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October 12, 2015

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Home » Supplement » Tennis Masters Cup

Nadal promotes his upcoming academy to young Chinese

Source: Shanghai Daily | October 12, 2015, Monday | Print Edition

Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal has been actively promoting his tennis academy in China with his uncle and coach Toni Nadal making a rare trip to the mainland.

The Rafa Nadal Academy is expected to open in May next year but a website was launched with quite fanfare in August.

“It’s a very special project for me, through which I hope to convey everything that I have learned during my development as a person and as an athlete, as well as the experiences that I have gone through during my career as a tennis professional,” Nadal says of his academy on the website.

At the China Open in Beijing last week, Nadal practiced with a group of children and youngsters, giving them tips on improving their backhands and mastering shots.

Rafa’s academy will be based in his hometown of Manacor in the Balearic Islands.

“It is a project we’ve been working on for years and it’s in the final construction phase, opening in May 2016,” the Spaniard, widely regarded as one of the finest clay court players in history, told the crowd.

“We expect to have many Chinese and Asian players, and we’ll try to coach the players who stand out on the tour in the following generations,” the 14-time Grand Slam champion added.

The academy will stress on education and training of youngsters between the ages of 10 and 18 years. They will have the opportunity to receive a scholarship for a tennis career or to move to a US university.

Toni Nadal, who will work full-time in the academy, said: “Tennis has been Rafael’s life and his dream for quite a number of years has been to turn the center where he practiced as a kid into a huge tennis center.

“The academy will not forget about the school training of students, it will offer classes in English and it will have an academic program based on the US education system, helping students to compete for athletic scholarships at American universities.

“There will be 26 courts in the academy, which will have high-level coaching staff,” Toni Nadal said.

Former player Carlos Costa and his former coach, Joel Figueras, and Juan Bosch, who coached 1998 French Open champion Carlos Moya, will be on the staff with the Nadals.

Costs may be a factor however. The academy will offer several programs: the “Summer Camp” (a week in July and August) will cost 2,110 euros (US$2,379), while the weekly rate for the months from September to June will be 1,830 euros. The price of the monthly program is 6,588 euros.

The full course (from September to June) will cost a whopping 56,000 euros.

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