Toni Nadal says Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova‘s activities outside of tennis mean they have earned more than his nephew Rafael Nadal, and he has no problem with that.
22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal will have to adjust to life outside tennis next month after he announced his retirement from professional tennis after November’s Davis Cup Finals.
Although nothing has been confirmed, many hope and believe Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz will renew their doubles partnership from the Olympics at the Davis Cup. Once his participation in the team event is over, the tennis legend begins the next stage of his life.
Nadal’s uncle and former coach, Toni, revealed that his nephew would accept if he were offered the role of Real Madrid’s Director of Football. The 38-year-old has supported the historic football club for many years.
Toni Nadal also expects Rafael to devote more time to his highly successful academy in Mallorca. Casper Ruud, who idolized the 14-time French Open champion as a junior, is among those to have trained at the academy.
Although he may have ideas, Nadal might consider asking other players how they coped after retiring. Andy Murray is surprised by how little he misses tennis after ending his career at the Olympics, meaning he could be a good source of advice.
Some top players in the men’s and women’s games probably adjusted to retirement quicker by already being involved in ventures outside the sport while still playing. That applies to Williams and Sharapova.
Williams began investing in companies while she was still competing and had gained some experience in the business world before cofounding Will Perform, a startup that creates products for topical pain relief and skin care.
Sharapova launched her own confectionary brand, Sugarpova, in 2012, which she sold off three years ago. Other ventures include investing in the sunscreen brand Supergoop.
Nadal has not gotten involved in entrepreneurship like Williams and Sharapova. His uncle Toni said, in an interview with Marca, that those two players deserve to make more money than him and that financial incentives never mattered as much to his nephew.
“My nephew never thought about how much money he earned in tournaments. I remember one year in Australia, he was partnered with Tommy Robredo and wanted to retire. Robredo said there was a lot of money and Rafael retired.”
“For some players like Alcaraz, Sinner, Rafa or Federer, it doesn’t matter because they already have a lot of income outside of tennis… Serena Williams and Sharapova earned more than Rafael and they deserved it because they generated it.”
Toni Nadal also made an interesting admission. He prefers women’s tennis because the points last longer, and does not watch anything in men’s tennis because the style of the modern game does not appeal to him.
“I prefer to watch women’s tennis rather than men’s because I don’t watch anything in men’s tennis. I like the points to last longer.”
Toni and Rafael Nadal share a similar view about men’s tennis since the former world No. 1 has previously spoken about the modern men’s game being too much about hard-hitting without much variety.
