Having opened its doors in 2016, the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar has already become one of the leading sports centres in the world. Located in Manacor, Rafa Nadal’s native city, the Academy boasts state-of-the-art facilities and an infrastructure purpose built for the current era which will be strengthened with an expansion that will allow the centre to meet the huge demand from the players and fans that visit its facilities every year.
The expansion of the Academy will include the construction of a multi-use hall that will house 3 indoor fast courts, 7 covered clay courts that will allow players to be provided with an optimum service during days when adverse weather playing tennis difficult. This building will have spaces dedicated to fitness training, physiotherapy, psychology, nutrition and sports medicine that will provide players with a comprehensive service. In addition, a further 8 outdoor clay courts will be built.
The expansion, which was approved by law in June 2018 by the Balearic parliament and was today ratified by the Consell de Govern, will consolidate the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar as a driver for employment that will continue to boost the riches of Manacor and its district while strengthening sports tourism on the Balearic Islands. Consolidating the Rafa Nadal Academy’s commitment to local tennis, players from Manacor and its surroundings will continue to benefit from the training offered by the Es Centre competition school for children and adults.
The news means that the Rafa Nadal Academy and Es Centre will enjoy first-class sports facilities for the use of both international public and Mallorcans. After the expansion, the complex will have the following facilities:
– 19 outdoor fast courts
– 15 outdoor clay courts
– 4 indoor hard courts
– 7 covered clay courts
– 1 football pitch
– 7 padel courts
– 2 squash courts
– 1 semi-Olympic swimming pool
– 1 outdoor swimming pool
– Fitness Centre
– Spa
Also, in addition to its international renown through the Academy, a Sports Tourism Centre (Rafa Nadal Sports Centre), and the Rafa Nadal Museum Xperience, the facilities have a clear commitment to serve Mallorcans, who can enjoy a fitness centre (SPORTTIME), a café/restaurant (Sports Café) and a Wellness and Spa centre every day of the week. Also, the bilingual education college (Rafa Nadal International School) is open for all students who wish to be educated in Mallorca, without necessarily taking a tennis course.
A second phase of the project will see the Rafa Nadal Sports centre add to the 80 places available for sports tourism, giving the complex a total of 214 (compared to the current 134). Supervised places for young players at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar will not undergo any expansion, maintaining the 140 places that have been there since 2016.
The expansion of the Academy, where construction will get underway in 10 days, will allow the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar to consolidate itself as one of the main economic drivers in the area by increasing the number of direct jobs (it currently employs 302 people) and indirect jobs through the local companies that form part of the project.
History of the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar
Although the Academy project was born more than a decade ago in the minds of Rafa Nadal and his team, it was 3 November 2014 when official construction began on the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, a historic milestone that took place on 24 November with a symbolic act of the placing of the first stone.
After holding the first Summer Camp in summer 2016, the first class of students joined the Academy on 1 September. The official inauguration of the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar took place on 19 October 2016 at an emotional event that was attended by Roger Federer, José María Álvarez-Pallete (Chief Executive of Telefónica) and big names and personalities from the world of tennis.
Once the Academy had consolidated itself in Manacor, an expansion project begun with the opening of the “Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre” complexes in Costa Mujeres (Mexico) and Halkidiki (Greece) where tennis programmes are taught using the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar methodology.
