Rafael Nadal on hotels and life after tennis
Rafael Nadal interviews Tania Bryer for CNBC Meets.
CNBC
Rafael Nadal says he spent most of his tennis career living in hotels.
“This is what I’ve been doing for half my life, and I know what I like best,” he told CNBC. So it felt natural to open her own door.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner, who retired from competitive tennis in November 2024, opened his fourth hotel in the Canary Islands in Fuerteventura under his hospitality brand Zel Hotels, established in partnership with Meliá Hotels International in 2022.
The brand opened its first hotel, ZEL Mallorca, in 2023. This was followed by hotels in Costa Brava in Spain and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
“I’m not a guy who wakes up in the morning and doesn’t know what to do, and my goal was to keep going,” Nadal told Tania Bryer on “CNBC Meets,” which airs this week.
“Just as I have built a legacy on the field, now is the time to build a legacy off the field as well.”
“Just as I have built a legacy on the field, now is the time to build a legacy off the field.”
Rafael Nadal
Former tennis champion.
Mallorca-born Nadal added that people are starting to spend more money on experiences, making hospitality a growing area to invest in.
But he said building a brand was “difficult in the beginning” because the space is so competitive.
How did sports prepare Nadal for business life?
Rafael Nadal interviews Tania Bryer for CNBC Meets.
CNBC
Nadal, who has won a record 14 French Open titles and two Olympic golds, said the sport taught him “to tolerate disappointment, you learn to work as a team, you learn to accept that sometimes you lose, you have to manage victories because it doesn’t matter whether you win or not, you have to play the next day.”
Nadal talked about how he spent a year recovering from hip surgery, not knowing he would have to retire in 2023, and eventually retired.
“It wasn’t easy but when I realized that this was the end for me, it was a change in my life after doing pretty much the same thing my whole life but I was prepared for it and I was prepared to live the next chapter of my life.”
Tennis prize money dispute
BEIJING – AUGUST 17: Spain’s Rafael Nadal celebrates winning the gold medal against Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in the men’s singles gold medal tennis match held at the Olympic Green Tennis Center on Day 9 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 17, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Clive Brunskill | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
Many prominent tennis players, including Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka ended the boycott Last week, following negotiations with Wimbledon’s organizer, the All England Club, a protest was held regarding the prize money.
Wimbledon increased its prize money this year by 20% to £64.2 million ($85 million), the biggest annual increase ever. Players wanted the prize fund to be around £71 million, equivalent to around 16% of tournament revenue. More broadly, leading players have pressed for the Grand Slams to pay players 22% of their income by 2030.
Nadal said he saw both points of view, but urged his players to understand that tournament organizers “had to spend the whole year preparing for that week or two.”
“If you look at how much players earned 15 years ago and the amount of prize money they receive today, the average increase is well above the average for any business in this world,” he said.
Nadal added that players must come to a fixed agreement with the Grand Slams.
“Find a deal with that and stay with it and the Grand Slams commit to increasing the prize money by a percentage every year, fair enough for the players, fair enough for the tournament. Sign that deal for 10 years and we have 10 years of tranquility,” he added.
Why is Nadal investing in accommodation, training and sports?
Nadal’s business interests include hospitality, education and sports; Most of its investments are managed through the family holding company Aspemir.
Before Zel Hotels, Nadal opened the Rafa Nadal Academy for elite tennis coaching in Mallorca in 2016. This Academy has now grown into an international network of tennis academies and sports centers in countries such as Mexico, Greece, Kuwait, Hong Kong and the Dominican Republic.
“I think every day there are more and more people who have more knowledge that taking care of your body is now very important, so you invest in children’s education, their well-being and sports,” Nadal said.
Nadal sold 44.9 percent of the Academy to private investment company GPF Capital in 2025; This transaction took place for approximately 94 million euros, that is, around 107 million dollars. The deal left Nadal with a 55.1% stake and majority control.
“This is of course a lifelong project for me, it is very personal, but at the same time the company has grown over the last few years and we felt we needed some help to continue to grow and expand,” he said.
