On October 19, 2016, the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy was established. It is situated in Manacor, the hometown of the 22-time Grand Slam champion, on the island of Mallorca, which is a part of the Spanish autonomous community known as the Balearic Islands.
Rafael’s uncle Toni Nadal, who had been his coach until 2017, and his agent Carlos Costa were in charge of the program when it first opened. Toni was replaced as Nadal’s main coach by Carlos Moya, who was appointed technical director.
Nadal’s Academy is an incredibly well-equipped facility that includes 23 hard courts, 22 clay courts, 16 padel courts, squash courts, a football field, a swimming pool, and a sports medicine center.
The most well-known athlete to have trained there is Casper Ruud. For those at the academy, his victory over Nadal in the 2022 French Open final was therefore especially proud.
The academy also hosts a lot of tournaments. Since 2018, the ATP Challenger Tour has hosted the Rafa Nadal Open, the most prominent of these. More than six years ago, Bernard Tomic emerged victorious in the inaugural edition of that competition.
The demanding lifestyle of a professional player has naturally prevented Nadal from dedicating a significant amount of time to his academy, but Toni believes that will soon change.
In a few weeks, Nadal will compete in the Davis Cup Finals, the last event of his illustrious career. In an interview, Toni stated that his nephew will take the position of Director of Football at Real Madrid and that he would devote more time to the academy after he retired.
But Nadal and all the other school members are currently coping with the aftermath of a powerful storm that hit Mallorca, causing damage to multiple areas of the island.
Early Monday morning saw the worst of the powerful nighttime storm. Road closures, rescues, and several emergency operations have resulted from it throughout the island.
As evidenced by images shared by the academy’s official social media pages, Nadal’s Academy suffered significant damage, and regrettably, Manacor was among the most affected locations.
The images demonstrate the extent of the academy’s destruction. The fact that one of the indoor facilities is flooded in the first image shows how severe the storm was and how many pieces of the academy’s infrastructure were harmed.
It should come as no surprise that the Rafa Nadal Academy’s outside courts were severely flooded given the damage to the inside facilities. Restoring its activities in a timely manner will be difficult.
Fortunately, the academy’s social media accounts verified that everyone was safe and that efforts had already begun to quickly return things to normal.