Our team

When I started working with my nephew Rafa Nadal, when he was four years old, a key element came into my life that fuelled my great passion even more: tennis training.

I was the Director of a very modest tennis school, the one in Manacor, but my students had an outstanding name in the local and national tennis scene; but it has been with Rafa with whom I have had the opportunity to go through all the formative stages, the entry into the rigorous professional circuit and with whom I have lived some very significant years in the history of tennis.

I find it difficult to define myself as a tennis coach, or as an instructor. The concept I have of my own work goes much further than that. The word that best defines it is ‘trainer’ and this concept is not only limited to the tennis court. It encompasses many other aspects that have led me to live tennis as part of my life.

To put it succinctly, three aspects will guide the line of action of the Rafa Nadal Academy: technical work, character development and training in values.

Tennis requires a technique that has been well studied for many years. There are many manuals on the subject and there is also a lot of technology and advances that we have been gradually incorporating. The sport has evolved unspeakably over the last few decades and those who have not been able to adapt have been left out of the competition. But, as I understand it and according to our experience, elite tennis, high competition and ambition in this sport are nourished by other aspects that hardly appear in the manuals, even in the most current ones.

I can affirm that from the beginning of my nephew’s training, I paid as much attention to his technical learning as to the formation of his character. Without a character that is hardened to face the most demanding competition, it is very difficult to achieve lasting success. A well-trained character is one that has been prepared to endure the hardness of daily effort, the mastery of will, the development of the ability to improve and, not least, the illusion. I always thought that the lack of any of these elements would have a very negative impact on the results that my nephew pursues and on those of anyone who wants to dedicate themselves to tennis professionally.

In my thirty years of experience I have been able to see trajectories with very different endings despite initial expectations that can sometimes be very misleading. I have been able to observe and analyse the case of children with very promising initial talent and with very good conditions for this sport who, nevertheless, have fallen by the wayside. And others who, on the contrary, with less positive predictions, have entered a long and successful path or even great success in professional tennis. Both cases have corroborated my theory of character and the indisputably important role it plays in a successful career.

Finally, just as I have tried to subordinate my work with Rafael to personal principles, I will continue in this project to pay the utmost attention to the development of values that are of unquestionable importance to us: correctness, respect and good manners. According to my concept of life, not everything counts in the pursuit of goals. Along with professional success, we have always striven for satisfaction and happiness. It is much easier to be happy with a careful performance and with a job that does not neglect the aspects that make us more human.

The conclusions I have reached are backed up by my personal experience in all the formative stages with my nephew and by having had the chance to be a direct witness of some remarkable years in the history of tennis. I hope to have the opportunity to put them into practice with any student who wants to live with passion the learning of a discipline that will basically comprise these three aspects mentioned: technique, head and correction.

Dear student, parent, coach, tennis fan or any other person interested to a greater or lesser extent in the Rafa Nadal Academy project:

My name is Carlos Costa. My whole life has been linked to the world of tennis, and I will never be sufficiently grateful to this sport, not only for having achieved my dream of becoming a professional tennis player but also for what it has given me at other levels: experiences that have shaped my personality, values learned, friendships and acquaintances along the way, places visited, living in an atmosphere of fair competition, among many other things.

The childhood of a child who dreams of becoming a professional tennis player is different from that of most other children, since the illusion of achieving your goal takes you to unusual levels of effort and discipline from an early age. I was lucky enough to become a professional tennis player, reaching the ATP top 10, being part of the Davis Cup team and participating in the Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games. During my career as a tennis player, I lived moments of great satisfaction but also very hard moments. It is a difficult time, you are still very young and you face situations that require maturity. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to always be surrounded by great professionals who gave me the vision and experience I needed. Undoubtedly, their contribution was vital not only for that moment but also for my later professional career.

Once I retired, I continued my professional life in a multinational company as a representative of top-level tennis players such as Feliciano López, Fernando Verdasco, David Ferrer, Nicolás Almagro, David Nalbandian, Svetlana Kuznetsova and, of course, since 2001 with a young Rafa. This new professional career allowed me to bring my experience to the multitude of decisions that a young athlete has to make along the way. Working with them, with their teams and with their families, I had a lot of experiences that became part of my professional background.

And from there, Rafa, his team and his family. Our journey, which has been more successful than I could ever have dreamed, has been full of all kinds of experiences: good times, bad times, joys, worries… Rafa’s extraordinary maturity has enabled him to embark on a brilliant professional career. I can only feel fortunate to have shared so many moments, so many experiences with Rafa and his family, not only on a professional level but also on a personal level. The values of Rafa and his family are essential to understand the development of his career and his team.

In 2013, after 12 years working with Rafa, we decided to leave the multinational in order to embark on a new direction and thus be able to carry out other projects. First came the Foundation, which today helps more than 600 children. Now comes another great challenge, a project that we have been working on for years and which excites Rafa, his family, his uncle Toni and his whole team: the Rafa Nadal Academy. It has been a long road together and we want to contribute our knowledge to young tennis players to help them achieve the highest sporting level without forgetting their academic training, all based on the values that represent Rafa and his environment. Without a doubt, respect, discipline and effort, together with the positive mentality to overcome any adversity, will be the fundamental pillars in the training of our students.

For my part, I will do everything I can to make our students’ stay a special one and to be a very positive influence in their education and in their lives.