This afternoon I drove to Manacor where the Rafael Nadal Academy is located, on the outskirts of the town. I’ve been there before but it looks like some big changes are coming…lots of construction was going on, of an indoor tennis center I believe.

The academy itself is quite large, with a restaurant (which was busy at 2:30 in the afternoon) nice looking dorms, a Rafa Nadal tennis museum, lots of hard courts (each and every one of which had singles sticks up!), a small soccer field, and next door, at the Rafael Nadal Club, a well stocked pro shop, red clay courts and padel courts.

I watched a little of the training…it seemed like a typical tennis camp, with players who were of different levels both of ability and of interest in being there. There were about 2 pros for every dozen players or so. At the red clay courts there were six boys and 2 pros and the level was higher. Of course they were using Babolat balls (a type of Babolat Gold).

The academy was about 40 minutes from where I am staying, west of me, and after leaving there I went to train in Marraxti which was another 35-40 minutes away…I ended up doing a big circle of the middle of the island. There are a lot of small towns with nice looking churches, from afar anyway, and lots of agriculture.