Rafa Nadal Academy, working for excellence on the court and at school

A model in full expansion with facilities in Asia, Mexico, since last year in Egypt and which from 2028 will also land in South America. It is that of the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar whose key facility, the one opened in 2016 in Manacor, the birthplace of the all-time Roland Garros record-holder with 14 titles won between 2005 and 2022, is the plastic representation of the philosophy that fuels it. The passion for tennis is in fact the pick to give the youngsters who animate the centre a complete education. Training that obviously revolves around an immense reality with respect to the facilities already present and those that will soon be completed: clay and fast courts (today 37 in all but at the beginning there were 26 and soon there will be 45) on an area of over 24.000 square metres, with all the comforts an athlete could wish for such as hospitality facilities, fitness centres, several swimming pools (there will be four as soon as construction is completed), numerous padel courts (16 in total) and two squash courts, a 7-a-side football pitch, and much more (from medical care with a real clinic to mental and physical care).

But what matters beyond the amenities on offer is the system applied. A unique system that pivots on the skills that made Nadal the phenomenon he was. All this, however, with a strong projection into the future. The Academy's technical team, supported by state-of-the-art technology, constantly analyses the evolutions in the game of tennis, which, due to the speed it has reached, according to the Rafa Nadal Academy must be played first with the eyes, then with the mind, then with the legs and finally with the hands. A scheme that is then balanced according to the specific needs of the player. Because physical preparation is combined with food culture and mental support as well as competition culture.

Not to mention the schooling. In fact, the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar also houses the Rafa Nadal International School, a mixed Anglo-American international school for children aged 3 to 18. Although the original concept of the school was conceived with the aim of allowing the Academy's players to combine their tennis training with their schooling, from the outset Nadal wanted to open the doors to Mallorcan children, regardless of whether they played tennis or not, so that everyone could benefit from the facilities and academic programme. Because one of the hallmarks of the RNIS is to offer its students the opportunity to access a university in the United States or anywhere else in the world (in the 2018/2019 academic year, 100% of tennis students who chose the US were accepted). On a sporting level, the centre already has its little stars thanks to the Junior Grand Slams won by Dani Rincón (US Open), Alex Eala (Australian Open and Roland Garros) and Coleman Wong (US Open and Australian Open). The highest point, however, reached by the Academy was on 12 May 2022, when Nadal contested the Roland Garros final against Casper Ruud, who arrived in Manacor in 2018 as world number 143 and then broke into the Top 5 and with a Grand Slam final on his record.