It must be a plush deal being sponsored by a big car company. You put a logo here and there, show face at the odd event and line your pockets with their money – there are worse deals going around.

Now Rafa Nadal has a long-standing relationship with KIA that stretches back almost a decade, something that made Sunday’s Stuttgart Open title presentation ceremony rather cringeworthy. After clinching the title, Nadal was rewarded with a V8 Mercedes sports car, putting him an awkward position. Here’s CNN:

“It’s not a Kia, but it’s still good,” Nadal said diplomatically after a brief inspection inside the garish yellow vehicle, winning huge laughs from the crowd.

“Will you drive it at home?” came the inevitable question. Short silence. “Without the cameras around, perhaps yes,” conceded the Spaniard…

Then came the qualifier. “I don’t know if I can change the color, because the color is a little bit too much for me,” demurred the man well known for his politeness.

Exchanges like the one above might have been tough for his sponsors to watch but it should remind them why they have stuck by Nadal’s side all this time. Tennis fans who have seen the rivalry that was Agassi-Sampras and how it soured can’t help but look at guys like Nadal and Roger Federer without acknowledging what a credit they are to their profession.

Most of us will never know what it feels like to be sponsored, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy riding around in style. No deposit and R4 499 per month for a MINI Cooper 5-Door – sounds like a winner to me.

[source:cnn]