Ivan Ivanov increases the achievements of the Rafa Nadal Academy at Wimbledon

10.07.2025

RNA Editorial.

At 16 years old, Ivan Ivanov has won his first Junior Grand Slam title after defeating American Ronit Karki 6-2, 6-3 in the Wimbledon final. The Bulgarian player, who has been training at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar since 2020, had recently reached the semifinals of Roland Garros, thus achieving the biggest title of his career.

Ivanov controlled the final throughout, not conceding a single break point. The Manacor-based Bulgarian also capitalized on his opportunities to break his opponent’s serve three times in a match that he closed out in 57 minutes. Ivan thus becomes the first Bulgarian to win London since Grigor Dimitrov in 2008.

At the end of the match, Ivan went up to the stands to embrace his coach Jeremy Paysan and Marc Górriz, the academy’s head coach. Almost simultaneously, he received congratulations via social media from Rafa Nadal himself, who also wished to congratulate the entire academy team, which has nurtured a player who has progressed to become the best player under 17 in the ATP rankings.

Thanks to this victory at Wimbledon, Ivan Ivanov extends the list of Junior Grand Slam titles won by players trained at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar. The Bulgarian adds his singles title to those already achieved by Daniel Rincón (US Open 2021), Alex Eala (US Open 2022), Martín Landaluce (2022), and Alina Korneeva (Australian Open and Roland Garros 2023).

In 2025, the Rafa Nadal Academy celebrated Max Exted winning the Australian Open doubles title, a sport in which Alex Eala (Australian Open and Roland Garros), Coleman Wong (US Open and Australian Open), and Yaroslav Demin (Roland Garros) have also won titles. In total, the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar players now have 12 Junior Grand Slam trophies.