It has been one year since Rafa Nadal last occupied the world number one spot, and on Monday 4 November he climbed back to the peak of the ATP Rankings. The Spaniard’s stunning season, in which he reached at least the semi-finals in every tournament he played in –except for Acapulco (11/12)- means he will now begin a new period at the pinnacle of world tennis.

“I prefer being No. 1 to being No. 2 and No. 2 to being No. 3. And finishing the year as the No. 1 in the world is something special, I would love that to happen”, he admitted having reached the top of the rankings for the eighth time in his career, starting the tenth period in which a Spaniard has occupied that privileged position. “My priority is organising my schedule to play as much as possible. If I am the world number one at the end of the season with that schedule I’ll be very happy. But I won’t try to do anything special to be the No. 1”.

To get back to the peak of the ATP Tour he was just waiting for the numbers to fall into place, and the conditions he required all aligned during the last tournament of the Asian swing. Djokovic had to successfully defend the title he picked up last year in Shanghai, and he failed to do so (dropping from 1,000 points to 180) meaning that his total prior to the ATP Finals (Masters Cup) now puts Nadal ahead of the Serb, 640 points ahead be exact.

Nadal’s season was outstanding. “It is a year for which I can be happy about everything that was achieved”, began the Spaniard. “I won two Grand Slams [the French Open and the US Open], I’ve won other tournaments [the ATP Masters 1000s in Rome and Canada], I’m in a very good position in the world ranking [No. 1], so I’m happy to finish a year that didn’t seem as good as it was in the end”.

“It’s a season I can be happy with, I don’t like always talking about problems, but 2018 to the end of April 2019 was a year and half that was almost very good in terms of tennis but very bad in terms of injuries. I think that I played nine tournaments in 2018 and was only able to finish seven, that’s no good at all. Even so, I finished as No. 2 in the world and managed to win titles”, continued Nadal. “At the start of 2019 I had a lot of problems again. I had to withdraw in Brisbane, I had problems with my hand before starting in Acapulco, I had to withdraw from Indian Wells because of my knee... it was a long series of issues and luckily, with the help of my team and family, without a doubt we managed to turn it around”.

Nadal, who did not play in Shanghai, returned to the courts of Paris-Bercy, where he was forced to withdraw from his semi-final match (w.o. vs. Shapovalov). However, the Spaniard managed to add 360 points to his haul and will hold the No. 1 spot for at least two weeks, until the champion of the Masters Cup is decided on 17 November in London, where the king of 2019 will be crowned.

With the titles he claimed at this year’s French and US Opens, he is now just one Grand Slam victory behind Roger Federer’s 20 and closer than ever to becoming history’s most decorated player in the majors. In addition, the crowns at the ATP Masters 1000s in Rome and Canada make him the player with the most trophies in that category with 35. And now he has a new challenge in his sights; reaching 200 weeks as the world number one. Whatever happens, he will pick up two more to add to the 196 he has notched up since he first reached the position on 18 August 2008.

“The first time in my career that I was the world number one was in 2008. It was very important because I had been No. 2 for nearly four years and I was playing great tennis. It’s something that I wanted. Then finishing the year as No. 1 is even more important than being No. 1”, he revealed when asked about finishing another season at the top of the rankings.

More than ten years later, he is now the sixth on the list of players to have sat at the pinnacle of the ATP Ranking for the longest and he is battling to finish the season as No. 1 for the fifth time, a number that only Pete Sampras (6) has surpassed. All of this is the result of another stunning season in which Nadal has climbed back to the top of the rankings once more.

Having opened its doors in 2016, the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar has already become one of the leading sports centres in the world. Located in Manacor, Rafa Nadal’s native city, the Academy boasts state-of-the-art facilities and an infrastructure purpose built for the current era which will be strengthened with an expansion that will allow the centre to meet the huge demand from the players and fans that visit its facilities every year.

The expansion of the Academy will include the construction of a multi-use hall that will house 3 indoor fast courts, 7 covered clay courts that will allow players to be provided with an optimum service during days when adverse weather playing tennis difficult. This building will have spaces dedicated to fitness training, physiotherapy, psychology, nutrition and sports medicine that will provide players with a comprehensive service. In addition, a further 8 outdoor clay courts will be built.

The expansion, which was approved by law in June 2018 by the Balearic parliament and was today ratified by the Consell de Govern, will consolidate the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar as a driver for employment that will continue to boost the riches of Manacor and its district while strengthening sports tourism on the Balearic Islands. Consolidating the Rafa Nadal Academy’s commitment to local tennis, players from Manacor and its surroundings will continue to benefit from the training offered by the Es Centre competition school for children and adults.

The news means that the Rafa Nadal Academy and Es Centre will enjoy first-class sports facilities for the use of both international public and Mallorcans. After the expansion, the complex will have the following facilities:

-          19 outdoor fast courts

-          15 outdoor clay courts

-          4 indoor hard courts

-          7 covered clay courts

-          1 football pitch

-          7 padel courts

-          2 squash courts

-          1 semi-Olympic swimming pool

-          1 outdoor swimming pool

-          Fitness Centre

-          Spa

Also, in addition to its international renown through the Academy, a Sports Tourism Centre (Rafa Nadal Sports Centre), and the Rafa Nadal Museum Xperience, the facilities have a clear commitment to serve Mallorcans, who can enjoy a fitness centre (SPORTTIME), a café/restaurant (Sports Café) and a Wellness and Spa centre every day of the week. Also, the bilingual education college (Rafa Nadal International School) is open for all students who wish to be educated in Mallorca, without necessarily taking a tennis course.

A second phase of the project will see the Rafa Nadal Sports centre add to the 80 places available for sports tourism, giving the complex a total of 214 (compared to the current 134). Supervised places for young players at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar will not undergo any expansion, maintaining the 140 places that have been there since 2016.

The expansion of the Academy, where construction will get underway in 10 days, will allow the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar to consolidate itself as one of the main economic drivers in the area by increasing the number of direct jobs (it currently employs 302 people) and indirect jobs through the local companies that form part of the project.

History of the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar

Although the Academy project was born more than a decade ago in the minds of Rafa Nadal and his team, it was 3 November 2014 when official construction began on the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, a historic milestone that took place on 24 November with a symbolic act of the placing of the first stone.

After holding the first Summer Camp in summer 2016, the first class of students joined the Academy on 1 September. The official inauguration of the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar took place on 19 October 2016 at an emotional event that was attended by Roger Federer, José María Álvarez-Pallete (Chief Executive of Telefónica) and big names and personalities from the world of tennis.

Once the Academy had consolidated itself in Manacor, an expansion project begun with the opening of the “Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre” complexes in Costa Mujeres (Mexico) and Halkidiki (Greece) where tennis programmes are taught using the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar methodology.

It is not often you see players from the Philippines turning heads in the tennis world and, although it is very early to get excited, Alexandra Eala looks set for a stellar career. At least it would appear that way judging by the results the 14-year-old Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar player is producing this season.

In fact, she was part of a historic achievement for the Philippines. The country had not been represented in the girls’ draw at a World Junior Tennis Finals since 1993 and in August of this year in Prostejov (Czech Republic) she and her team finished in fifth place, eventually losing two ties against the two teams that would eventually meet in the final: USA and the Czech Republic.

After this team success, Eala started her preparations for the US Open Junior tournament, where she produced some wonderful tennis in her qualifying matches to reach the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time in the category. She also won a match in the main draw at Flushing Meadows against the Australian Annerly Poulos 6-1, 6-2, but Thai player Mai Napatt Nirundorn then put an end to her adventure in New York. However, in the doubles she notched up another victory alongside Elina Kalieva, also a Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar player.

Her solid performances on the hard courts of the USA gave the Filipino a huge confidence boost. From the Big Apple she travelled with her Rafa Nadal Academy coach Daniel Gómez to Stellenbosch (South Africa) to play in an ITF Junior Grade 2 tournament, where she reached the semi-finals and fell at the last hurdle for the doubles title, playing with Kalieva again.

But her biggest moment came a week later in Cape Town (South Africa). This time, in a Grade A tournament, Alexandra Eala took the individual spoils and reached the semi-finals in the doubles. It was the just reward for her new-found confidence and some outstanding tennis. However, the success did not stop there. While September was a certainly a month to remember, she managed to maintain her form in October.

She brought her game from South Africa to Osaka (Japan) last week, where she was back in competition on the ITF Junior Tour in another Grade A category tournament. On the Japanese hard court she produced some solid and aggressive tennis, as well as improving on her serve, combining sliced backhands with the nerve to pull off some drop shots. She reached another final and only a more experienced player three years her elder, the French Diane Parry, was able to keep her hands off the trophy. “Although her play was already very good at previous tournaments, in Japan she produced a more solid and aggressive game, demonstrating huge improvements on her serve, her backhand slice and her drop shots” explained Rafa Nadal Academy coach Daniel Gómez.

The results have not come as a surprise. Eala was already showing promise a few years back, and she already won Les Petits As in Tarbes and reached the final of the Orange Bowl Under-12. After a period recharging her batteries, she will be ready to travel again next month to Miami to battle for the title there. Given the hard work she has put in, there is no reason she cannot dream of more success. And as the Filipino proverb goes: “If you persevere, you will reap the fruits of your labour”.

Fifteen players from the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar and the Rafa Nadal International School have had an incredible week in California visiting the USA’s most prestigious universities.

The demanding schedule, which saw them visit nine universities in just seven days, has helped them obtain a global vision of the way university tennis works and how they combine studies with sport.

The RNA players were able to see the facilities at two of the most prestigious universities in division 1, which are in the top 15 of the NCAA ranking: the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) where ATP players such as Steve Johnson, Robert Farah, Daniel Kosakowski and Michael Look, among others, studied. In addition, during the visit, they had the opportunity to see ex-Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar player and student Enrique Luque train and compete in Pepperdine. Enrique acted as their guide, showing them the facilities at the university where he has now been studying for two years. “The standard of the players in division 1 is amazing, all the players we saw compete were very good and able to play in all positions in the team. I was amazed by their serving and volleying and that they are all really good at doubles”, said Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar player Vlad Popescu while they watched the Pepperdine team compete. “It truly has been an excellent experience and I would recommend it to everyone who can come and visit these universities and see the standard of tennis of these players, which is very good” added Academy player Xavier Sabach.

As well as visiting Enrique, the group was also able to visit Andrew J Herd and Giuliano Maderner, two players who have just started university after graduating from the Rafa Nadal International School.

Thanks to I-Con Sports, this week these fifteen players were able to learn much more about the US universities and now they will have a clearer idea when it comes to choosing where they would like to study in the future. It was a unique learning experience that will last them a lifetime.