Rafael Nadal 
PokerStars announced today that tennis champion Rafael Nadal has joined the site as an ambassador. However, it doesn’t seem like he’ll be performing the usual representing role for a poker site of crushing major live tourneys around the world.
For starters, the 26-year-old Spaniard is by his own admission a poker novice and will apparently be drawing on the talent pool of Team PokerStars Pros to help mentor him as he plays on the site and tries to improve his game.
“It’s no secret that I love to compete and try my very best in everything, whether that’s tennis, golf or video games,” Nadal said in a press release. “When I discovered the game of poker, I chose to join PokerStars because they understand what it takes to be the best and associate themselves with the qualities of champions. I’m very happy to be working with them.”
The PokerStars press release goes on to say that Nadal will be “representing PokerStars in online tournaments, in advertising campaigns and at charity events” as well as helping introduce new players to the game of poker, particularly in his native Spain where PokerStars and other operators have recently been granted new government licenses to operate online poker.
Poker players and Nadal fans are also being invited to follow him on his poker journey at his own PokerStars webpage, which is running a promotion awarding an EPT Barcelona Main Event package to the person who submits the best poker tip to Nadal via video. Some PokerStars Pros have already given their tips for Nadal and you can check out Nadal’s request for help below:
The move to associate Nadal with the world’s biggest poker site is certainly a bold one and will go a long way to legitimising and mainstreaming online poker.
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