Meet the active duo with a winning head-to-head record against Rafael Nadal

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Rafael Nadal.
Rafael Nadal.

Rafael Nadal is one of the most successful players of all time. With a career win-loss of 990-200, Nadal has the best success rate (83.2%) of any player to have played over 200 singles matches on the ATP tour.

The Spaniard became the first player to win an ATP title in 17 consecutive seasons after he beat American Taylor Fritz to lift the Acapulco Open trophy. The 19-time Grand Slam champion is also the all-time title (35) and match-win leader (384) in the history of the Masters 1000 series.

Among some of his more prominent records in the sport, Nadal is the first player to win a 'La Decima', a feat he achieved when he captured his 10th title at the 2017 Monte Carlo Masters. The Spaniard has the record for most finals (12), most titles (11) and most consecutive titles (8) at a tournament - all at Monte Carlo.

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During the course of his illustrious career, Nadal has faced 285 different opponents, with 202 of them never managing a win against the Spaniard. Miomir Kecmanovic and Soon-woo Kwon are the two latest players to cross swords with Nadal (2020 Acapulco Open) and come up second-best.

On that note, let us meet the only two active players with a winning head-to-head record against Nadal.

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#1 Novak Djokovic (29-26)

 Novak Djokovic.
Novak Djokovic.

Trailing in the head-to-head for vast swathes of their rivalry, having lost five of the pair's first six meetings, Novak Djokovic has turned things around in dramatic fashion over the last few years.

Djokovic's 55 matches against the Spaniard is a record for most meetings between two players on the ATP tour. The Serb has dealt the most final heartbreaks on Nadal, beating the Spaniard in 15 of the pair's 25 tournament title matches. This tally includes four defeats in Grand Slam finals and six in Masters 1000 finals.

Nadal has just three wins over Djokovic in the pair's last 13 matches, and has not beaten the Serb in 10 matches outside clay since the 2013 US Open final.

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#2 Dustin Brown (Germany)

Dustin Brown
Dustin Brown

Dustin Brown is the only other player (apart from Alex Corretja, who is now retired) to have played Nadal multiple times and emerged victorious on each occasion.

The German journeyman won both of his meetings against the left-handed Spaniard on grass. He dropped a total of one set during victories in the opening round at Halle in 2014 and in the second round at Wimbledon 2015.

Brown is one of only four players - Roger Federer, Gilles Muller and Novak Djokovic being the others - to have beaten Nadal multiple times on grass. He is also one of six players never to have lost against the Spaniard.

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