Anabel Medina joins the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar
Valencian ex-tennis player and current captain of the Spanish Billie Jean King Cup team Anabel Medina Garrigues will join the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar in September as the new head of women’s tennis.
During her long career as a player, Anabel (ex-world number 16), won 11 WTA titles and reached a further seven finals. She was also world number 3 in doubles, where she claimed 28 titles. Her resumé includes two French Open doubles championships and a silver medal from the Olympic Games in Beijing, where she played alongside Vivi Ruano.
After retiring from the professional game, Anabel undertook the challenge of coaching Jelena Ostapenko, the Latvian player who won the 2017 French Open and reached number seven in the world under her tutelage. She then became the Spanish Billie Jean King Cup captain, a position she took up in 2017. During that time Anabel has taken Spain to third place in the world thanks to 8 victories from 11 heats as captain. She has also managed to qualify Spain for the last 3 Billie Jean King Cup finals, including that which will take place in Seville in November.
Anabel will remain Spain’s captain as she joins the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, where she will be the head of women’s tennis. “I’m so excited to join such an amazing project, into which Rafa and his team are putting so much love. I know the academy very well and I think their facilities are spectacular and ideal for honing young talent. Also, the people that work there are great professionals and have some values that really speak to me. I really can’t wait to start working alongside them”, Medina stated.
Rafa Nadal himself wanted to welcome the RNA’s new head of women’s tennis: “We’re so happy to be able to announce the appointment of Anabel. I spent many years alongside her on tour and I think her huge experience as a player and coach will bring a lot to the players that train with us here in Mallorca. It will soon be 7 years since we opened the doors to the academy and we are still very keen to grow. To achieve our goals it is fundamental to have a great team who know how to transmit not only solid technical tennis knowledge, but also solid values to the children and therefore we are very happy about Anabel’s arrival”.
Anabel will bolster the technical team at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, which includes, as well as Toni Nadal, great coaches with enormous prestige on tour, such as Gabriel Urpy (ex-coach of Conchita Martínez and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario), Joan Bosch (ex-coach of Carlos Moyà), Gustavo Marcaccio (forms part of Rafa’s coaching team), Marc Górriz (ex-coach to as many as 10 Top 100 ATP players), Pedro Clar (Casper Ruud’s coach), Tomeu Salvá (has formed part of the teams of Rafa Nadal, Casper Ruud and Jaume Munar) and Joel Figueras (ex-coach to USTA players and Carlos Costa, Francis Roig and Joan Aguilera, among others).
