Nadal triumphs over Ronaldo in poker match

Rafael Nadal defeated "the original" Ronaldo, the 38-year-old retired Brazilian soccer star, in a charity poker match that saw him garner a $50,000 check toward his namesake youth-education charity, La Fundación Rafa Nadal.

"The strategies should always be an important part of the sport," Nadal told reporters at the PokerStars event, speaking about tennis and poker both.

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Apparently his was better than his friendly Brazilian foe, as Ronaldo was later forced to clean 400 plates as "punishment" for losing.​

​Here are scenes from the competition, and more photos.

Elsewhere, Nadal termed last week's ATP World Tour Finals, which featured strikingly uncompetitive matches, the "strangest" year-end event he's ever seen. The No. 3-ranked Spaniard hopes to return in January for warmup events leading up to the season's kickoff Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open in Melbourne. The 28-year-old won that major title in 2009, and it remains the sole Slam championship that he has yet to seize more than once.