Rafael Nadal has already been tipped to take on a new role in another sport less than two days after retiring from professional tennis.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion officially called time on his illustrious career as Spain crashed out of the Davis Cup on Tuesday.
Nadal’s uncle and former coach Toni has already looked ahead to the future and believes his nephew will accept a job at Real Madrid.
Nadal entered retirement as Spain lost their quarter-final tie to the Netherlands. The 38-year-old suffered defeat in his final match as Botic van de Zandschulp beat him in straight sets in their opening singles rubber.
Carlos Alcaraz kept Spain in it and won his own match but the Dutch team won the decisive doubles contest, sending Nadal into retirement shortly after the clock struck midnight.
While the former No. 1 gave plenty of advance notice for the end of his career, announcing his Davis Cup retirement in early October, he’s remained coy about his post-playing plans.
Although it’s something he’s rarely addressed Nadal has long been touted to become the next president of his beloved football team, Real Madrid FC. And his uncle Toni added fuel to the fire following his retirement as he admitted a position at the club would be perfect.
“I imagine that if he is offered the position of director of Madrid, he would be delighted,” the Mallorcan tennis coach told El Larguero.
However, he made an important distinction about a possible role for his nephew. Toni continued: “I haven’t said president. I think it’s because he is such a big fan of Real Madrid.
“I have experienced it with him in New York and Australia, in very important tournaments, getting up and making us get up in the early hours of the morning to go and watch the Madrid match.”
While Nadal’s uncle can picture him taking on a position at Real Madrid, it’s merely speculation.
“He really likes sport, especially football, so I think that of course he would like to be involved, but I don’t know. I am speaking without any more knowledge than my intuition,” he added.
But there’s one thing Toni is certain his nephew will do in retirement. “Now he will be calm for a while and then he will get involved with sport, I understand with complete certainty that, in one way or another, he will get more involved with his academies, he will get more involved with the Manacor academy, because he did it for a reason, it is his passion,” he said.
It remains to be seen whether Nadal gets involved with Real Madrid but last year, he admitted he would love to succeed Florentino Perez as president of his beloved football club.
“I think I’d like to. But there are a lot of things. Right now there’s nothing to say because we have the best possible president,” he told Movistar.
But he questioned whether he was the right man for the job. To meet the criteria for Real Madrid presidency, you must be a Spanish national, have been a member for 20 years and obtain a bank guarantee worth at least 15 per cent of the club’s budget.
Nadal added: “What I think today, I might not think tomorrow. There are lots of twists and turns in life. You have to know if you’re qualified to do this kind of thing. I’m quite realistic. I know my limitations.
“I don’t know if I’d be capable or not. Time will tell. I haven’t asked [Perez] about it. I think you [the media] get carried away. I don’t think I fulfil the requirements.”
