On Sunday, Rafael Nadal kissed his 14th French Open trophy after beating a trainee from his own Academy, Casper Ruud.
Casper Ruud, the Norwegian player, has played consistently in the French Open and won eight titles since 2020 on clay courts. Ruud was once a trainee at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor, Spain, and was also mentored by Rafael Nadal himself.
Giving back to the game, Rafael Nadal founded the Rafa Nadal Academy at Manacor by converting his training base into a state-of-the-art facility in 2016. Rafael's coach and uncle, Toni Nadal, is the head of the academy while former world No.1 Carlos Moya is the technical director.
The Rafa Nadal Academy has separate programmes for adult and junior players. The academy hosts about 34 tennis courts, including 19 hard courts and seven clay courts and a football field besides squash courts. The facility also hosts an international school and other facilities for continuing the education of trainees during their programme at the academy. The academy also hosts the Rafa Nadal Museum where tennis enthusiasts can get a glimpse of the tennis icon's titles.
In 2017, Reuters reported the average yearly fee for “tennis lessons and school” for children was $62,000. The academy opened in 2016.
Like Casper Ruud, the academy has been a finishing centre for several rising tennis stars. Casper joined the academy in 2018 while he was ranked over 100 and he is now ranked sixth, according to the Association of Tennis Professionals. Iga Świątek, the women's world No.1, also underwent training at the academy. Jordanian player Abedallah Shelbayh and Hong Kong's Coleman Wong Chak-lam have also trained at the academy.
Amazon Prime Video has hosted a four-part documentary series on the academy. The academy has training centres in Mexico and Kuwait and will be inaugurating its third such centre in Hong Kong in the near future.
