(AP) – Rafael Nadal will serve as an ambassador for the Saudi Tennis Federation, part of a recent effort by the kingdom to make inroads into tennis and other sports. His new role, announced Monday, includes promoting tennis in Saudi Arabia and plans for a Rafa Nadal Academy there.
Everywhere you look in Saudi Arabia, you can see growth and progress and I’m excited to be part of that. I continue to play tennis as I love the game. But beyond playing I want to help the sport grow far and wide across the world and in Saudi there is real potential. The kids here today are looking to the future and have a real passion for all sports. If I can help them pick up a racquet or simply get fit and enjoy the benefits of healthy living, then I’ll be happy to have made a difference.
RAFA
It signals yet another step into tennis for the kingdom, which is hosting the men’s tour’s Next Gen ATP Finals for top 21-and-under players in Jedda through 2027. The women’s tour has been in talks to place its season-ending WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia.
Rights groups say women continue to face discrimination in most aspects of family life in the kingdom, and homosexuality is a major taboo, as it is in most of the rest of the Middle East.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has worked to get himself out of international isolation since the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. He also clearly wants to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy and reduce its reliance on oil.
Considering Saudi Arabia’s history of human rights violations and suggestions that they use sportswashing to conceal those issues, should Rafa decline a job worth millions and distance himself from it? Share your thoughts in the comments.
I think Rafa just saw it from the tennis perspective. As he is crazy about tennis, obviously, he thought it will be a good move for tennis, for the kids there etc. I am sure he did not mean to support the political regime there.
I agree… when I first heard of this I had to look at it from all angles…Look what Rafa has done for tennis around the world in very suppressive countries. His LOVE of sport is unmatched to the top tennis champions…. Rafa is working within the confines of the system, he can use to change from within the hearts & minds. Nole & Carlitos went to Saudi for an exhibition and haven’t heard condemning of that, with comments here. That was more for pure money not to really support kids to find a pathway to be able to learn and promote themselves, with opportunities to be able to leave and forge a new pathway in & out of Saudi…. Also where is all the talk of human rights in China… remember Peng Shuai? Her current whereabouts unknown. On January 8, 2024, Peng Shuai turned 38. Her whereabouts are unknown STILL… & the WTA is now going to have tournaments in China again for $$$$… what hypocrites, no talk of Peng Shuai etc this really saddens me…
Tennis works w/China then what about working with Saudi Arabia …
For the Love of Tennis & Humanity….
I am suspending judgment until I see how this works out. Rafa does have friends in Saudi Arabian tennis. He’s always played the Abu Dhabi exhibition. His new academy there will be for girls as well as boys. Change has to start somewhere, sometime.
I really love Rafa, but I can’t understand this decision. Think of the human rights etc….! I’m disappointed. I can’t believe.
After Rafa showed in 2022 that he has an opportunistic side, siding with what we now all know were totalitarian government measures, we can’t be surprised about his next money grab move. Please also note his current calendar events were surely planned months ahead. He never had the intention to play the AO. But for the movie they were shooting “another huge disappointment” fits the script. A lot of fakery.
I think you are not a true Rafa fan.
Considering Saudi Arabia’s history of human rights violations and the fact that they use sportswashing to conceal those issues, Rafa should distance himself from the Saudi regime and decline the “honour” of being their “tennis ambassador” .
Am a Huge Rafa fan!!!
Sadly, this is not an impressive or positive move on his part. Disappointed.
UGH!
I am henceforth deleting and not reading any replies to this topic that end up in my inbox. It’s 75% negative, at least.
It just leaves me depressed, shaking my head and thinking, why? Why would you do this?
I respect Rafa’s decision.
As a long time admirer of Nadal, I am shocked that he would promote this dangerous and corrupt regime. Nadal has until now been a wonderful sportsman, wise, generous and fun loving. This is cynical and profoundly disappointing. UGH!
As of lately, Nadal has been doing things that I never expected from him like bashing Djokovic saying various things like he was more impressed with Federer and that stats and wins don’t make you the best. It is obvious that Nadal is a sore loser and the only reason he is being kind to Federer is that Nadal has a winning record against Federer. He’s envious about Djokovic’s better record against him although Djokovic has been so respectful to him all these years. Nadal’s behavior has really turned me off and the whole Saudi thing is purely for money and publicity. This bull about wanting to grow tennis there and wanting to get kids to exercise is a joke from Nadal. How silly. Saudi can do that for their own people if they wanted to. Why promote a country that is not good to its people and uses money to get anything they want instead of integrity? Who wants to be part of that? Who wants to watch golf or tennis being played by someone who is making millions whether they win or lose? There is no prestige or honor or anything interesting about that. Nadal is now just like the Greg Norman of golf who was first loved and admired by the golf world but now despised and hated
for promoting Saudi and ruining golf. ALL FOR MONEY! This will surely happen to Nadals legacy as well! Unfortunately, we are starting to see Nadals true colors. Money talks. His family seems to have such a sweet image with his sweet son and Uncle Tony but I think the absence of God is finally making its mark. Uncle Tony is the one who actually pulled Rafa away from God after being raised Catholic and taught him to question everything. To have the huge success that Nadals had and never once give thanks to God is beyond me. I think this is his biggest and most important mistake in his life. It may be cute to watch him line up his water bottles or watch him take extra steps on the court but I think sadly he is searching for something to fill his heart. The Saudi deal will never do it. Publicity or another yacht won’t fill it. He will feel terrible when he comes to his senses and realizes that he turned his back on his fans and the tennis world. Life is so much more than the enormous amount of money one can rake in or the endless business deals you can conjure up. I just can’t understand or relate to Rafa Nadal anymore. I think without God, his thinking is going to be quite different. Praying for his change of heart.
Thanks for the novella, gifts.
I thought my posts were longwinded, meanderings that flew off at tangents but that above. Eeesht!
Righto, it’s been fun but I am outta here.
Byeeeeeeeeeeee.
Xxxx
No, no, no Rafa!
Rafa, just listen to your heart, don’t worry about what people are saying. Tennis education is for everyone. I am sure money is not the main reason for you to do this. You guys who against it, just be relax.
Does everyone include openly gay people?
Needless to say, there will be no relaxing where that is concerned. I speak for myself, no one else.
Extremely disappointed in this. Rafa had become, over the years, a kind of life coach for me with his balance and attitude. Now I am gutted that he would do this He should speak to his wife, his mother and his sister and ask them what they think of a country which routinely abuses women’s rights like Saudi Arabia. It is not too late for Rafa to admit he made a mistake and step out, return the money, pay a penalty whatever.
Agree entirely !
I agree as well. It’s very clear that an overwhelming majority of Rafa fans are horrified by this move. If so many Rafa fans feel this then ordinary tennis fans are going to be even more critical. It’s clear he is going to face a lot of criticism and bad press so I hope the pressure of this forces him to rethink and back out.
God knows what he and his PR team were thinking. He’s in real danger of tarnishing his legacy.
Do not ally yourself with a brutal regime, Rafa. There are plenty of other countries who need help with developing their tennis. Saudi Arabia has enough money to establish their own tennis programs.
They are using you for your unblemished reputation. Please don’t be fooled or bought by them. Judging by the other comments, you are disappointing and alienating your most loyal fans.
Please pull out of this terrible mistake.
Why didn’t you said the same when Djokovic went to Israel to open a tennis centre, play and promote the Jewish state a a civilised society? At least 25,000 unarmed Palestinians, mostly women, children and babies, have been intentionally murdered by Jews in Israel.
I would have had issue with that, had I known he was doing it.
I try to avoid even thinking about the man though, much less follow his goings on. He hurts my brain.
It’s also been made abundantly clear on here that my Djoko-bashing is over the top. I’m certainly not going on a Djokovic fan site and moaning about him. Like his fans do to Rafa on here.
At the end of the day, the topic is Saudi Arabia not Israel and Rafa’s choices, not Djokovic’s.
Gene, do you have an issue with Israelis or with Jews? Hmmm.
Martin,
You missed the point. This comment has Nothing to do with being against Jewish people. Genocide enacted on innocent citizens is not acceptable anywhere in the world.
Michele, that’s exactly what I’m thinking, too! You can’t imagine how much I’m disappointed!
They just use him, because he has a very good reputation.
No human rights, women are just nothing….. Why does Rafa support this?
By the way, Federer and Djokovic are the same guys who can’t get enough millions!
LGBT people are less than nothing, or more, depending how you look at it.
Death penalty. If it was the locals and not the state, the murder would be slow and inhumane, to put it plainly, tortured to death.
The human rights violations there are horrible. This is a personal issue as I would be executed.
Rafa’s business affairs are his business. you do not hear any stuff like that from Roger Federer’s business. so keep it shut and worry about your business! we support Rafa!
Roger doesn’t cozy up to despots for several million dollars, last time I checked.
Also, this topic is about the fans reaction.
I do not support this course of action.
That’s my business.
Rafa must have been taking bad advice from some financial advisor who doesn’t care as long as he gets his ten percent or whatever. Surely. I mean, jumping in to bed with the Saudi regime?!
Deary dear.
I absolutely refuse to believe that Rafa planned all this himself. Like woke up one morning then thought, I know, Saudi Arabia. The whole venture is just disgusting and unfortunately appears to be a huge case of tar and brush.
Carlos Costa is his agent and Benito Perez Barbadillo is his P.R. guy who would have carefully crafted the statement. Rafa had to sign off on it and he is the one who’s reputation has fallen drastically from it. Sad.
It is sad. Really sad. It has been said several times on this topic, how Rafa was like a role model. Not now though.
I replied to your post about the meeting between Roger and Rafa being more than a surprise visit.
It unfortunately got stuck in a response to someone else’s ranting.
Documentary film on Netflix about Rafa and Roger’s friendship and rivalry.
Can’t believe that I’m never going to watch Rafa play, ever again but it is what it is.
I refuse to love someone who is glaringly lacking in morality and ethics.
Rafa off late has been doing things that I wouldn’t have associated him with. Repeatedly bringing up Djokovic in interviews when there was no need to (saying things like Djokovic would be more frustrated if he did not have the most Slams).
And representing Saudi Arabia as an ambassador baffles me. Yes there’s loads of money, but at what cost?
Weird stuff going on.
I don’t care about the Djokovic comments but this is gross. He is making statements which amount to political endorsement of the MBS regime. MBS is unspeakably brutal.
Am appalled by Rafa. It’s all about money.
His reputation is going to suffer a massive hit.
Am a huge Rafa fan but absolutely appalled by this. I have got very angry with Rafa before e.g. When he took forever to say a,word about Ukraine. But this make me furious. It makes him look shallow and unprincipled.
Rafa, you are a beloved icon worldwide. You have stated that you want to increase your net worth. That’s fine as you have been a very charitable person but you have many other ways to achieve this goal. Please do not do it by associating yourself with brutality and suppression.🙏🏻
oppression
fantastic.
There are MANY other ways to help women throughout the world. PLEASE try another direction that will encourage & support young women in fitness & sport without seeming to embrace a very exist country.
Subway just threw a squillion dollars in your general direction. If you want to be filthy rich, go for it. At what cost though that isn’t measured in currency.
Your reputation will be in tatters.
Please Rafa. Don’t do it.