Rafael Nadal secured its fourth Davis Cup victory, Nadal defeated Jan Hájek in the first Davis Cup dead rubber of his career. Nadal finished the year as No. 2 for the fourth time in five years. Nadal won the Golden Bagel Award for the third time in 2009, with nine 6–0 sets during the year. Nadal began the year by participating in the Capitala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi. In the final, Nadal defeated Robin Söderling in straight sets. Nadal participated in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open ATP 250 event in Doha, where he lost in the finals to Nikolay Davydenko. In
2016 Rafael Nadal tennis season 2016 Rafael Nadal tennis season The 2016 Rafael Nadal tennis season officially began on 4 January 2016 with the start of the 2016 Qatar Open. Nadal began his year at the Qatar Open. He faced compatriot Pablo Carreño Busta in the first round and managed a comeback by defeating him in three sets. He then defeated Robin Haase in straight sets but then required three sets to defeat Andrey Kuznetsov in the quarter-finals. Nadal then defeated Illya Marchenko in the semifinals in straight sets to advance to the final, where he faced Novak Djokovic for the title. Nadal was crushed,