The Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre in Hong Kong opens its doors
In an emotional ceremony in Hong Kong, the world’s third “Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre” has been official opened. Located on the premises of the Hong Kong Golf & Tennis Academy (HKGTA), the sports complex has 7 outdoor tennis courts, one indoor tennis court, two mini tennis courts, a gym zone and a sports store with racket stringer, it will also have an area with décor inspired by some of the trophies and images from Rafa Nadal’s career.
Carlos Costa, Head of Business Development at the Academy, spoke of his satisfaction with the inauguration. “Thanks to its infrastructure, its great location and the great site the facilities form a part of, we hope that this Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre can become one of the most prestigious in the region and it will hopefully produce great players in the future”.
Monday saw the start of the tennis programmes, which have been designed using the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar methodology and with coaches who have moved from Mallorca to the Asian nation. The director of the Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre will be Pedro Pissarra, a Portuguese coach with extensive teaching experience. The Italian Giorgia Venzi, one of the directors of the tennis for adults programmes, has also travelled from Manacor to Hong Kong. In addition, the rest of the team that works at the Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre has been in Mallorca in recent weeks receiving training in the RNA methodology on everything regarding the fundamental aspects of the tennis training system, physical preparation, nutrition, sports psychology, technology and values with the heads of each department.
As well as Giorgia Venzi and Pedro Pissarra, the presentation event was attended by Karen Yeung, Director of Sports and Education at HKGTA, Don So, Director Business at New World Development and Michael Stevens, General Manager of HKGTA.
The Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre (RNTC) complexes were conceived as a new line of sports centres to complement the Rafa Nadal Academies in Mallorca and Kuwait. The tennis complexes are located within first-class holiday resorts at premium international destinations. After the opening of the first Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre in the heart of the Mexican Caribbean (Costa Mujeres), and the RNTC on the peninsula of Halkidiki (one of the most popular tourist destinations in Greece), the third centre of this type has now officially opened in Hong Kong.
Rafa Nadal himself talked of his excitement at the implementation of this project, which will be complete in less than three months: “We’re very excited about this new international project in Hong Kong. Since the opening of the Academy in Mallorca 5 years ago, we have always been interested in expanding our methodology to more countries in order to reach as many people as possible. To us, having trusted partners is fundamental and therefore I’m grateful to the HKGTA team for their great confidence in the project. The facilities are spectacular and we’ll have great coaches at the helm of the Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre. I’m sure it will be a success and that we will gradually continue our international expansion.”
The goal of the Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre in Hong Kong will be to offer first-class tennis coaching that helps promote this sport in the country thanks to the various programmes tailored to the needs of different players. These programmes were developed using an
exclusive training system based on the successful experience of Rafa Nadal and his coaching staff during almost 20 years on the professional tour.
There are now five international sports complexes that bear Rafa Nadal’s name; Mallorca, Kuwait, Mexico, Greece and Hong Kong. Both the 22-time Grand Slam champion and his team aim to continue the international expansion into more countries in the coming years.
