ATP Rafael Nadal Rafa Nadal Academy

The return of Rafa Nadal now has a date

Fernando Murciego - 16 Sep 2026
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Rafael Nadal will return to compete: date and place of his anticipated comeback. Source: Getty

Rafa Nadal will step onto a tennis court again... in front of an audience! The Spaniard will participate in a series of exhibition matches on October 3rd, organized to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor. This will be the first time Nadal plays in front of fans since his retirement from professional tennis in November 2024, at the Davis Cup Finals held in Málaga.

The event, dubbed Rafa Nadal Academy Slam, will start at 5:00 PM and bring Nadal together with some of the big names that have accompanied him throughout his career, including former rivals and friends. The Academy has not yet announced who the participants sharing the court with the Manacor native will be, nor the details for acquiring tickets, which will be limited due to the capacity of the main court.

Rafa Nadal returns to the courts

This event will have a special significance, as it will mark Nadal's return to a court in front of a crowd nearly two years after he ended his professional career. The Spaniard played his last official match in November 2024, participating with Spain in the Davis Cup in Málaga during an event best left unmentioned.

Now, the return will take place at home and within a setting particularly linked to his career. The Rafa Nadal Academy was founded in Manacor in 2016 and is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, making the event also a review of the project's evolution over the past decade. The organization has also confirmed that the Rafa Nadal Academy Slam will be broadcast live on Movistar Plus, allowing fans to follow Nadal's return to competition, even if it is in exhibition format.

For now, the big mystery remains who his companions will be. The Academy assures that the names will be announced in the coming days. What is already confirmed is that, for one afternoon, Rafa Nadal will once again don his shorts and wield a racket in front of his audience.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, El regreso de Rafa Nadal ya tiene fecha