{"id":234277,"date":"2025-10-23T05:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T05:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/234277\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T05:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T05:40:08","slug":"kia-hosts-tennis-legend-and-brand-ambassador-nadal-for-first-visit-in-a-dozen-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/234277\/","title":{"rendered":"Kia hosts tennis legend and brand ambassador Nadal for first visit in a dozen years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rafael <\/p>\n

Rafael Nadal delivers opening remarks at a partnership extension event held at Kia Unplugged Ground in eastern Seoul on Oct. 23. [YONHAP]<\/p>\n

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Tennis legend Rafael Nadal reflected on how he stayed at the top of the sport for nearly 20 years during his first visit to Korea in 12 years on Thursday.\u00a0
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\u201cYou need to have passion,\u201d he said at a partnership extension event hosted by Kia Motors at the Kia Unplugged Ground in eastern Seoul.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time since I came to such a beautiful country like Korea. I haven\u2019t had a chance to visit, which I\u2019ve regretted, but I hope to experience more of Korean culture in the future.\u201d\u00a0
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Nadal, 39, began his relationship with Kia as a teenager in 2004, and has remained a brand ambassador ever since.
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\u201cKia is like family to me,\u201d Nadal said. \u201cI\u2019ll never forget how they reached out to me when I was just 17 and didn\u2019t even have a driver\u2019s license.\u201d
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One of the most consistent players in tennis history, Nadal made his pro debut in 2003 and won 22 Grand Slam titles before retiring in 2023 \u2014 second only to Novak Djokovic\u2019s 23.\u00a0
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Nadal won the French Open 14 times, the most in history, earning him the nickname \u201cKing of Clay.\u201d
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When asked how he sustained such a high level of performance for so long, Nadal said success starts with recognizing that even champions need to improve.
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\u201cNo matter where you are, you have to accept that there\u2019s always something to work on,\u201d he said. \u201cYou need to wake up every morning ready to improve and fix what\u2019s lacking. You can be proud of what you\u2019ve accomplished, but what matters is setting new goals and working toward them.\u201d
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\u201cIf you don\u2019t have passion and love for what you do, it\u2019s hard to stay motivated. You have to go to the court \u2014 or to work \u2014 with a desire to improve, not just because you have to.\u201d
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\"Rafael <\/p>\n

Rafael Nadal delivers opening remarks at a partnership extension event held at Kia Unplugged Ground in eastern Seoul on Oct. 23. [YONHAP]<\/p>\n

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Now based in his hometown Mallorca, Spain, Nadal runs the Rafa Nadal Academy, which trains young tennis players from around the world.
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As part of his visit, Nadal selected two Korean prospects \u2014 Hong Ye-ri and Kim Si-yoon \u2014 to train at his academy.
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\u201cInvesting in young athletes is important,\u201d he said. \u201cKorea has produced great results in golf, so I believe there\u2019s potential in tennis too.\u201d
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\u201cIf a top-level player emerges from Korea, it will inspire young athletes even more. If the government and private sector work together to create opportunities that get kids into tennis, we can see major long-term change.\u201d <\/p>\n

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY PIH JU-YOUNG [[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rafael Nadal delivers opening remarks at a partnership extension event held at Kia Unplugged Ground in eastern Seoul…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-234277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}