“In Saudi there is real potential,” Rafael Nadal joins the pro-Saudi tennis stars as he signs up to be the tennis ambassador for Saudi Tennis Federation
Rafael Nadal withdrew from the 2024 Australian Open owing to a muscle tear that he suffered in the Brisbane International.
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Rafael Nadal (Image via: Imago)
Saudi Arabia continues its vision of becoming one of the biggest sporting hubs in the world. They have now taken a major step in that direction by announcing Rafael Nadal as the ambassador of the Saudi Tennis Federation.
As expected, the news has come as a big surprise for the tennis world. The fans seem to be divided in opinions about the same.
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.Rafael Nadal said about his partnership with the Gulf nation.
Rafael Nadal was in Riyadh to mark the beginning of his role as Saudi Arabia’s ambassador and paid a visit to a tennis clinic in the city.
His duties as the ambassador of the Saudi Tennis Federation will include dedicating time in the kingdom to grow and promote the sport in Saudi Arabia and to promote Saudi Arabia’s growing interest in tennis across the globe.
He will also set up a new center of the Rafa Nadal Academy in Saudi Arabia for the same purpose, as announced by the Saudi Federation on Monday.
The Spaniard was supposed to feature in the Australian Open right now but due to the muscle tear that he suffered during his match against Jordan Thompson at the Brisbane International, he had to withdraw from the tournament.
It came as a major shock for his fans as Nadal made his comeback to the court at the Brisbane International after missing out on the entire 2023 season due to a hip injury. The fact that he got injured again is indeed heartbreaking.
Saudi Arabia intends to extend its “sportswashing” to the realm of tennis by appointing Rafael Nadal as an ambassador
Saudi Arabia has been widely criticized for “sportswashing” by fans as they are trying to take over and hamper the heritage of every sport that they can with the tons of money that they have to offer.
They are said to be doing this to improve their worldwide reputation and use sports as a means to increase tourism to the country.
They have already started LIV Golf to take on the PGA Tour, they offered players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, and Karim Benzema tons of money to play in the Saudi Pro League and they have even started to take over boxing by arranging flagship matches.
The recent match between former UFC champion Francis Ngannou and world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury that took place in Riyadh was a massive hit.
They now apparently have the intention to do the same with tennis. The Next Gen ATP Finals was held in Jeddah in 2023.
Recently, Riyadh also hosted an exhibition match between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka and Ons Jabeur. Appointing Rafael Nadal is a major move for their target.
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Rishab Dutta
(794 Articles Published)