Rafa Nadal backed to succeed Florentino Perez as Real Madrid president

Stuart Telford

• 20 Aug 2023 12:38 BST
• 3 min read

Andy Roddick has backed former tennis rival Rafael Nadal to succeed Florentino Perez as Real Madrid's president.

Nadal remains at the top end of world tennis for now, having won the Australiana and French Opens as recently as last year, while Perez certainly appears to be in situ at the Santiago Bernabeu, having overseen a continental double of La Liga and Champions League over the same period.

But Perez is 76, and speculation is beginning to mount that he will be ready to bring his second stint in control of the record European champions to a close once the extensive renovation of the club's stadium is complete.

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Nadal's uncle Miguel Angel Nadal played more than 200 games for Barcelona as a centre-back in the 1990s, but that won't stop the tennis star from throwing his ring into the hat to succeed Perez.

Nadal: 'why not?'

"John Elway did it with the [Denver] Broncos but he also is a football player," he told the Tennis Channel. "But this is a surprise and it's fantastic if it happens. I think that there would be some necessary on-the-job experience needed real quick; this will be really cool.

"I can't pretend to know what will go on or what in the world he would have to learn but this is a surprising headline."

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The younger Nadal was also a promising footballer before focusing on tennis solely in his youth, and with career prize money of €123.7 million, he could be in a good position to contribute to Madrid's cause.

The 37-year-old even broached the topic in an interview with El Mundo in 2017.

"If you ask me if I'd like it, of course I would, why not? But there is more to it," he said. "We have a great president right now, and I don't think Real Madrid needs me. But we never know what can happen in the future."