Rafael Nadal surpasses Pete Sampras's tally of 48 hardcourt finals on the ATP tour

20-time Major champion Rafael Nadal defeated Emil Ruusuvuori in comprehensive fashion during their semifinal clash in Melbourne on Saturday, winning 6-4, 7-5. With the straight-sets victory, Nadal reached the final of a hardcourt event for a whopping 49th time in his career - surpassing Pete Sampras's tally of 48.

Here is a breakdown of Rafael Nadal's 49 hardcourt finals on the ATP tour:-

Grand Slam - 10

ATP Masters 1000 - 19

ATP 500 - 10

ATP 250 - 7

ATP Finals - 2

Olympics - 1

It is pertinent to note that Rafael Nadal only made his seventh-ever hardcourt final in the ATP 250 format at the Melbourne Summer Set 2022 on Saturday. The Spaniard has not enjoyed much success at the 250-level tournaments on the surface. However, it must be kept in mind that he has hardly played many low-level hardcourt events in the last ten years in a bid to economize his career.

Rafael Nadal's numbers at ATP 500 hardcourt tournaments are relatively better as he has reached the championship match 10 times in his career. He shares this record with Andy Murray. Only Roger Federer (31) and Novak Djokovic (17) and Pete Sampras (13) have reached more finals in the format.*

*Note: ATP 500 and ATP International Gold Series tournaments have been considered as one format for tidier comparison

Rafael Nadal has reached 10 Major finals and 19 ATP Masters 1000 finals on hardcourts

Rafael Nadal is considered to be one of the best big-match players in the history of tennis. This is corroborated by his finals numbers at Grand Slams and ATP Masters 1000 tournaments played on hardcourts. Perhaps Nadal is not a mere "clay specialist" after all, which is something his detractors want fans to believe.

The Spaniard has played in 10 hardcourt Major finals in his career thus far, just as many as 8-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi. Only Novak Djokovic (18), Roger Federer (14), Pete Sampras (11) and Ivan Lendl (11) have contested more Major finals on the surface.

Rafael Nadal poses with the 2009 Australian Open trophy

Not only is the Spaniard one of the best hardcourt players at Majors (winning 4 US Open titles and 1 Australian Open title), he has done exceptionally well at ATP Masters 1000 tournaments on hardcourts as well. The former World No. 1 has reached 19 hardcourt Masters 1000 finals in his career.

Only Novak Djokovic (36) and Roger Federer (34) have played more Masters 1000 finals on the surface.**

**Note: ATP Masters 1000, ATP Masters Series and ATP Super 9 tournaments have been considered as one format for tidier comparison

Rafael Nadal has not fared too well at the year-ending championships. The Spaniard has made it to two championship matches at the ATP Finals (2010, 2013), and is yet to break his duck at the event.

Nadal also made it to and won the Olympic Gold medal match in 2008 when the tournament was still recognized by the ATP.

Here is the all-time list of the top 10 with the highest number of hardcourt finals on the ATP tour:

Roger Federer - 98

Novak Djokovic - 82

Andre Agassi - 69

Jimmy Connors - 56

Ivan Lendl - 54

Andy Murray - 53

Rafael Nadal - 49

Pete Sampras - 48

Stefan Edberg - 44

Michael Chang - 37

Also Check Out: Updated ATP Cup 2022 Results