Punta Cana, home to a new Rafa Nadal Tennis Center in 2026

25.03.2025

RNA Editorial.

On the occasion of Rafa Nadal’s recent visit to the Dominican Republic to officially open the new hotel from the brand ZEL, the upcoming opening of a new Rafa Nadal Tennis Center in the Caribbean country was officially announced.

On the site of the Meliá hotel complex, this new Rafa Nadal Tennis Center will comprise 5 tennis courts, 4 padel courts and 6 pickleball courts. In addition, the centre will have a gym with Technogym machines, a sports apparel and merchandise store, and a small exhibition with some of the trophies Rafa Nadal won throughout his career.

Tennis lovers who visit the Rafa Nadal Tennis Center in Punta Cana will be able to enjoy an unforgettable holiday while they improve their tennis technique with an exclusive training system based on the experience acquired by Rafa Nadal and his coaching staff during over 20 years on the professional tour.

Rafa Nadal himself spoke of his happiness at the future inauguration: “My days in the Dominican Republic were very special. Having a new Rafa Nadal Tennis Center in Punta Cana is part of the international expansion of our methodology and I’m sure that it will help to promote participation in tennis. Having seen the project first-hand, the facilities, and the personnel running it, I’m sure it will be a success.”

For his part, Gabriel Escarrer, CEO of Meliá Hotels International, spoke of the importance of such positive synergy: “After inaugurating the ZEL Punta Cana with Rafa, the drive for ‘active wellbeing’ will now be complemented with the announcement of the new Rafa Nadal Tennis Center, which will offer an additional experience for an unforgettable holiday for all Meliá customers in the Dominican Republic, combining the warmest hospitality, the most vibrant energy, and the beauty of two iconic cultures.”

The Rafa Nadal Tennis Centers were conceived to complement the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar in Mallorca. They are tennis complexes located within luxury holiday resorts at top destinations, both national and international. This new site in Punta Cana will have a wide range of leisure options for tennis players to complement the prestigious quality of the Meliá hotel resorts.

The complex, which will be inaugurated in January 2026, will be the eighth sports centre that implements the Rafa Nadal training methodology and the sixth ‘Rafa Nadal Tennis Center’ after the successful implementation of the RNTCs located in Costa Mujeres (Mexico), Sani (Greece), Hong Kong and the soon to be open complex in Marbella. These centres complement the two academies located in Manacor and Kuwait and the Rafa Nadal Tennis Program created recently in Egypt.