The Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy in Kuwait. (Google Images)
Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal confirmed the opening of the new branch of his Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy in Kuwait on Wednesday.
Nadal posted pictures of the opening ceremony to millions of his followers and sports fans across the world via his social media handles’ Instagram and Twitter.
The proceedings will kick off with an exhibition match between Nadal and his friend and fellow countrymate, the former World No.3 David Ferrer.
Ever since opening the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy by Movistar in 2016 at Mallorca, Nadal’s hometown, the academy has attracted some leading juniors across the world, offering them a chance to work in top-tier facilities.
The academy helps them improve their game under the watchful eyes of some of the best coaches and moreover under the close eyes of 19-time Grand Slam winner Nadal himself.
Nadal had earlier launched the ‘Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre’ in Mexico and Greece respectively, and Kuwait was his supposedly next destination, opened with an aim of taking the game from the local to the highest level.
The Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy by Movistar has joined hands with property developer Tamdeen Group and has produced a brand-new Shaikh Jaber Al Abdullah Al Jaber Al Sabah International Tennis Complex in Kuwait.
The State-of-the-art facility includes 18 courts, eight outdoor, eight indoor, an open court with 1,500 seats and covered arena with more than 5,000 seats.
A five-star hotel and restaurants will also be part of the complex and would be the gathering point of the Kuwait Tennis Federation in the days to come.
Rafael Nadal slipped one place down to second in the world ATP rankings after his quarterfinal exit at the recently concluded Australian Open.
The one-time Australian Open champion’s hopes of another title suffered a major blow when he was knocked out of the tournament by eventual runner-up Dominic Thiem.
Austrian Thiem put up a gritty show to ouster the former World No.1 in a gruelling encounter which lasted more than four hours.
Meanwhile, Serbian Novak Djokovic jumped from second to first place in the rankings after claiming his eighth Australian Open title recently.
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