Rafael Nadal thanks fans for special support campaign in French Open 2020; watch video

In the absence of fans at the French Open this year, Rafael Nadal's long-time partner Kia Motors came up with an ingenious solution to keep their champion's spirits up. Most sports stars would be very used to seeing throngs of fans in the stands and on their way to the courts and derive some amount of their inspiration from them. However, as sports resumed, social distancing measures did not let up, and matches were played in eerily silent stadiums. 

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Nadal thanks fans for virtual support during French Open triumph 

20-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal has thanked his fans for going the extra mile to support him during his time in Paris last month. Before the start of the French Open 2020 on September 28, Kia Motors launched an effort called #TakeOn20 to help Nadal take on all the challenges posed by 2020 to win his 20th title. The aim of the challenge was to get fans to make customised inspirational messages for Nadal through Instagram's 'create a story' feature.

According to Kia, this was a 'social movement' of 'fan artwork'. These pieces of artwork were then plastered all around Paris by the Kia Motors team and even displayed on prominent hoardings in the city. This ensured that Nadal would see his fans messages every day on his way to Court Phillipe-Chatrier. This effort was undertaken in association with the Rafael Nadal Foundation and turned out to be a huge success in representing Nadal's fans who could not be there in person. 

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Nadal Grand Slams record

With his 13th Roland Garros win in Paris, Rafael Nadal joined long-time rival and close friend Roger Federer on the top of the Grand Slam winners list. Nadal beat Novak Djokovic in a dominant display of tennis prowess, taking him down 6–0, 6–2, 7–5 to win his 20th Grand Slam title. With that win, Nadal also jumped to 9,850 points on the ATP rankings, inching slowly but steadily towards the current World No.1 Novak Djokovic's 11,740 points. He is now proving to be a real threat to the Serb, who is in line to beat Federer's record of most weeks spent at No.1 in March 2021. 

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Nadal Net Worth

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Rafa's net worth post his French Open win is approximately $200 million. Out of this, $122,905,214 is just his career prize money earnings (figures from ATP website). The rest of the value comes from his endorsement deals with Kia Motos, Babolat, Telefonica and many more, and real estate portfolio. He also owns a yacht and several luxury cars. 

Disclaimer: The above mentioned Nadal net worth has been sourced from various media reports. This website does not guarantee 100% accuracy of the figures. 

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Image Credits: Rafael Nadal Foundation and Roland Garros Twitter