The interior saloon in Rafael Nadal’s custom yacht (Image: Katarzyna Seliga-Wróblewska and Marcin Wróblewski/Fotomohito)
As Rafael Nadal’s career winds down, he will soon be able to turn his attention to his his off-court hobbies. The Spaniard will still be connected to tennis through his multiple Rafa Nadal Academies but he will also have more downtime to enjoy another one of his favourite things – his yacht. Nadal bought the ‘Great White’ for his birthday in 2020, a custom model full of personal touches, including TVs to watch the tennis.
Nadal hails from Mallorca and still resides there so it’s no surprise that a luxury yacht is a perfect addition to his life on the Balearic Island. According to Forbes, the 22-time Grand Slam champion spent £5 million ($6.2 million) on the 80 Sunreef Power catamaran, a present to himself when he turned 34.
The Spaniard was heavily involved in designing the interiors with nearly 4,000 square feet to work with. There are four guest cabins, with enough space to sleep eight guests, and an owner’s suite with a walk-in dressing room, a private fold-down balcony and a flip-down ceiling TV above the double bed – one of five massive screens in the yacht.
The saloon features two more 77-inch TVs installed back-to-back, as well as an eight-person dining space. There’s another alfresco dining area at the stern with a weatherproof TV and a fifth pop-up screen resides in the flybridge, complete with a bar, barbecue and sun loungers.
Rafael Nadal bought the ‘Great White’ in 2020 (Image: Sunreef)
Rafael Nadal’s yacht has four guest suites (Image: Katarzyna Seliga-Wróblewska and Marcin Wróblewski/Fotomohito)
The yacht also features a swim platform with more sunbathing space and a garage big enough to fit jet skis and water toys. Nadal picked his favourite colours – creams, coffees and beiges – for the interiors and explained that he wanted the yacht to feel like his home.
“I wanted to feel like in my own house,” he said of his design choices. A keen yachting enthusiast, Nadal was picky when it came to deciding the details. He added: “Of course I had some special requests. I didn’t want a jacuzzi on the flybridge, because I prefer open spaces. I don’t need features like jacuzzis on board – I have water around the boat to swim in and enjoy.”
Rafael Nadal designed the interiors in his custom yacht (Image: Katarzyna Seliga-Wróblewska and Marcin Wróblewski/Fotomohito)
Rafael Nadal bought his custom yacht for £5 million in 2020 (Image: Sunreef Yachts)
The Great White isn’t Nadal’s first yacht but it is his biggest, and the Spaniard previously explained that size was a big factor when it came to purchasing the custom Sunreef model. “I have only owned monohulls and on a catamaran I was captivated by the huge amount of space. Honestly, in my small port, the 80 Sunreef Power is the biggest boat that can dock there,” he said.
“It’s great for me that I can have it here in Porto Cristo, located in front of my house. The huge amount of space that my catamaran has is unreachable by any monohull up to [30 metres]. That is for me the main reason for switching from monohull to multihull.”