Visiting The Rafael Nadal Academy

Why are Rafa and Toni Nadal launching an academy? As a long time student of Spanish tennis training (Click Here for some of my articles), I was very curious about the newly launched Rafa Nadal Academy, which opened this last June in Rafa's home town of Manacor on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. Was this simply an effort to capitalize financially on Rafa's international fame? This summer on my annual trip to Spain I had a chance to visit and find out what the academy was like first hand. The answer is definitely no. This is an impressive facility and also I believe a sincere, even heart felt effort on the part of Rafa, his uncle, and their associates to share their principles of player and personal development. During my visit I had the opportunity to speak with both Toni Nadal and the academy director Marc Gorriz. I came away impressed. Rafa himself acknowledges that the academy business is not an easy business and that many discouraged him from proceeding on economic grounds. His motivation seems to come from a desire to share his experience with others. "The key to my achievements was more than just ‘talent'. It was the...