What Federer, Serena, Graf, & Borg did in retirement – as Rafael Nadal ponders options

After winning 22 Grand Slam singles titles, two Olympic gold medals, and spending 2009 weeks as the world No 1, Rafael Nadal’s epic career came to a close in 2024.
The 38-year-old played for the final time at the Davis Cup Finals in November following a 21-year-long career which saw him become one of the most revered sporting figures of his generation.
Nadal has spent over half of his life playing professional tennis, and now faces a new challenge: what comes next?
Following Nadal’s farewell, we look at what four other tennis icons did post-retirement to see what pathways may be open for the Spaniard.
Serena Williams
Williams retired from tennis at the 2022 US Open, having won 23 Grand Slam singles titles and spending 319 weeks as the WTA world No 1.
The American great had pursued a range of business and sponsorship opportunities throughout her playing career and has continued to build on that post-retirement.
Williams has dedicated a large amount of her time to Serena Ventures, a venture capital fund she first launched in 2017 – helping to promote and support new businesses.
She also helped launch Will Perform, a company that creates medication for pain relief and muscle care, while acting as a producer for Nine Two Six Productions – which focuses on under-represented talent.
Williams was also the focus of the documentary In the Arena: Serena Williams, which she helped produce, while also welcoming her second child, a daughter named Adira, in 2023.
Roger Federer
Federer memorably retired from tennis after playing a doubles match alongside Nadal at the 2022 Laver Cup, after winning 20 Grand Slam titles and spending 310 weeks as ATP world No 1.
The Laver Cup was partly Federer’s brainchild to begin with and the Swiss has remained a key figure overseeing the event, appearing front and centre when the event was staged in Berlin in 2024.
Outside of the men’s team event, he maintains high-profile sponsorship arrangements with the likes of Rolex and Uniqlo, who he signed a 10-year $300m contract with back in 2018.
The 43-year-old has also spearheaded the Roger Federer Foundation, which has improved schooling and early education for close to three million children across six countries.
Much like Williams, Federer has also been subject to a documentary – with Federer: 12 Final Days released earlier this year.
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Steffi Graf
While Federer and Williams have maintained a high profile post-retirement, some tennis legends have largely shunned the limelight – with Graf the obvious example.
Graf remains one of the most successful players in WTA history, with a record 377 weeks as world No 1 to her name by the time she retired aged 30 in 1999 – alongside a haul of 22 major singles titles.
However, in the 25 years since she called time on her career, the German has remained largely a private figure, especially compared to fellow greats such as Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert.
Graf has dabbled in a few exhibition matches – often alongside her husband, Andre Agassi – and has a handful of sponsors, such as Longines.
But the 55-year-old has largely kept herself to herself in retirement, rarely making tournament appearances and focusing on her life alongside Agassi in Las Vegas.
Bjorn Borg
One of the biggest stars in tennis history and a true tennis trailblazer, tennis icon Borg was just 25 when he announced his shock retirement from tennis in 1981.
The Swede would later attempt an ill-fated comeback in the early 1990s, though the 11-time Grand Slam singles champion had had more time than most to pursue a post-tennis career.
Borg’s most famous retirement venture has been his eponymous fashion range, which he helped launch in 1989; the company reportedly generated over $64m in revenue in 2020.
Elsewhere, the Swede has maintained longstanding ties to sponsors such as Rolex, while he became the first Team Europe captain when the Laver Cup launched in 2017.
Borg has now relinquished that role and has been replaced by Yannick Noah, though could Nadal find himself back at the event in a captaincy role in the future?