Rafael Nadal is a big fan of Real Madrid, and his uncle, Toni Nadal, says he could become the club's Director of Football after his retirement.
Nadal devastated millions of tennis fans worldwide last week by announcing his retirement from professional tennis. His final appearance will be representing Spain alongside Carlos Alcaraz at the Davis Cup Finals held in Malaga next month.
Spain will play the Netherlands in the quarterfinal. Unsurprisingly, there is unprecedented demand for what could be Nadal's final match, leading to tickets being resold at crazy prices above €30,000.
Although the 22-time Grand Slam champion has been struggling with constant physical issues in the last two years, officially not having Nadal on the ATP Tour will be strange and might take fans time to get used to.
Nadal's great rival and friend, Roger Federer, says the Spaniard's retirement, Novak Djokovic not winning a Grand Slam in 2024, and Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz's emergence mean a changing of the guard is happening.
That change in tennis means Nadal now needs to plan for the future. Many athletes find evolving away from professional sports challenging since they are used to the adrenaline of competing.
The Spaniard might ask Federer and Andy Murray how they managed. Murray, in particular, has spoken about not missing professional tennis as much as he expected after making his final appearance at the Olympics.
One area that Nadal might focus more on is his academy. Casper Ruud, who idolized the 14-time French Open champion, is one of the players who trained at the successful academy based in Mallorca, his home island.
Nadal's uncle and former coach, Toni Nadal, confirmed his nephew will likely focus more on his academy. However, he also mentioned a potential role few would have expected: director of Football at Real Madrid.
Despite the 38-year-old undoubtedly building strategic skills from all his matches over the years, someone with Nadal's profile would not usually be appointed to such a role, but Toni Nadal told Marca that the former No. 1 is unlikely to say no if the opportunity arises.
"If they offer him the position of director of Madrid, he will surely say yes. He likes football, but he doesn't understand why my team, which is Barça, touches it, passes it... He has his life focused, he has an academy and he will get more involved."
Of course, the title of a role is not the same at every club. Nadal could become the Director of Football but work more collaboratively with shared control than other men or women who hold the same title at other clubs.
Toni Nadal also admitted his nephew would have liked one more good season on clay after how much he dominated on that surface, but he remembers telling the tennis legend not to complain because he was still luckier than many others.
"Rafa would have liked to have another good season on clay and that means winning or, at least, performing at a good level. He has not retired as he would have liked. I always told him not to complain because life has treated us better than we expected."