Rafael Nadal lost the final of the Madrid Open to Roger Federer. This was the first time that Nadal had lost to Federer since the semifinals of the 2007 Tennis Masters Cup. By beating Lleyton Hewitt in the third round of French Open, Nadal set a record of 31 consecutive wins at Roland Garros, beating the previous record of 28 by Björn Borg. This run came to an end on 31 May 2009, when Nadal lost to eventual runner-up, Robin Söderling in the 4th round. This was Nadal's first and, until 2015, only loss at the French Open. After his surprise defeat
Rafael Nadal he defeated Mischa Zverev for the loss of just two games; Nadal began the Australian Open with straight-set wins over Florian Mayer and Marcos Baghdatis, before more difficult wins over Alexander Zverev and Gael Monfils, which set up his first quarterfinal berth at a Grand Slam since the 2015 French Open. Nadal defeated Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinal and semifinal, respectively (the latter lasting for five sets over five hours), to set up a final against Roger Federer, his first Grand Slam final since he won the 2014 French Open. Nadal went on to lose to Federer in