World number one tennis player Rafael Nadal may be a force to reckon with should he decide to switch careers and play poker instead. The Spaniard won the EPT Charity Challenge event in Prague, Czech Republic last week after he defeated top-ranked poker player Daneil Negreanu. The Mallorcan won the $137,000 cash prize money which will go to a good cause.
Nadal competed against other sports celebrities such as skier Alberto Tomba, football player Ronaldo and Andriy Shevchenko and field hockey player Fatima Moreira de Melo.
“My life is still tennis, playing poker I have fun. I am learning,” Nadal said prior to the tournament.
Nadal said that tennis and poker are similar in some aspects since it involves mental strength and the ability to outplay the opponents.
“Like tennis, poker is “a competition, you need to control your emotions, you need to be focused all the time,” he said. “You need to have self-control, you have to wait for your moment.”
Tennis players in the past have participated in poker tournaments such as former top-ranked Boris Becker who took part in major poker events back in 2007 at the European Poker Tour.
