Tennis legend Rafael Nadal will become a new team owner in the UIM E1 World Championship, the world’s first all-electric raceboat championship.
The 22-time Mallorcan Grand Slam champion will enter his own team for the inaugural season, which is set to get underway later this year.
Alongside his incredible success on the tennis court, Nadal is passionate about the ocean and is hugely supportive of E1’s mission to accelerate clean mobility and restore marine ecosystems.
“I’m really excited to be getting involved with a project like E1 that values sustainability and will make a positive impact on society as a whole, especially in coastal communities. I also like the fact that E1 has a clear mission and is committed to preserving marine ecosystems. As a professional athlete, I recognise how making marginal gains has a positive impact on performance. To see this same competitive spirit and approach being applied at E1 to optimise the performance and efficiency of sustainable marine mobility is good news for our oceans,” Nadal said.
Nadal will also be supporting E1’s Blue Action Programme, which has been designed to create a positive impact on local communities through projects aimed at restoring marine ecosystems along city waterfronts.
The Blue Action Programme will be led by Professor Carlos Duarte, a fellow Mallorquin islander to Nadal and Chief Scientist at E1. Duarte is a world-leading marine ecologist, who will play an instrumental role in developing E1’s overall sustainability strategy, as well as supporting the Rafa Nadal Academy’s sustainability initiatives and reinforcing its commitment with sustainable sport.
Nadal’s new racing outfit will compete against other teams who have already signed up to participate in the championship, including the Venice Racing Team. Nadal joins a growing list of sports personalities to own an E1 team, including current Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez’s team affiliated with his native Mexico.
E1’s Co-Founder and Chairman Alejandro Agag visited Nadal at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, where he was taken on a tour around the high-performance tennis centre and was impressed by the world-class facilities and how technology is integrated at the academy.
The partnership with Nadal and E1 is expected to extend beyond racing to include the launch of an international thought leadership event, focused on the theme of sport and sustainability.
The flagship event will bring the world’s leading sustainability experts together at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, to examine the next level of thinking on sustainability and highlight the positive role that sport can play in advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).