• The Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar hosted the graduation of 39 students who have come to the end of their secondary education at the Rafa Nadal International School.

• With just one month left until the start of the Olympic Games, Ona Carbonell inspired and motivated the young students to continue to make their dreams come true.

Manacor, 16 June 2021. After a cordial and emotional academic ceremony, 39 students ended their school education by graduating from the Rafa Nadal International School, the international American school that forms part of the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar.

As is now traditional, Rafa Nadal presided the ceremony and addressed the families, teachers and young students to congratulate them on completing a very important stage of their lives. During his speech, Rafa highlighted the importance of fighting to overcome adversity:

“In the future, we will be following your journeys and enjoying all of your professional and personal successes, of which I’m sure there will be many. But I have to tell you that it will not everything on the journey will be joyful. You will have bad moments, tough periods and many obstacles that come between you and your goals. And it will be these painful moments that will help you to grow as students, as tennis players, as professionals and, above all, as people. In those moments, you should be humble enough to face the difficult situations, look forward with optimism and do whatever it takes to overcome the barriers in front of you. And from there, there is only one formula: work harder, fight harder and fully dedicate yourself. Sometimes you will achieve what you are looking for in a short space of time and sometimes it will take longer. But if you give 100%, you will never have any regrets. You know that I don’t often give advice, but if there’s one thing I have learned throughout these years it is to always pick myself up. I have given previous classes a message that I will repeat to you today because I believe it is essential; always remember the good people who help you grow and stay away from the harmful ones that don’t bring you anything. If you use the support of your family, positive friendships and good mentors, everything will be easier. Only then can you too be leaders in the future and help the people you will cross paths with throughout your lives”.

While at previous graduations the guests have been Pau Gasol, David Ferrer, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova (the latter two virtually), this year the guest of honour was Ona Carbonell. With one month to go until she competes in the Olympic Games, the captain of the Spanish synchronised swimming team was a source of inspiration for the students, not only because of her sporting achievements, but also because she has made a name for herself for combining maternity and elite sport. In her speech, she also had words of motivation for the 39 graduates:

“Winning or losing is part of the learning process. It is a road that will lead some of us to be professionals in the sport we love and others to understand it better from the outside, applying their learnings to other fields of life. In any case, for all of you it is not a question of winning or losing, or of becoming or not becoming a professional (believe me). It is a question of giving everything, training to improve, day by day, to make the most of the opportunities we have, the coaches we have. That is one of the strengths I admire in Rafa (among others) and that is what I’m sure you’ve learnt at this Academy”.

Alexander Marcus Walker (Director of the school), Theeus Devitt, (Academic Director) and graduates Caroline Hannah (USA), Henrieta Licha (Slovakia) and Marc Alborch (Spain) also spoke at the ceremony.

While the ceremony was attended by a restricted number of family members, those that could not be there were able to follow the ceremony on a live stream that was set up for them.

The ceremony ended with the presentation of the diplomas by Rafa Nadal himself, who individually congratulated each of the young students, who are now preparing for the beginnings of their university lives.

What is the Rafa Nadal International School?

The Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar is also home to the Rafa Nadal International School, a mixed Anglo-American international educational school for children from 3 to 18 years of age. While the original concept of the school was designed with the goal of enabling the players at the Academy to be able to combine their tennis and academic educations, from the start, Rafa wanted to open its doors to the children of Mallorca, whether or not they played tennis, so that everyone could benefit from the facilities and the academic programme. This means the players at the RNA share the classrooms with other students, which encourages rewarding exchanges and educational and cultural experiences.

The syllabus at the RNIS has been designed with a distinctive programme that prepares all students both professionally and personally through the development of the intellectual, emotional and social aptitudes necessary for having a positive impact on their respective communities. The modern, comfortable, technological and sporty facilities at the RNIS constitute the ideal environment for learning.

One of the Rafa Nadal International School's biggest goals is to offer its students the opportunity to access a university in the United States or any other part of the world, with a tennis and/or academy scholarship. In the 2020/2021 academic year, 100% of the tennis-playing students that graduated and planned to go to the USA to study, were accepted and received scholarships at US universities. The rest of the graduates started their university education at centres in the UK, Spain, Germany, Holland and the UAE.

For the second consecutive year, Alex Eala has won a junior Grand Slam in doubles. While last year, the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar player opened her major account at the Australian Open, on Saturday 12 June she added to it at the French Open alongside Oksana Selekhmeteva.

The 16-year-old Filipino and the Russian, with whom she forms a solid team, proved why they were the number one seeds by taking down Russian player Maria Bondarenko and the Hungarian Amarissa Kiara Toth in the final, 6-0, 7-5 in just 67 minutes.

“It means so much to me to have won the trophy today with my teammate Oksana”, said Eala, who climbed to a new high of No. 2 in the junior world ranking this year. “It was an incredible experience this week. I was unable to get the result I wanted in singles, but I’m happy to have recovered to fight for the doubles. I’ll never forget this week”.

As fate would have it, Court 13 was chosen for the girls’ junior doubles final, the same number where she won last year at Melbourne Park. Matilde Muñoz, one of her coaches at the Academy, was in the box to witness their stunning performances as they saw off Laskevich/Scherbinina (first round), Costoulas/Hietaranta (second round), Marcinko/Szabanin (quarter-finals) and Alvisi/Pigato (semi-finals) without losing a single set.

“They’ve been working well for a couple of weeks. They arrived in Paris after playing another final [at the $25,000 Platja d’Aro]”, explained Muñoz. “They started slightly hesitantly, a little distracted by singles defeats, but they were able to overcome that and they played increasingly well through the competition. They had some great matches and a good week. This win will give them a lot of confidence and energy to continue, because the work is tough and long, and these things always help you to keep working and believing in the process”.

Their next big challenge will come at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, where Alex will be back in the mix for the singles and doubles. Good luck at Wimbledon!

The RNA is happy to announce its first RNA tennis camps in Philadelphia (at Swarthmore College), Chicago (at the Oak Brook Park Tennis Center), and Miami (at Barry University) from June 28 until July 17th, 2021 in partnership with Avanza Sports. 

The Academy will also be present in Thailand from December 27th, 2021 until January 8th, 2022, delivering its programs at the British International School of Phuket, also with Avanza as the operator.

Youth players and adults in both the US and Thailand will train with the official Rafa Nadal Academy training staff to improve their game and maximize their potential under the Academy's unique methodology of training.

About Avanza 

Avanza Sports is one of the main sports event operators in the US with a presence in 26 cities through its partnerships with the Real Madrid Foundation and the Rafa Nadal Academy. Avanza has years of expertise bringing - through its events - fans and sports enthusiasts closer to the brands and athletes they love, and offering its participants unique international travel experiences linked with the world of sports. 

Before making the trip to Monte Carlo for the start of the clay swing, Rafa Nadal wanted to see for himself the progress in the construction of the new sports facilities at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar.

During his visit, Rafa had the opportunity to evaluate the quality of the 7 covered clay courts, which are now very close to completion. He also inspected the progress on the indoor fast courts and the new spaces for fitness training, physiotherapy, psychology, nutrition and sports medicine and office zone, which will be in the centre of the new building.

In recent months Rafa has been very involved in the decision-making process for this extension, paying close attention to every detail so that the new sports facilities can set a global benchmark. The goal is for the extension to be ready for the start of the Annual Programme in September. The Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar currently has 140 students living in the Academy, where they combine their training with their academic studies.

The new courts will also be available for use by all Mallorcans that are currently members of the Rafa Nadal Club, a Fitness, Tennis, Padel and Swimming club that was opened in September and has been well received by the local public.

After the extension, which is expected to be completed in the coming months, the complex will have the following facilities:

-          19 outdoor hard courts

-          15 outdoor clay courts (7 of which will be built in a second phase)

-          4 indoor hard courts

-          7 covered clay courts

-          1 football pitch

-          7 outdoor padel courts

-          6 indoor padel courts

-          1 Padbol court

-          2 squash courts

-          1 semi-Olympic swimming pool

-          1 outdoor pool

-          Fitness Centre

-          Spa and aesthetics centre