Despite ending his tennis career with a $220 million net worth, Rafael Nadal says he won’t retire because he hates waking up to no plans

Despite retiring from a 23-year tennis career with millions in the bank, Rafael Nadal isn't kicking up his feet—he's back at work, this time in hotels.

Rafael Nadal doesn’t want to be your average retiree. For most people, retiring with millions in the bank is the kind of dream that ends with a lifetime of lie-ins and leisure. But not Nadal. 

After over two decades of competing, the Spaniard wrapped up one of the greatest tennis careers in history—22 Grand Slams, a record 14 French Open titles, 209 weeks as world No. 1, and a $220 million net worth—in November 2024. But instead of kicking back, Nadal’s been busy building a hotel empire.

“I am not the kind of guy that likes to wake up in the morning and don’t know what to do,” Nadal told CNBC last week. “My goal was to keep going.”

He said that spending time with his family, including his two young children, is important—then added, “but I like to work.”

“In the same way I built a legacy on the court, now is the moment to build a legacy outside of the court.”

Inside Rafael Nadal’s post-tennis empire: Hotels and a coaching business he part-sold for $107 million 

Nadal just opened his fourth Zel Hotel in Fuerteventura, a beachfront, adults-only property in the Canary Islands. The 40-year-old explained that after spending most of his dazzling 23-year tennis career living in hotels, creating his own felt like a natural next step.

“That’s what I did during half of my life, and I know what I like the most,” he said. 

He founded the hospitality brand Zel Hotels in 2022 in partnership with Meliá Hotels International. Just one year later, the brand opened its first hotel, ZEL Mallorca, and has since expanded in Costa Brava in Spain and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. 

And hotels are just one part of his growing business empire. Nadal has been quietly building a post-tennis portfolio that spans hospitality, education, and sports, with most of it managed through his family holding company, Aspemir. 

“This is something that, of course, is a lifetime project for me, very personal, but at the same time, the company has grown over the last couple of years, and we felt that we needed some help to keep growing and to keep expanding,” Nadal added.

Before Zel Hotels, he opened the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca in 2016 for elite tennis coaching, which has now grown into a network of tennis academies and sports centers around the world, including in Mexico, Greece, Kuwait, Hong Kong, and the Dominican Republic.

In 2025, Nadal sold 44.9% of his academy to the private investment firm GPF Capital. The deal left Nadal with a 55.1% stake, majority control, and around €94 million ($107 million) in cash.

Rafael Nadal’s not the only millionaire who resents retirement—Martha Stewart is still working at 84

Nadal isn’t the only one who’s struggled to switch off after a career at the top. Roger Federer similarly retired from tennis in 2022 with 20 Grand Slams and immediately got to work. And he’s since made more money from his investments and brand deals than he ever did in prize money. Last year, his estimated 3% stake in Swiss athletic apparel company On made him a billionaire. 

Wingstop’s U.K. founder, Tom Grogan, became a multimillionaire by 32 years old after selling a majority stake in the business for around $532 million. But he said that the money didn’t “fill that void”—and actually life without work was “boring,” so he planned to start another venture soon after. 

“I can’t live life sat on a beach,” he told Fortune. “I think we need something to occupy our minds, to challenge ourselves. You need a purpose every day to wake up for, which we don’t have right now.” 

Martha Stewart, America’s first self-made female billionaire, has been perhaps the most vocal on the topic of retirement—or rather, non-retirement. 

“Retirement is not an option,” she bluntly told Fortune at 84, while simultaneously launching two new skincare and bedding brands.

Although she says other people her age spend their days doing puzzles, she’s up at 4 a.m., fitting in brain games and a pilates class, before working on her farm and various business ventures.

And then there’s Doughlicious founder Kathryn Bricken, who started over again at 50—working 20-hour days and pushing through breast cancer treatment to build her multimillion-dollar cookie dough empire.

It’s been 10 years, and while her peers may be thinking about winding down their careers, she still works through every holiday.

“Being a founder is a 24/7 responsibility,” she told Fortune.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com