The 22-time Grand Slam champion was seen swapping his racket for a light ring as he shared his first video.
Speaking of a grand entrance: Rafael Nadal just joined TikTok, and his first video is already making waves.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion hasn’t slowed down one bit since his retirement from professional tennis. Between the opening of a new hotel in the Caribbean and golf rounds, Nadal found time to test out the video platform.
Set to the Pink Panther theme song, Nadal’s first video shows him walking onto a tennis court with his Babolat gear bags. But instead of picking up a racket, the Spaniard takes out a ring light—a staple accessory for TikTok content creators—and takes a selfie, precisely lining up his markers. The video concludes with Nadal signing the camera lens—a classic gesture for the tennis player—and sending a message to users: “Hey TikTok!”
Shared on Friday under the account @RafaelNadal, the video has already accumulated more than 3.5 million views in less than 24 hours.
Nadal joins the likes of Coco Gauff, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, and more on the platform, which has also boosted tennis figures like content creator Morgan Riddle and rising star Zizou Bergs.
The 38-year-old tennis player recently joined Andy Roddick on his *Served* podcast and discussed his hectic life in retirement. The two spoke in the Dominican Republic, where Nadal was opening the Zel Punta Cana, his first hotel in the Americas.
“Since I retired, I haven’t had as much free time as I was supposed to!” Nadal said with a laugh.
“But it’s normal, when there’s a big change in life, you need to organize the new life… Organize and figure out a little bit what I want to be in this next stage of my life…”
“I remember that even when I had a few days off (on tour), I wanted to do all those things I couldn’t do. So time was precious.” It’s different now… I feel like I enjoy what I do more.
Nadal’s next step appears to be creating content for TikTok, and it’s clear tennis fans are thrilled: his new profile already has 180,000 followers, and the number keeps growing.
