Nadal founded a tennis academy in 2016 with the aim of nurturing young tennis talent. While financial gain may not have been his primary motivation, the project has proven to be quite lucrative.

According to EuroWeeklyNews, the Spanish star recently sold about 45% of the tennis academy in Manacor to an investment group called GPF. It is reported that the deal allowed Nadal to make a huge profit of about $103 million.

The former world No. 1's business is not limited to tennis academies, he is also expanding his business through his own holding company, Aspemir. Although Nadal sold a majority stake in the academy, he will retain partial ownership, while GPF will now control about 45% of the academy's assets.

A few years ago, the Nadal Tennis Academy may not have been as well-known, but in just a few years, it has made a significant contribution to the tennis world. The idea of the college was born about 10 years ago and was officially inaugurated in October 2016.

It is a modern tennis academy with 23 hard courts (19 outdoor and 4 indoor) and 20 clay courts (13 outdoor and 7 semi-indoor). In addition, the college has a sports medicine center and an international school, and it hosts annual challenges.

The academy is mainly run by Nadal's uncle, Tony Nadal, while former professional player Carlos Moya served as technical director. It is a popular place for many professional players to prepare for matches, including Swiatek, Serena Williams and Nadal himself.

The academy has also produced a number of outstanding players, including Ruud, who has reached three Grand Slam finals, and Munar, who is currently ranked in the top 100 in the world, who recently defeated Ben Shelton at the Dallas Open. In addition, young talents such as Scherbia, Kornieeva, Eyara and Martin Landalusse have all trained at this academy and successfully transitioned to professional tennis.

In 2020, Nadal opened another tennis academy at the Sheikh Jaber Abdullah Al-Jaber International Tennis Centre in Kuwait. However, the deal only concerns the flagship academy in Mallorca. In addition, the 22-time Grand Slam champion also promised that he will help establish a new tennis academy in Saudi Arabia as part of his agreement to become an ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation.

Recently, Nadal spoke about his fierce rivalry with Djokovic and Federer. The three modern tennis legends have dominated the world tennis scene for the past 20 years, winning 66 of the 85 Grand Slam titles since Federer won his first Wimbledon title in 2003.

On Monday night, Nadal received a "special trophy" at the 77th annual ceremony of Mundo Deportivo. The great player was honored for his illustrious career just three months after retiring. At the event, he was asked who the toughest opponent of his career was, but he couldn't choose between two of his greatest opponents. In an interview with Express.co.uk, he said: "I would say Djokovic and Federer, it's really hard to choose. My career is intimately tied to them, and the three of us push each other to be stronger. ”

Indeed, every duel between Nadal, Djokovic and Federer is an uphill battle in which tennis skills and fitness are pushed to the limit. Nadal admits that the injuries they each suffered late in their careers (which Djokovic still struggles with to this day) are the result of a long rivalry.

Interestingly, the only player who has held a leading record against Nadal in more than 10 times against Nadal is Russia's former ATP world number three Davydenko. In their eleven meetings, Davydenko leads 6-5 and wins the last four between 2009 and 2011.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Spark)