This was published 7 months ago
Opinion
Saudi deal has tarnished Rafael Nadal’s halo
Greg Baum
Sports columnistIn the middle of last year, Jordan Henderson, captain of English Premier League giant Liverpool and 75 times capped by England, suddenly signed with Saudi Arabian team Al-Ettifaq, coached by his former teammate Steven Gerrard.
It wasn’t about the money, Henderson reassured all. The $280,000 a week he was getting from Liverpool just about covered his needs. It was because of his passion to “grow the game that I love”, to “grow the sport all over the world”.
Rafael Nadal in Australia earlier this month.Credit: Getty Images
Then he was off to join Cristiano Ronaldo et al, and you couldn’t see him for sand.
Of course, there was the small matter of his previous public support for the LGBTQ community. Al-Ettifaq took care of that. In the video they released to announce Henderson’s signing, they desaturated the colour of his Pride-style armband to black and white. In Saudi Arabia, everything is black and white.
You’d have to have been asleep or watching certain tennis players not to have noticed the stream of sportspeople, events and organisations lining up at the Saudis’ door in recent years, either to play there in competitions the Saudis just dreamed up or invite the Saudis to invest in them at home.
Soccer, golf, boxing, tennis, F1, the Olympics, horse racing; all appear in the portfolio of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. By one estimate, that fund has done nearly $10 billion in sports deals since 2021.
The latest is tennis legend Rafael Nadal, who has signed on as an “ambassador”.
It’s not for the money, of course. When you’ve already made more than $200 million in prizemoney in your career and a multiple of that in sponsorship, it couldn’t be about the money, oh no.
It’s because Nadal so badly wants to “help the sport grow far and wide across the world”. If growing the sport far and wide is the cause, you might ask why Nadal did not start with Nigeria or Afghanistan or Bolivia, instead of one of the richest countries in the world.
You might ask why he doesn’t give instead of receive. But sometimes it doesn’t pay to ask.
Jordan Henderson (right) with coach Steven Gerrard, signs on for Al-Ettifaq.Credit: Reuters
Nadal cannot be faulted when he says that there is massive scope for growth in tennis in Saudi Arabia. A cursory search reveals a total of two active professional Saudi players, with no ranking points and a total of $934 between them in prizemoney.
This will shock you: both are men. As news of Nadal’s latest mission spread and other players were canvassed for their reaction, men tended to say it was his business, women that it was a difficult subject.
“It was always hard for me to say if it’s good or not,” said world No.1 Iga Swiatek, “because it’s not easy for women in these areas.” Russian Daria Kasatkina said she could see “both sides of the coin”. If only some of her male peers could see that a coin, all newly minted and glistening, has sides.
Iga Swiatek in action in Melbourne.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
The Saudis aren’t interested in development for development’s sake. That would be greening, not greenwashing. They don’t want players in the Australian Open, they want the Open. They’re not planning to host a lucrative new tournament two weeks before the Open simply because the weather’s nice in Riyadh at that time of year. Australian authorities are on the alert.
Like all empires, the Saudis can never have enough. Their spoils include global soccer stars Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Lionel Messi on a $25 million annual promotional retainer, though he does not play there. They’ve got half the world’s best golfers in their pockets, too. Now they’ve got a nice little Nadal to set on their mantelpiece. If you press the button at the back, it says “grow the game” in a husky Spanish accent. But there’s plenty of room for more.
To be fair, few of us can say for sure how blind an eye we would be prepared to turn if we were offered fabulous sums merely to do what comes naturally. Vanishingly few are ever in the position. We buy Tattslotto tickets instead.
But the lucky ones should dispense with feeble alibis. Nadal’s getting a truckload of money to add to the fleet he already has, so he should spare us the cant about the “growth and progress” he can see in Saudi Arabia and his mission to “encourage kids to pick up a racquet and enjoy the benefits of a healthy living”.
Someone is certainly making a healthy living. Don’t @ me about all the other worthy causes Nadal supports. So he should.
Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.Credit: Reuters
It emerged this month that Henderson wants out of Al-Ettifaq, six months after he arrived. The season has gone poorly, he’s dissatisfied with the standard of soccer and dismayed by the negligible crowds. He’s struggling to cope with the heat and humidity. It turns out Saudi Arabia is Saudi Arabia. Evidently, Henderson’s vocation to “grow the game” has withered and died.
But he can’t go back to Liverpool or anywhere else in England, not yet. If he were to return within two years, he would be liable to pay millions of dollars in tax on his Saudi earnings. He’ll probably camp out in Europe in the meantime.
It’s not about the money, though. How could you even think it?
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