11–9]
	–	QF	Oliver Marach Horacio Zeballos	52 73	Withdrew	N/A
Rogers Cup Montreal, Canada ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Hardcourt, outdoor 5–11 August 2013 Partner: Pablo Andujar	6 / 163	1R	David Ferrer Feliciano López	349 146	Win	6–7(2–7), 6–1, [12–10]
	–	2R	Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi Jean-Julien Rojer	13 14	Withdrew	N/A
Davis Cup World Group Playoffs: Spain vs Ukraine Madrid, Spain Davis Cup Clay, outdoor 13–15 September 2013 Partner: Marc López	7 / 164	RR3	Denys Molchanov Sergiy Stakhovsky	205 163	Win	6–2, 6–7(6–8), 6–3, 6–4

Singles schedule

Nadal's 2013 singles tournament schedule is as follows:

¹ The symbol (i) = indoors means that the respective tournament will be held indoors.

² The ATP numbers between brackets = non-countable tournaments.

³ Since Rafael Nadal withdrew from the Swiss open in the final part of the season this tournament became countable and the points were eligible for rankings.

Head-to-head matchups

Ordered by number of wins

Finals

Singles: 14 (10–4)

Category Grand Slam (2–0) ATP World Tour Finals (0–1) ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (5–1) ATP World Tour 500 (2–1) ATP World Tour 250 (1–1)

Titles by surface Hard (4–2) Clay (6–2) Grass (0–0)

Titles by conditions Outdoors (9–3) Indoors (1–1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	22.	10 February 2013	Chile Open, Viña del Mar, Chile	Clay	Horacio Zeballos	7–6(7–2), 6–7(6–8), 4–6
Winner	51.	17 February 2013	Brasil Open, São Paulo, Brazil (2)	Clay (i)	David Nalbandian	6–2, 6–3
Winner	52.	2 March 2013	Abierto Mexicano TELCEL, Acapulco, Mexico (2)	Clay	David Ferrer	6–0, 6–2
Winner	53.	17 March 2013	BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, USA (3)	Hard	Juan Martín del Potro	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	23.	20 April 2013	Monte-Carlo Masters, Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Novak Djokovic	2–6, 6–7(1–7)
Winner	54.	28 April 2013	Barcelona Open, Barcelona, Spain (8)	Clay	Nicolás Almagro	6–4, 6–3
Winner	55.	12 May 2013	Mutua Madrid Open, Madrid, Spain (3)	Clay	Stanislas Wawrinka	6–2, 6–4
Winner	56.	19 May 2013	Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Rome, Italy (7)	Clay	Roger Federer	6–1, 6–3
Winner	57.	9 June 2013	French Open, Paris, France (8)	Clay	David Ferrer	6–3, 6–2, 6–3
Winner	58.	11 August 2013	Rogers Cup, Montreal, Canada (3)	Hard	Milos Raonic	6–2, 6–2
Winner	59.	18 August 2013	Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati, USA	Hard	John Isner	7–6(10–8), 7–6(7–3)
Winner	60.	9 September 2013	US Open, New York City, USA (2)	Hard	Novak Djokovic	6–2, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	24.	6 October 2013	China Open, Beijing, China	Hard	Novak Djokovic	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	25.	11 November 2013	ATP World Tour Finals, London, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Novak Djokovic	3–6, 4–6

Exhibition matches

Rafael Nadal took part in the annual BNP Paribas Showdown, where he faced Juan Martín del Potro in a rematch of their 2009 US Open semi-final.^[15] Nadal was defeated in straight sets.^[16]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Lost	1.	March 4, 2013	BNP Paribas Showdown, Manhattan, New York	Hard	Juan Martín del Potro	6–7(4–7), 4–6
Winner	1.	November 17, 2013	Nadal vs Ferrer, Lima, Peru	Clay	David Ferrer	7–5, 6–4
Lost	2.	November 20, 2013	Massu's retirement, Santiago, Chile	Hard	Novak Djokovic	6–7, 4–6
Lost	3.	November 21, 2013	Nalbandian's retirement, Cordoba, Argentina	Hard	David Nalbandian	4–6, 6–7
Winner	2.	November 23, 2013	Nalbandian's retirement, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Hard	David Nalbandian	6–3, 6–4
Winner	3.	November 24, 2013	Argentina exhibition, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Hard	Novak Djokovic	6–4, 7–5

Earnings

• Bold font denotes tournament win

^[18]