By Nick Georgandis                                 Photo by Mark Howard

(March 27, 2012) Michael Jordan once quit basketball for baseball; Jim Brown left football to become an actor; and Wilt Chamberlain even tried professional volleyball for a while -- a really terrible while.

What about the tennis pros? Could Rafa ever consider leaving his racquet behind for a bag of golf clubs?

In a recent interview with The Miami Herald, Nadal revealed his growing passion for golf.

"I love the game of golf in general, no?" Nadal said. "I was watching all the afternoon the last round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational."

The relevation that the game's No. 2 player spent all afternoon watching golf probably doesn't sit well with Radek Stepanek, who was his opponent Sunday night. Knowing that Nadal is strong enough to whip you 6-2, 6-2 after watching five hours of television isn't exactly a confidence-builder.

Some of Nadal's least favorite things about tennis seem to draw him more and more to golf.

"Golf is great, because you are always in beautiful places when you are playing," Nadal said. Is that a veiled insult at some of tennis' less-glamorous locations? (We're looking at you, Cincinnati.)

As the bearer of more than a few war wounds from tennis, Nadal also likes golf's relative lack of wear and tear on the body. “The risk for injury, as you know, is very small,” he said.

While it might seem that pro tennis players can seldom focus on much else aside from training for matches, golf has a passionate following on the ATP tour - with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Mardy Fish all certified fanatics.

At this week's Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Nadal defeated Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-4 in the fourth round on Tuesday and will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarters. They share the bottom half with Andy Murray and Janko Tipsarevic.