Rafael Nadal takes a dig at himself for Roland Garros loss while giving speech: WATCH

If there's one way to get over one of the most major losses of your career, having a sense of humour is probably it. Known for being a stoic, World No. 3 Rafael Nadal showed off a bit of his personality - as he faced some troubles during a speech he was giving at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain. The rare self-deprecating comment has set social media on fire, earning the Spaniard much love from fans and foes alike. 

Rafael Nadal references Roland-Garros loss after gaffe

Making his first public appearance since his tough and unlikely loss to World No. 1 Novak Djokovic at the French Open 2021 semi-final, 'King of Clay' Rafael Nadal joked about his defeat while addressing the graduating batch of 2021 at his academy. When a gust of wind blew around all his papers ahead of the big talk, Rafa was quick to interject with a joke, saying that much like his last match, this was not a good start to the graduation. While this earned him some laughs, this was actually not a very apt comment, considering that Rafa won the first set in that match 6-3 after being 5-0 up.

While he did not say so during the speech, the Spaniard has now announced that he will be skipping both, the Wimbledon 2021 Championships and the Tokyo Olympics in order to 'prolong his career and continue to do what makes him happy, that is to compete at the highest level'. This will mean that he will be on the sidelines as Djokovic, or potentially Roger Federer, earn their 21st Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon 2021 to go to the top of the Men's title count.

Nadal vs Djokovic head to head

Following his gutsy defeat of Rafa in the French Open semi-finals, the Nadal vs Djokovic head to head currently stands at 30-28, just slightly in favour of the Serbian. As is expected, both players dominate over each other on their surfaces of choice - with Novak Djokovic holding a massive 20-7 advantage on hard courts and Nadal having won 19 of his 27 meetings against the Serb on clay. The pair stand at an equal 2-2 on Grass Courts. 

With 36 Masters 1000 titles each and Djokovic now holding 19 Grand Slam titles compared to the Rafael Nadal Grand Slams tally of 20, the two legends are barely distinguishable in any area of the game. Rafa currently leads the pair in ATP 500 titles, with 22 to Djokovic's 14. However, the World No. 1 catches up when you take into account his 5 year-end titles and the Spaniard's zero wins in that arena. Nadal also boasts one Olympic Gold for Spain while Djokovic has a Bronze from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Rafael Nadal net worth

According to celebritynetworth.com, Rafael Nadal's net worth is estimated to be around USD $180 million. This figure includes Rafa's immense career prize money total of $123,843,596 (figures from the ATP website) as well as his earnings from his many endorsement deals and other assets. As a 20-time Grand Slam champion and a 13-time winner at the French Open, Nadal has inked a number of prestigious deals with luxury brands like Emporio Armani, Babolat, Telefonica, Banco Sabadell, Tommy Hilfiger Cantabria Labs, Richard Mille, KIA, Nike etc. He also owns his own tennis academy in his hometown of Mallorca, Spain.

Disclaimer: The above Rafael Nadal net worth information has been sourced from various websites and media reports. The website does not guarantee a 100% accuracy of the figures.

Image Credits: Rafa Nadal Academy Twitter