Nadal powers through a forehand during today's Rolex Masters in Shanghai. Ella Ling/Ella Ling Photography
The Benjamins
You know what Rafa Nadal doesn't like? The British tax system
The world number two has announced that he will skip next year’s Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club for tax reasons, opting instead to compete in Germany.
WE KNOW RAFAEL Nadal to be many things, among them the possessor of fearsome forehand, a diligent collector of Grand Slam title and a student of the English language. What we didn’t know about him, however, is that he pays close attention to his financial affairs.
According to the Guardian, the Spaniard has grown tired of running his British expeditions at a deficit and intends to skip next year’s Aegon Championships– an event Nadal typically uses as a pre-Wimbledon tune-up– in favour of competing in the Gerry Weber Open at Halle in Germany.
Though he’ll reportedly receive somewhere in the region of £750,000 for his appearance on the continent, Nadal insists the convoluted nature of the British tax system proved decisive in determining the change.
“The truth is, in the UK you have a big regime for tax, it’s not about the money for playing. They [HMRC] take from the sponsors, from Babolat, from Nike and from my watches. This is very difficult. I am playing in the UK and losing money. I did a lot more for the last four years, but it is more and more difficult to play in the UK.”
British tax law currently obliges non-resident foreign athletes to play tax on their international endoresements.
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The Spaniard made his remarks at the site of Shanghai’s Rolex Masters, where he later suffered some kharmic retribution at the hands of Florian Mayer, the world No23, who produced the performance of his career to trump the Spaniard in straight sets
You know what Rafa Nadal doesn't like? The British tax system
WE KNOW RAFAEL Nadal to be many things, among them the possessor of fearsome forehand, a diligent collector of Grand Slam title and a student of the English language. What we didn’t know about him, however, is that he pays close attention to his financial affairs.
According to the Guardian, the Spaniard has grown tired of running his British expeditions at a deficit and intends to skip next year’s Aegon Championships– an event Nadal typically uses as a pre-Wimbledon tune-up– in favour of competing in the Gerry Weber Open at Halle in Germany.
Though he’ll reportedly receive somewhere in the region of £750,000 for his appearance on the continent, Nadal insists the convoluted nature of the British tax system proved decisive in determining the change.
British tax law currently obliges non-resident foreign athletes to play tax on their international endoresements.
The Spaniard made his remarks at the site of Shanghai’s Rolex Masters, where he later suffered some kharmic retribution at the hands of Florian Mayer, the world No23, who produced the performance of his career to trump the Spaniard in straight sets
Read more on this story from the Guardian>
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Aegon Championships Queen's Club Rafael Nadal Roger Federer Spain Tax Tennis The Benjamins