Rafael Nadal’s ‘personal investment’ compared to Pep Guardiola by Grand Slam winner
Rafael Nadal has been compared to legendary football coach Pep Guardiola for the “personal investment” he put into tennis.
Tennis icon Nadal, a winner of 22 Grand Slam singles titles, called time on his career at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga in November 2024.
The Spaniard 209 weeks atop the ATP Rankings, winning Olympic gold medals in singles and doubles and claiming a total of 92 ATP Tour singles titles.
With the 38-year-old no longer active on tour, many have questioned what Nadal could do next as he embraces life after tennis.
One option suggested by some is coaching, with many looking to see if Nadal will one day enter someone’s player box.
However, the former world No 1 already has experience working with junior players through his Rafa Nadal Academy, which is based in his home town of Manacor.
Speaking on RMC, former Wimbledon winner Marion Bartoli compared Nadal to Guardiola due to his evolving “passion” for the game.
And, the Frenchwoman said it would be interesting to see what approach Nadal would take – should he follow his fellow Spaniard in taking up coaching following a successful playing career.
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She said: “He has a passion for the game – it’s a bit like Pep Guardiola.
“He has pushed the personal investment slider so much on a daily basis, for his career, that he will be able to transmit that to the person he will coach.
“What will be interesting to see is if he will invest in his academy that he already has, where there are a lot of young people, to be in the training of a player who is 12, 13, 14 years old and bring him to the professional circuit.
“It’s a completely different job to take a player who has already won or who is already on the circuit and bring him even higher.”
Shortly after his retirement, Nadal went to visit Guardiola in Manchester, where the ex-footballer currently manages Manchester City.
“It was a pleasure to see him,” said Guardiola. “He’s an incredible athlete.
“We talked about sports, about how hard it is to stay at the top for so many years. Rafa is someone who loves sports, who wants to keep going, but his body couldn’t take it anymore. The same happens in football.”
Nadal’s final career match came in a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, with Spain ultimately losing their quarter-final encounter 2-1.
Since then, the 38-year-old has largely kept a low profile, though attended the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah as part of his work with the Saudi Tennis Federation.
Nadal won 1,080 matches across his legendary career, earning over $130m in on-court prize money.
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