Rafael Nadal expands Zel Hotels brand, discusses business legacy and tennis prize money

Rafael Nadal says he spent most of his tennis career living out of hotels.

"That's what I did during half of my life, and I know what I like the most," he told CNBC. So opening his own felt natural.

The 22-time Grand Slam winner, who retired from competitive tennis in November 2024, just opened his fourth hotel in the Canary Islands in Fuerteventura under his hospitality brand Zel Hotels, founded in 2022 in partnership with Meliá Hotels International.

The brand opened its first hotel, ZEL Mallorca, in 2023. Hotels in Costa Brava in Spain and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic followed.

"I am not the kind of guy that likes to wake up in the morning and don't know what to do, and my goal was to keep going," Nadal told Tania Bryer for "CNBC Meets," to be released later this week.

"In the same way I built a legacy on the court, now is the moment to build a legacy outside of the court."

Mallorca-born Nadal added that people had started spending more on experiences, making hospitality a burgeoning area to invest in.

But he said that building a brand was "a challenge in the beginning," as the space is so competitive.

How sports prepared Nadal for business

Nadal, who won a record 14 French Open titles and Olympic gold twice, said sports taught him "to tolerate the frustration, you learn to work as a team, you learn to accept that sometimes you lose, you need to manage the victories, because it doesn't matter if you win, you have to play the next day."

Nadal described how he spent a year recovering from hip surgery in 2023, not knowing he would have to retire, which he ultimately did.

"It was not easy, but then when I knew that it was the end for me, it was a change in my life after doing almost the same thing all my life, but I was prepared for it, and I was prepared to have the next chapter in my life."

The tennis prize money dispute

Several leading tennis players, including Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka, ended a boycott of a protest over prize money last week, after talks with the All England Club, the organizers of Wimbledon.

Wimbledon has increased its prize money by 20% this year to £64.2 million ($85 million), its largest annual increase ever. Players wanted the prize fund to be about £71 million, equivalent to roughly 16% of tournament revenue. More broadly, leading players have pushed for Grand Slams to pay players 22% of revenues by 2030.

Nadal said that he saw both points of view but urged players to understand that, while they turn up and play, tournament organizers "need to invest the whole year on preparing that week, or that two weeks."

"If you see how much the players were getting 15 years ago, and the amount of prize money that they are getting today, you see that the average increasing is way over the average of any job in this world," he said.

Nadal added that the players need to reach a fixed deal with the Grand Slams.

"Find a deal with that, and you stay with that, and the Grand Slams commit that they have to increase the prize money a percentage per year, fair enough for the players, fair enough for the tournament.. sign this deal for 10 years, so we have 10 years of calm," he added.

Why Nadal is investing in hospitality, education, sports

Nadal's business interests span hospitality, education, and sports, with many of his investments managed through his family holding company, Aspemir.

Before Zel Hotels, Nadal opened the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca in 2016 for elite tennis coaching, which has now grown into an international network of tennis academies and sports centers in countries including Mexico, Greece, Kuwait, Hong Kong, and the Dominican Republic.

"I think every day you have more and more people with more information that taking care of your body is super important now, so investing in education for kids, investing in well-being, and in sports," Nadal said.

In 2025, Nadal sold 44.9% of the Academy to the private investment firm GPF Capital, a transaction worth approximately 94 million euros, around $107 million. The deal left Nadal with a 55.1% stake and majority control.

"This is something that, of course, is a lifetime project for me, very personal, but at the same time, the company has grown over the last couple of years, and we felt that we needed some help to keep growing and to keep expanding," he said.