“$100m Saudi money bought your happiness”- Rafael Nadal gets slapped with ‘Arab mogul’ title as his love for Spain backfires over recent Saudi deal

Nadal once again faces backlash for his recent Saudi deal.

“$100m Saudi money bought your happiness”- Rafael Nadal gets slapped with ‘Arab mogul’ title as his love for Spain backfires over recent Saudi deal

Rafael Nadal (Via English Jagran)

Saudi Arabia has been making strides in the world of sports. After their contributions to other sports like NBA, football, golf, etc., the Gulf Nation has turned their heads towards tennis. 

Trying to organize a few tournaments in their country, the nation has been having discussions with tennis organizations. Unfortunately, they faced a lot of backlash as many players did not want to play in Saudi due to their stereotypical reputation. However, with improvement in their nation, the country has been attracting a lot of attention to themselves by welcoming top tennis players as their ambassadors. 

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It was Ons Jabeur who was first chosen as a brand ambassador. Soon, the Gulf nation took in Rafael Nadal as its next ambassador, triggering a huge wave of reactions from the fans and fellow players. More and more of his interviews are surfacing on the internet and backfiring on him. 

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The Spaniard had recently said that it does not make sense to live in Spain from a tax standpoint, but he has to go out of love for his country. 

In another country, I would have double the money but be only half as happy. Money doesn't buy happiness.
Nadal had said in an interview in 2017 (H/T: The Statesman)

“$100m Saudi money bought your happiness, no?” tweeted a fan on X, trolling Nadal for being bought by Saudi money.

Rafael Nadal’s old statement got him in trouble with the fans online

Spanish star Rafael Nadal has always been a huge asset to his country and won many titles and medals for Spain. His love for his country exceeds the happiness that money can buy. The tax rates in Spain are high, but unlike other players like Novak Djokovic, who live in places like Monte Carlo, where the tax standpoint is not as high, Nadal remains in Spain out of love. 

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal (via Imago)

This statement from the Spaniard backfired as fans trolled the 37-year-old on X. It was a huge deal that Nadal had signed with Saudi Arabia to increase the knowledge of the sport among the many children of the Gulf nation. With a positive intent, he went on board, but not everyone believed his intention and felt that Saudi bought Nadal. 

As one of the top leaders of oil, Saudi is an immensely rich country and provides a huge sum of money for its ambassadors and representatives. Nadal is their latest addition, and the Spaniard hopes to do more with this collaboration. 

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