Rafael Nadal was born in Manacor in Spain on the island of Mallorca. Whilst there earlier this summer we visited his museum and Academy to learn more about his life and his support for young tennis adepts now with great coaches and a dedicated school and here’s what we found out!
The Museum set across 2 floors starts with an interactive ’playroom area’ where you can test out your own sporting skills with a tennis game simulation, f1 driving, cycling, rowing and VR.
The rest of the museum showcases Rafa Nadal’s trophies, equipment and career highlights as well some fantastic sports memrobillia donated by sporting legends from tennis and other disciplines. There are lots of brilliant donations in there from worldwide renowned athletes incl. Christiano Ronaldo! That will make you gasp with excitement so if you’re a sports fan we definitely recommend it. Just take a look at our highlight pics below for a taste.
A bit more about the man himself
Rafael Nadal is famous not only for arguably being the GOAT ( greatest of all time) tennis player but also for his rituals on and off court. Before he walks onto a court we can often see him jumping up and down as if a very tall hurdle was just in front of him. He alo takes his jacket off doing so. Trying to intimidate other players before walking onto a court with his athletic skills? Guess we’ll have to keep guessing. He starts a match by putting two water bottles one in front of a chair perfectly in line and labels facing the court. Once on court you will often see him pulling his hair behind his ear and adjusting his shorts before serve a routine he very rarely misses and will be familiar to all tennis fans. Walking off to rest between games he makes sure he does not step on any of the line. Always on court and ready to compete! No one is sure why he does it all. During interviews he explained it couple of times as his way of focusing on the game. If it works why not?
He is often referred to as a "king of clay" winning 13 French Open titles since the first one in 2005 only missing out in 2016 when Novak Djokovic lifted the trophy, Stan Warwinka in 2015 and Roger Federer in 2009.
Overall he won 20 Grand Slams: one Australian Open title, thirteen French Open titles, two Wimbledon titles and four US open titles. These tournaments are played in that order each so tune on. He also won an olympic gold in the 2008 games in Beijing.
So next time you are on holiday in Mallorca definitely pay a short visit to the Rafael Nadal Academy and museum where you can find out more about how the legend started 😉
By
Sister_E