The Maverick Genius of Mallorca: Jofre Porta

Jofre Porta founder of the first academy on Mallorca. Last month I wrote about my visit to Rafael Nadal's new tennis academy on Mallorca and my conversation with Toni Nadal. (Click Here.) But amazingly the new Nadal academy is not the first important academy on this paradise, an island with a population of less than 900,000. An older much more established academy has actually been around for over 20 years and Mallorca's two most famous residents, Carlos Moya and Rafael Nadal both trained there before they were even teenagers. Surprised? Never heard of it? It's called Global Tennis Team, and is headed by the maverick genius Jofre Porta. On the same trip to Spain during which I visited the new Nadal facility, I had the good fortune of spending a few days at Global Tennis Team and with Porta himself, a silver-haired bright-eyed tennis guru. In Europe Porta is as well respected--if not as well known--as other Spanish legends such as Toni Nadal, Lluis Bruguera or William Pato Alvarez. (Click here for more on Pato.) (Click Here for more on Luis.) Jofre's passion for tennis is infectious and he has dedicated his life to developing a method of training athletes,...