Rafael Nadal
is a tennis star.
There is no doubt about that.
And he is also an all-terrain vehicle.
The 22-time winner of Grand Slam tournaments, while preparing his return to the circuit after the injury he suffered in the first days of January and was sidelined from the
Australian Open
, gave a sample of his versatility and became champion of the
Balearic Championship Mid-Amateur
, which was held in Mallorca.
The Spaniard, former world number one in the ATP ranking, was the best in the Scratch category with 147 strokes, seven less than his guard, Jaime Nicolau Olmos. The podium was completed by James Robert Hannington with 156.
To complete an almost perfect weekend, Nadal placed third in the Handicap category with a total of +1 (145 net strokes).
Timothy Carbury (Par) and Oliver Bell (-1, with 143 net hits) took away the double victory.
It is not the first time that Rafa enters this tournament.
Two years ago, in 2022, the Balearic Mid-Amateur Golf Championship came in second place.
Rafael Nadal playing golf in 2022. Photo: EFE
On that occasion, the man from Manacori scored 151 strokes (+7 over par on the field), far from a first position held by Federico Páez, with a score of 139 strokes (five under par).
This weekend, however, was just a distraction for Nadal.
He has an exhibition scheduled for next March 3 against Carlos Alcaraz, who has just been eliminated in the semis of the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires.
The generational duel against the Murcian will take place in Las Vegas, the city of sin, and will help Rafa warm up his engines for his official return to the ATP Tour which will be, if there are no surprises, at the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, a tournament that He was lost in 2023 due to the eternal hip injury.