At 36 years old, the head of Rafael Nadal It’s not just on the track anymore. The best tennis player in history on clay has signed his feat, with 22 Grand Slams in singles, the largest number of titles in history. At this point, he is not fighting to be number 1 but the most competitive. The birth of his first child in October, along with his wife Mery Perelló, has upset his order of priorities. In the press conferences they no longer only ask him about his performance, but about little Rafael’s pranks. Video calls help her calm her homesickness when she travels and gets separated from him.
There is still time to think about his final retirement from tennis. “If you saw how I train daily you would not ask me about it,” he recently confessed. But he is clear that when the time comes to drop the racket, he will reinvent himself as an entrepreneur.
Rafael Nadal has invested in catering and hospitality. He embarked on his first major real estate operation in the Mexican Caribbean, opening two hotels in Cozumel. In addition, he has a stake in the company Mabel Capital, together with Abel Matutes and Manuel Campos Guallar, through which he owns a luxury residential Villa de París in Madrid. In the restaurant area, he controls part of the Tatel restaurants.
Now reinforce their investment in tourism at the hands of Gabriel Escarrer, CEO of Meliá. The tennis player from Manacor has signed an alliance with the Majorcan brand to launch a new hotel line under the name of Zel, which in Majorcan means heaven. A new brand of vacation hotels and urban leisure that will begin to operate first in Spain, to later position itself in the main destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and America. Most of these hotels already exist (80%) and will undergo a profound transformation, while the remaining 20% will be newly built.
Rafael Nadal and Gabriel Escarrer
The expansion plan drawn up provides for the signing of more than 20 hotels in 5 years, focusing on destinations with a clear focus on premium leisure tourism and the bleisur concept. In a first phase, the brand aims to grow in destinations on the Mediterranean coast and capitals such as Madrid, Paris and London, with the first ZEL hotel scheduled to open in Mallorca in 2023.
“We are happy to finally be able to collaborate as partners in this project, with an icon on a personal and sporting level such as Rafa,” said Gabriel Escarrer, CEO of Meliá. The Mallorcan group has more than 380 hotels open or in the process of opening in more than 40 countries under the brands Gran Meliá, Paradisus by Meliá, ME by Meliá, Meliá Hotels & Resorts, The Meliá Collection, INNSiDE, Sol by Meliá and Falcon’s Resorts by Melia.
Rafa Nadal has underlined his condition as a Spaniard, Mallorcan and traveler to join this project. «ZEL is synonymous with feeling good at all times, enjoying life and the way we live it throughout the Mediterranean. From the first moment I was attracted to this new concept.”
