2013 Rafael Nadal tennis season

The 2013 Rafael Nadal tennis season is regarded as one of the greatest comeback seasons of all time. After not playing since June of the previous year, his season began on February 5 with the Chile Open, where he finished as the runner-up. Nadal rebounded with title victories at São Paulo and Acapulco. He then won the first Masters event of the year at Indian Wells. Nadal next finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Monte-Carlo, breaking his consecutive win streak for the first time in nine years. He followed that with victories at Barcelona, Madrid, and Rome. At the French Open, he defeated Djokovic in an epic semifinal, before defeating David Ferrer to win his eighth French Open crown. He was then stunned by Steve Darcis in the first round of Wimbledon, in what would be his only defeat prior to the semifinals of a tournament all season. Limping in the final set of the match, many thought his season was over. However, a strong hardcourt summer saw Nadal sweep Montreal, Cincinnati, and then the US Open (def. Djokovic), thus achieving the Summer Slam and clinching the US Open Series. He became the third player in history, after Patrick Rafter and Andy Roddick, to win all three events in succession. This granted him US$3.6 million in prize money, the most money earned by a male tennis player at a single tournament. A few days after the US Open final, he flew to Madrid to help the Spanish Davis Cup team secure their World Group Playoff spot for 2014, with a singles victory against Sergiy Stakhovsky and a doubles victory with Marc López.