Since then, the 39-year-old has been keeping busy in a number of different ways. Despite always being an avid golfer, even during his tennis playing days, the Spaniard has ramped up his time on the greens since hanging up his racket. Nadal claims he only plays for fun, yet he’s devoted more and more time to the golf course while also watching plenty of the sport on TV since his retirement. And he admits that has been much to his wife Maria Francisca Perello’s bemusement.

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He confessed during a charity tournament in Madrid earlier this month: “I follow golf every week and my wife suffers because of it. I watched [former PGA world No 1 and two-time major winner] Jon Rahm play this week in Riyadh; he had a spectacular finish to the round and almost won. I generally enjoy following it.”

The tennis icon, who presented his new charity golf circuit Spin and Swing in Mallorca last week, also revealed he had received wildcard offers in the past to play in professional events but tennis always came first. The money collected at his event was directed towards the Rafael Nadal Foundation as he emphasised the initiative is connected to his great love for golf.

The King of Clay said: “I’ve been offered an invitation several times but so far the circumstances haven’t been right. You never know in the future but I would have to feel like I was playing without making a fool of myself and with the hope of at least being able to compete, even if it’s just against myself.”

He has already participated in several smaller golf tournaments and managed to win one of the amateur events in which 74 golfers participated. Despite underplaying his own ability, he claimed the Balearic Mid-Amateur Championship by seven strokes in February 2024.

Nadal even played a few rounds with his long-time rival and fellow legend Roger Federer at the Pula Golf Resort in Mallorca in July 2025. And he failed to rule out a Big Four reunion on the golf course in the future, given Andy Murray also plays.

He told The Telegraph in an interview last year: “Yes, it could happen but they have to get training. I have a bit of an advantage in that. On the tennis court, there wasn’t that much difference between us but in this I’m much better than them.”

We may see more and more of Nadal’s golfing prowess in the near future as he swaps one passion for another, though his growing obsession with golf means his wife’s suffering is unlikely to end any time soon.