Rafael Nadal was seen watching Indian young tennis phenom Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi train at his Mallorca facility.
Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi is one of India’s most promising tennis prospects, and she continued her rise to the professional ranks by enrolling in the Rafael Nadal Academy in Manacor, Mallorca.
If fans wanted any indication of how highly coaches and developmental staff respect the 15-year-old prodigy at the academy, the great Rafael Nadal was present and spotted attending one of her lessons on the academy’s grounds.
On Instagram, the Academy’s official account posted a series of photos of Nadal watching on in one of Maaya’s sessions, captioning the post “A very special spectator. @rafaelnadal didn’t miss any detail of the training of @maayarajesh.09, who with only 15 years old reached last month the semifinals of a WTA tournament.” Nadal can be seen standing with some others and watching with full intensity.
Maaya, who hails from Coimbatore, was granted a qualifying wildcard spot for the WTA 125 event hosted at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai earlier this month. It was a dream run through qualification rounds and into the semifinals of the main draw for the youngster, who showed off all her promise in her best result at any of her five professional events so far.
Nadal’s own personal handle reacted to the Instagram post with an eyes emoji, signalling his own interest in the Indian player. Nadal retired from tennis at the Davis Cup late last year, bringing an end to his long and fabled career. The Spaniard will focus on time with his family at his home in Mallorca, where he will also be able to commit more time to younger players at his Academy.
Maaya, meanwhile, is set to spend a year at the Rafa Nadal Academy, having received a 100% scholarship which indicates the belief in her game. Although she lost in the semifinal at the CCI to Swiss player and eventual champion Jil Teichmann, Maaya was credited for a strong showing against a top-100 player.
Maaya is set to make her bow at grand slam events in the junior draws over the coming year, and is looking forward to the challenge of full professional tennis as well. She spoke to wtatennis.com about her short-term goals in an interview: “To do well in the junior Slams — I’ll be playing the main draws for the first time. But since I’ll be Top 700 [after Mumbai] I’ll have to play some women’s ITFs too. I’m making the transition [from juniors] a bit quicker than I thought.”
