How Rafael Nadal’s Business Partner Produced Incredible Pete Sampras Upset as Pro Tennis Player in 1993

Ace tennis players Rafael Nadal and Carlos Costa are business partners, who’ve ventured into their own sports agency company ‘Hi7tory’ to manage athletes and organize events. Costa has been a long-time agent and manager of Rafael Nadal. He previously worked for the global sports media company IMG, and only after working there for a few years, he quit. This is when he and Nadal joined hands. But Carlos Costa isn’t a new name in the world of tennis.

Even though Carlos Costa had a less-than-celebrated tennis career, the Spaniard achieved some amazing feats. One such feat was winning against Pete Sampras, the man with 14 Grand Slams under his belt, in the ATP Masters 1000 Stockholm in 1993. Costa won that match 7-6 (7-1), 2-6, 6-1, and was a major deal in the tennis world. The surface was an indoor carpet surface, and it suited Costa.

Although it was a huge feat since Sampras was the best player of his generation according to many tennis fans and pundits, Costa believes that it was all right since it wasn’t the semi-final or quarter-final of a tournament. He would’ve liked to beat him in a higher stakes or a Grand Slam match.

“It’s not that I beat Sampras in a grand slam in the semi-finals. I beat him in a good tournament, but in the second or third round, which you can understand with the top players normally it’s better to beat them in the semi-finals or finals of a grand slam. But it was a good match,” said a slightly less satisfied Carlos Costa to The National News.

A six-time ATP title winner in singles, Carlos Costa played professional tennis for 11 years. Starting from 1988, Costa won the Barcelona Open and the Estoril Open in 1992, the Buenos Aires and Hilversum Open in 1993, the Estoril Open again, and the San Marino title in 1994. In doubles too, he has won 5 titles.

They are the Buenos Aires Open twice, the Madrid Open twice, and the San Marino Open once. His prize money earnings in his tennis career came up to $3,134,189 USD. Costa lives in Barcelona, Spain with his family. Therefore, he and his family love the soccer club FC Barcelona.

The enduring partnership of Carlos Costa and Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Costa have known each other for years now and have worked together as player-agent duo for that long. Besides the Rafael Nadal Academy and the Rafa Nadal Foundation, Nadal also has a wide slew of business interests and ventures, thanks to Carlos Costa.

Rafael Nadal’s net worth is $323.61 million as of December 2023. His deals with Nike, Babolat, Kia Motors, Santander, Emporio Armani, Richard Mille, Tommy Hilfiger, Telefonica, and most recently Subway just enhance his portfolio. Nadal’s own venture capital company ‘Aspemir’ earned $22 million in profits in 2022. The Spaniard is also enchanted by the idea of real estate, having invested in hospitals, hotels, private residences, and restaurants. His company Mabel Capital has launched an Italian restaurant in the Spanish capital Madrid. It is called TOTO restaurant.

Carlos Costa is the man responsible for, in some ways at least, the massive fortune of Rafael Nadal. He also has a healthy relationship with Roger Federer and considers the Swiss player the greatest of all-time in the world. He was seen in a picture shared by Federer on his Instagram, which also featured Federer, Nadal, and Federer’s agent Tony Godsick. Federer and Godsick also look to replicate Nadal and Costa’s business idea of moving tennis championships to Saudi Arabia.