Today in Manacor, Amazon Prime Video, Audible and Movistar+ presented the new docuseries and podcast on the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar.

Onda Cero journalist Edu García was the host of an event that included Rafa Nadal, Toni Nadal, Director of the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, Ricardo Cabornero, Head of Prime Video Content in Spain, Juan Baixeras, Country Manager of Audible - España, Rafael Fernández de Alarcón, director of advertising and sponsorship at Telefónica and Miguel Toral, the executive producer of both projects.

The four-episode series and the eight-episode podcast will explore the training methodology of future champions from the Academy and will premiere on Prime Video and Audible on 17 September. Rafa Nadal wanted to highlight the importance of this audiovisual project allowing thousands of people to learn about the work being done at the Academy, which was founded 5 years ago: “We’re very happy with the final result of the docuseries and podcast episodes. Their stars are the young players who are fighting to fulfil their dreams and the great team of professionals we have here to help them to do that. I hope everyone likes it”.

The Academy, created by Rafa Nadal in 2016, was conceived with the goal of educating through sport by means of academic programmes that positively influence the human development and comprehensive learning of the young players who travel to Manacor from every corner of the planet. Both the podcast and the docuseries seek to show in detail how the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar combines high-performance sports coaching with school teaching in order to produce excellent tennis players and people that benefit society by following the inspiring values of Rafa himself. Rafa Nadal Academy includes interviews with the people that work with Rafa to run this ambitious sports centre. The Academy’s director of tennis Toni Nadal, ex-world No. 1 Carlos Moya and Carlos Costa (Top 10 in the ATP and member of the Academy’s board) will be among the people explaining the main aspects of a training methodology that is unlike any other in the world. Also, the Audible Original podcast is narrated by journalist Edu García, who will guide listeners through the eight episodes.

In addition, Movistar+ will premiere the content on #Vamos, the platform’s exclusive multi-sport channel, with the first episode of the docuseries available on 17 September for all of its customers. Subsequent episodes will be released every Friday from that date, all of which will then be available on demand.

After one year of filming, Friday 17 September will see the world premiere of the Rafa Nadal Academy documentary series, which will be shown simultaneously on Amazon Prime and Movistar+. Today, the official trailer was unveiled for the four-episode docuseries, which explores the training methodology of future champions from the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar.

The four episodes of Rafa Nadal Academy will show the progress of various players at the academy during one season of coaching at one of the world’s leading sports centres.

The Academy, created by Rafa Nadal in 2016, was conceived with the goal of educating through sport by means of academic programmes that positively influence the human development and comprehensive learning of the young players who go to Manacor from every corner of the planet. The docuseries seeks to reflect how the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar combines high-performance sports coaching with school teaching in order to produce excellent tennis players and people that are great for society by following the inspiring values of Rafa himself.

The Rafa Nadal Academy docuseries will premiere on Prime Video in over 240 countries and will include interviews with the people that work with Rafa to run this ambitious sports centre. The Academy’s director of tennis Toni Nadal, ex-world No. 1 Carlos Moya and Carlos Costa (Top 10 in the ATP and member of the Academy’s board) will be among the people explaining the main aspects of a training methodology that is unlike any other in the world. All of them will also appear in the 8 episodes of a podcast on the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, which will be released on Audible.

In addition, Movistar+ will premiere the content on #Vamos, the platform’s exclusive multi-sport channel, with the first episode of the docuseries available on 17 September for all of its customers. Subsequent episodes will be released every Friday from that date, all of which will then be available on demand.

The docuseries will be officially presented at an event that will take place on Wednesday 15 September at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar facilities, which will be attended by Rafa Nadal himself.

Any media agencies wishing to cover the event should confirm their attendance by means of an email to prensa@rafanadalacademy.com.

Lukas Lacko arrived in Manacor a week ago as one of the favourites to take the spoils at the Rafa Nadal Open by Sotheby’s International Realty and the Slovakian did not disappoint. The ex-world number 44 added a fourteenth ATP Challenger Tour crown to his haul on Sunday after closing out a perfect week on the centre court of the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar.

Under the gaze of the fans who turned out at the Academy, Lacko came back in the final against the tournament’s first seed Yasutaka Uchiyama, 5-7, 7-6(8), 6-1. He even managed to see off a match point for the Japanese player in the second-set tiebreak. From there, he rode a wave of confidence all the way to his first title of the season and added his name to the event’s winners’ circle, which also includes Bernard Tomic, the 2018 champion, and Emil Ruusuvuori (2019).

 “It wasn’t easy to come here and play well, but from the first training session I felt that the conditions really suited my style of play. I tried to give my all, and after a long time I finally reached a final and won it”, admitted the Slovak after winning the trophy.

With 495 matches of experience on the ATP Challenger Tour (297-198), the current world No. 197 is a voice of authority when it comes to the circuit. “If you compare this tournament to other Challengers, the standard is very high”, he said of the tournament hosted at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar from 30 August to 5 September. “At a Challenger event, you don’t expect this level of organisation or facilities, everything is really good. You really enjoy playing here, it’s incredible”.

Joan Suasi, Director of Rafa Nadal Open by Sotheby’s International Realty, thanked the over 9,700 fans who made the trip to the event over the week and followed all the health protocols. “Despite all the circumstances, I think this was the best edition of the tournament. Both players and fans alike enjoyed it and the public were extraordinary given the circumstances. Hopefully we can continue to put on many editions of this tournament”, he said after the trophy presentation.  

Rafa Nadal has announced that the third edition of the ATP Challenger Tour tournament hosted by the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar will be staged at the end of summer. The news means that the Rafa Nadal Open by Sotheby´s International Realty will take place from 29 August to 5 September in Manacor. In an online video, Rafa was keen to highlight the significance of hosting an event of this type in Manacor:

“Hello everyone, I wanted to tell you all how excited we are to hold Challenger event Rafa Nadal Open by Sotheby’s International Realty at the Academy again this year. It means so much to us to be able to enjoy a week of high-quality tennis in Manacor. In previous years world-class players such as Andy Murray and Bernard Tomic, among many others, have participated. This year will be the third edition and within the limitations of the restrictions we are still under, we’re going to try and make sure the tournament is a party for all the fans that would like to come and visit us. I think that everyone had a very good time in the previous two years, because as well as seeing great tennis, they were able to enjoy all the leisure activities. We’re sure that we’ll be able to make it a reality again this year. I believe that the tennis players who come to the Academy know they are in a fantastic place to stage a tournament, as they have everything they need to hand and they appreciate the facilities and want to visit them again. We’re sure the Challenger tournament will be a success again this year. At the Academy we’re always committed to growth and organising events. We will try and continue to move forward in this spirit. Love to everyone”.

In the event’s first edition in 2018, Australian player Bernard Tomic became the tournament’s first champion, he was then dethroned in 2019 by the Finnish Emil Ruusuvuori. Ex-world number 1 and three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray became one of the biggest attractions in the last edition of the Rafa Nadal Open by Sotheby´s International Realty. His unmistakable style captured the imaginations of almost 10,000 fans, who were lucky enough to enjoy his talent in Manacor.

As with the two previous editions, tickets for the tournament will be free and fans will be able to download them in the coming weeks on the website www.rafanadalopen.com. Capacity will be limited in compliance with the measures adopted by the health authorities.