- Miami Open Schedule and Draws for Thursday, March 30
- Sorana Cirstea Surprises Aryna Sabalenka for Maiden Miami Semifinal
- Ricky’s preview and pick for the Miami quarterfinals: Sinner vs. Ruusuvuori
- Eubanks secures top 100 spot, keeps rolling into Miami quarterfinals
- Carlos Alcaraz Tops Tommy Paul, Will Face Taylor Fritz in Miami Quarterfinals
- Miami Open Schedule and Draws for Tuesday, March 28
- Francisco Cerundolo: Miami Is Two Different Tournaments
- Jessica Pegula Shares Dream
- Ricky’s preview and picks for Monday at the Miami Open, including Tsitsipas and Khachanov
- A dramatic weekend at the Miami Open: “Top-five atmosphere”
- Miami Open Schedule and Draws for Monday, March 27
- Carlos Alcaraz: I Like Watching Tommy Paul
- Miami Open Schedule and Draws for Sunday, March 26
- Anastasia Potapova Topples Coco Gauff at Miami Open
- Miami Open Schedule and Draws for Saturday, March 25
ATP Tennis Star Rafael Nadal Enjoying Watching Golf In The Bahamas
- Updated: December 5, 2017

Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts during his men’s singles final match against Nick Kyrgios of Australia at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing, China, 08 October 2017. EPA-EFE/WU HONG
By Ricky Dimon
The tennis portion of Rafael Nadal’s offseason in between the 2017 and 2018 campaigns will begin in short order, but last weekend the it involved his second favorite sport: golf. Well, perhaps golf is his third favorite sport if you consider fishing a sport.
Whatever the case, Nadal recently vacationed with friends and family in the Bahamas and paid a visit to the Hero World Challenge. That is a professional golf tournament hosted annually by Tiger Woods, and this year Woods was healthy enough to play in it. The 41-year-old American was in Nadal’s box for the Spaniard’s U.S. Open semifinal victory over Juan Martin Del Potro, so now it was Nadal’s turn to sit back and watch Tiger at work. Unsurprisingly, Tiger did not win the Hero World Challenge like Nadal won the U.S. Open. But the 14-time major champion performed admirably in his first appearance since February, as he tied for ninth place at 8-under par.
Nadal is scheduled to begin his offseason training this week in Mallorca. Good friend Joao Sousa, Portugal’s top play, will arrive in two weeks to practice with the world No. 1 five days from Dec. 18 through Dec. 22.
“We will be in Barcelona for the first two weeks of the preseason, followed by a week in Tenerife and five days in Mallorca,” Sousa’s coach, Frederico Marques, said. “We want to beat the best and learn from the best. Both Joao and I have a very good relationship with several top 10 players and we will take advantage of this to learn, work, and improve the aspects that we think are appropriate to continue to evolve.”
Nadal is also in the field for the prestigious six-man Abu Dhabi exhibition later in December, just prior to the start of the 2018 ATP World Tour season. He is joined by Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem, Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic, and Pablo Carreno Busta. As the top two seeds Nadal and Djokovic have byes to the semifinals. Nadal awaits either Wawrinka or Carreno Busta, while Djokovic will face the winner of a quarterfinal between Thiem and Raonic.