The signing of Rafael Nadal for Saudi Arabia has revolutionized the world of sports. The tennis player has agreed to be an ambassador for the Saudi Arabian Tennis Federation and will open a headquarters for his academy in the country. An agreement that moves businessman and financier Nadal, guidelines that he seems to be following now that his tour on the slopes is coming to an end.
This businessman Nadal is taking away the athlete’s prominence, and currently the Mallorcan can boast of having a juicy business portfolio in his hands. The Rafa Nadal brand is powerful and attractive, and that is why the tennis player has taken another step: opening a hotel on Madrid’s Gran Vía.
A project that the Manacorí will carry out together with Meliá, as revealed by the president of the hotel group in an interview with the newspaper Expansión; and plans to expand to other parts of the planet such as Punta Cana or Tossa de Mar.
As Vanitatis explains, the hotel project in the capital will be part of Zel, the brand that Meliá launched together with the tennis player in 2023. A business venture in which both are 50/50 and that will compete directly with the hotel that the Pestana group and Cristiano Ronaldo inaugurated in 2021 on the famous Madrid road.
Rafael Nadal thus cements his position as a businessman and investor, which has brought him many more benefits over the years than holding a racket. The Mallorcan tennis player has businesses in all types of sectors – his training academy, renewable energies and now, tourism -; which he controls through his various companies, helped by his parents, Sebastià Nadal and Ana María Parera.
His best-known company, Mabel Capital – of which he owns a third part, along with two other partners – has assets in several countries and is oriented towards customer service, investing in luxurious real estate developments (the tennis player is the owner, for example , from the most exclusive building in Spain, located in Plaza Villa de París in Madrid; or from the production company in charge of festivals such as Mad Cool or Netflix productions such as Soy Georgina.
The tennis player has privileged partners, being the Matute and Escarrer families (owner of Meliá) with whom he has done the most business. It is precisely with the latter that Zel has started, which aims to build more than twenty hotels around the world in just five years. The first to get started was Zel Mallorca, and last December they presented the project in Madrid.
Nadal thus strengthens his position as a leading businessman and investor, more than prepared to leave the courts at any time he deems necessary. Everything indicates that it will be a smooth transition, since so far and with a fortune that is estimated at over 135 million euros, Nadal has managed to safeguard his earnings and make his investments profitable.
