Nadal is a 17-time Grand Slam winner and part of the Forbes Celebrity 100 List Image: Twitter

Imagine you walk in to take your economy class seat on a flight and find a 17-time Grand Slam winner casually flipping through a newspaper in the next seat. Sounds unimaginable, rather a dream, right? Well, not quite.

Passengers flying economy on an Air Europa flight from Barcelona to Manacor, a city on the Spanish island of Mallorca, were in for the surprise of a lifetime when they found tennis superstar Rafael Nadal in the economy section of the flight.

Pictures of Nadal casually reading a newspaper while sitting in the row adjacent to the emergency exit went viral on social media.

Rafael was surrounded by 'normal' passengers Image: AP/Twitter

We can safely rule out Nadal trying to save a few bucks considering the tennis ace is part of the Forbes Celebrity 100 List with a total earning of $41.4 million. In his 16-year-long career, Nadal has raked in prize money worth $98 million and is only behind Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

Fans on social media came to the same conclusion and chalked it down to the Spaniard's humility. And, of course, comparisons with Federer also came up.

Prime difference between Rafa and Fed. Guarantee that we won’t see Fed in economy. 😂 — Kathy Nugent (@LadyNuge) July 18, 2018

Roger Federer endorses a private jet company. Rafael Nadal flies economy class. For me, humility is the greater achievement. — Caz Margenau (@Cazana78) January 18, 2011

multi millionaire tennis player Rafael Nadal travelled to London from Paris on economy class on eurostar.. amazeballs.. #Wimbledon — Ragesterr (@RageStev) June 21, 2011

New definition for humility. — November Spawned a Monster (@RafalutionXVII) July 17, 2018

Way to travel, Rafa.

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