Rafael Nadal – Net Worth, Money and More
NET WORTH: $10 billion
PROFESSION: Professional Tennis Player
The beautiful country of Spain most famously known as a tourist hub is not exactly what you would call, a sporting powerhouse. The Spanish football team did bring the country to spotlight when they won the 2008 Euro Football Championship. After that the football team went on to win the 2010 FIFA world Cup and the Euro Football Championship again in 2012. If that wasn’t enough, the Spanish football team was awarded the Team of the Year award in Laureus World Sports Awards. But much before the Spanish Football team could put its stamp on the sporting world there was one Spaniard who was doing his part very efficiently. His name is RAFAEL NADAL.
LET’S GET TO KNOW HIM
Rafael “Rafa” Nadal Parera, simply known as Rafael Nadal certainly needs no introduction. Known for his aggressive style of play and strong forehand shots, with a stocky and well built muscular body he certainly is a towering figure in the world of tennis. Born on 3 June 1986 in Manacor, Spain he currently holds the No.1 position in World ATP singles ranking. Widely regarded by many as the single greatest tennis player of all time Rafael Nadal has won 13 Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, a record 26 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and a record 14 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments. In 2010, he became the seventh player in history and youngest of four in the Open Era to achieve the Career Grand Slam. Nadal also holds the record for being one of the only two players in history who have won at least two Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces—hard court, grass, and clay. In 2013, Nadal became the only male player to win a single Grand Slam tournament eight times and the first to win at least one Grand Slam tournament for nine consecutive years, breaking the record of eight consecutive years previously shared by Pete Sampras, Björn Borg, and Roger Federer. He later came to be referred as the KING OF THE CLAY because of his unprecedented success on the clay court.
CERTAINLY NOT AN AVERAGE CHILD
Recognizing his talent in tennis, Nadal’s uncle Toni Nadal encouraged him to pursue tennis as a career. At the age of 12 not only was Rafael Nadal a talented football player but he could play forehand shots with both of his hands. He went on to win many Spanish and European tennis tournaments in his age group.
Nadal came into limelight when the front page of newspapers all around the world carried a news that Roger Federer had been beaten by a 17 year old kid named Rafael Nadal and became the youngest man to reach the third round at Wimbledon since Boris Becker. At the age of 18, he helped Spain defeat US in the junior Davis Cup in his second, and final, appearance on the ITF junior circuit. When he was 19, Nadal in his debut appearance at the French Open won the tournament, a feat that had not been accomplished in Paris for more than 20 years. He eventually went on to win it the first four times he played at Roland Garros. In 2003, he was awarded ATP Newcomer of the Year Award. Early in his career, Nadal came to be known for his peculiar tradition of biting the trophies that he won.
MONEY, MONEY AND MORE MONEY!
Rafael Nadal is currently worth 70 million USD. It is no surprise that eventually big bucks would catch up to his success on the tennis court. In the all time richest tennis players, Rafael Nadal ranks 6th. Below are his career earnings as compiled by The Richest.com
| YEAR | ANNUAL TENNIS EARNINGS | SPONSORSHIPS AND ENDORSEMENT DEALS | ANNUAL EARNINGS |
| 2006 | $ 3,740,000 | —— | N/A |
| 2007 | $ 5, 640,000 | —— | N/A |
| 2008 | $ 6, 770,000 | —— | N/A |
| 2009 | $ 6,460,000 | —— | N/A |
| 2010 | $10,170,000 | —— | N/A |
| 2011 | $7,660,000 | —— | $31.5 MILLION |
| 2012 | $8,200,000 | $25,000,000 | $33.2 MILLION |
| 2013 | $5,400,000 | $21,000,000 | $26 MILLION |
Nadal’s immense popularity meant that his earnings were not limited to his salary from tennis. Nadal soon started signing many endorsement deals with major brands such as Nike, Babolat, Kia Motors, Richard Mille and Bacardi. In 2011, Nadal replaced Cristiano Ronaldo as the new face of Emporio Armani Underwear and Armani Jeans for the spring/summer collection. This was the first time the label chose a tennis player for the job as prior to this it had largely been associated with players from association football or soccer. His huge earnings certainly allowed Rafael Nadal to enjoy the finer things in life. In March 2012, Rafael Nadal purchased a luxury villa for $ 2 million in the Dominican Republic. Nadal also has a collection of two luxury cars – an Aston Martin DBS: Sports Edition and a red colored Mercedes-Benz SL55.
Nadal kept climbing up the popularity ladder when he featured in Shakira’s music video for the song gypsy and in December 2012, the CBS hit reality TV show The Amazing Race did a Roadblock that paid homage to Nadal where teams had to return 20 tennis balls inbounds on a clay court while teams were racing in his native town of Mallorca during season 21. If this wasn’t enough there is also a main belt asteroid named after him called 128036 Rafaelnadal.
PERSONAL LIFE AND PHILANTHROPY
Nadal’s personal life isn’t as interesting as his professional life. He is one of the many few sports celebrities how have managed to avoid controversies in their personal life. A self-proclaimed agnostic Nadal lived with his parents and younger sister Maria Isabel in a five-story apartment building in their hometown of Manacor, Mallorca. In August 2011, he released his autobiography, Rafa written with the assistance of John Carlin.
Rafael Nadal makes sure he gives back to the society. In 2010 Nadal took part in Thailand’s “A Million Trees for the King” project, planting a tree in honour of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on a visit to Hua Hin during his Thailand Open 2010. He founded the Fundación Rafa Nadal in November 2007, and it was officialy presented in February 2008, at the Manacor Tennis Club in Mallorca, Spain. The foundation mainly focuses on social work and development aid particularly on childhood and youth. On 16 October 2010, Nadal traveled to India for the first time to assist in the transformation of one of the poorest and most needy areas of India, Andhra Pradesh. He has an academy at Anantapur Sports Village, in the Anantapur City, Andhra Pradesh. His foundation has also worked in the Anantapur Educational Center project, in collaboration with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation.
STILL GOING STRONG
Rafael Nadal is currently ranked No.1 in men’s tennis rankings. After the 2013 Australian Open Nadal for a brief period of time was dropped out of the ATP’s Top Four for the first time since 2005. After a much fluctuating form in 2013 and winning the 2013 French Open and US open, in November 2013 Nadal played his final event of the season in London at the 2013 ATP World Tour Finals where he secured the year end World Number One spot.
The 2014 Tennis season saw Nadal losing to Stanislaw Wawrinka in the Austrlian Open finals.
