Rafael Nadal gets his own asteroid

Rafael Nadal has been honoured a week after his epic Wimbledon victory over Roger Federer by having an asteroid named after him.

"The Rafael Nadal" asteroid, previously known as 128036, is of four kilometers in diameter and travels through space at a speed of 20 km per second.

It is located between Mars and Jupiter, although much closer to the former, the Astronomical Observatory of Majorca, which discovered the planetoid in 2003, said in a press release.


A recently discovered asteroid has been named after Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal, who won his first Wimbledon title earlier this month with a stirring victory in the final over five-time defending champion Roger Federer, EFE news agency reported Sunday.

The 22-year-old Nadal has already been informed of the honour and has been invited by the observatory to visit its installations in the small town of Costitx, the statement said.

(source The age)