Rafa Nadal is adjusting to life after tennis. He has put down his racquets and spent time surfing the Adriatic. His Team Rafa will be competing in Dubrovnik's E1 World Championship for electric powerboat racing.

The Spanish racing team, which won the Doha round last time, is leading a closely contested series going into the Croatian Round. This comes just days after the 14-time Roland Garros winner retired from the French Open was immortalised with a permanent foot print on the famed red clay of the centre court.

The electric boat racing series, which begins on the Croatian coast from June 13-14, will see Team Rafa in the lead after its Doha success.

The boat of tennis legend Rafael Nadal is being piloted both by Frenchman Tom Chiappe and Spanish jet ski racer Cristina Lazarrage.

The E1 World Championship, sanctioned by the global powerboating governing body Union Internationale Motonautique(UIM), is the first raceboat series that is all-electric. It is intended to speed up innovation in sustainable marine technologies and coastal conservation.

RaceBird boats powered by electric motors are used to race teams of male and female drivers through iconic water circuits.

LeBron James and Tom Brady are among the celebrities who own tennis clubs, as well as Virat Kohli, Didier Drogba, and 22-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal.

The championship will continue to Lake Maggiore, Monaco and Miami before ending on November 8th in Miami where the "Champions of the Water'" will be crowned. (Writing and editing by Ossian shine, Pritha sarkar)

(source: Reuters)