The number still stands untouched. On 19 May 2007, Rafael Nadal won his 81st consecutive match on clay, a semi-final victory over Lleyton Hewitt at the Hamburg Masters. The streak had begun 768 days earlier and spanned 13 titles across the European dirt, a feat no other man in the Open Era has matched on a single surface.
A bagel to end an era
The next afternoon, Roger Federer walked onto the Rothenbaum centre court. Nadal had beaten him five times on clay already that season. The Spaniard broke twice in the opening set, a sharp 6-2 statement that looked set to stretch the run to 82.
Federer answered by taking the second set by the same scoreline. Then, in the decider, the world No.1 produced something no one had seen. He held every service game and broke Nadal three times, closing with a 6-0 bagel set that remains the last time any player has blanked Nadal on clay.
Thirteen trophies in two years
The streak carried Nadal through three straight Monte Carlo titles, back-to-back Rome crowns, and his first two French Open victories. He played 209 sets of tennis across those 81 matches, including Davis Cup rubbers against Italy, and did not lose once.
His dominance on the surface would eventually stretch to 14 Roland-Garros titles and a career head-to-head lead over Federer on clay of 14 wins to just 2 losses. The Hamburg defeat was a pause, not a reversal.
Federer’s win fed brief hope that he might unseat Nadal at that year’s French Open. Nadal answered those whispers a few weeks later in Paris, reclaiming his crown in a four-set final, and returned to Hamburg the following year to collect the one clay Masters title that had eluded him. The record, set across two springs and three clay campaigns, holds its ground still.
