Rafael Nadal: 'I know how difficult it was for my parents...'

Immediately after opening in 2016, the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar has become one of the world's leading sports centers. Located in Manacor, the birthplace of Rafael Nadal, the Academy boasts state-of-the-art facilities and an infrastructure adapted to the new times that will be strengthened with an expansion that will allow it to meet the enormous demand of players and fans who visit its facilities every year.

Rafael Nadal and his academy are being showcased in a documentary as a part of Spain's post-pandemic recovery. Pertinently, social distancing was ensured by Nadal during the filming that took place at the academy.

Nadal: 'I have been able to think about how we can do things'

"Like everyone else, confinement has taken its toll on me, but I have also taken a positive side from it: the time I have been able to have to think about how we can do things better and how we can build the world we want,” Rafael Nadal said. “I have been young and I know how difficult it was for my parents to help me try to fulfill my dream. In the end it was school on the one hand, training on the other, tournaments on the other side, which was a lot of things and very complicated and it took a lot of time,” he added, while pointing out how the academy solves that problem for the students. Rafael Nadal believes this year's U.S. Open champion will still feel like a Grand Slam winner despite the tournament losing some glamour due to the withdrawal of top players amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Spaniard said on Wednesday. "The tournament is still big, it's a Grand Slam," Nadal told reporters during a video conference from Spain. "I am not that kind of a person, I am not that arrogant to say that the tournament in not big enough because I'm not playing. Of course, it will be a tournament under special circumstances but still a Grand Slam, and the winner will feel it, like a Grand Slam winner." The United States has more than 4.79 million cases of Covid-19 and more than 157,000 have died. The US Open organisers (USTA) are creating a bio-secure 'bubble' in New York to hold the tournament without spectators. Nadal, a 19-times slam winner, feels there could be more withdrawals in the coming weeks but hoped the situation will evolve favourably for the tournament to be held.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3fCugf3