Nadal, Ivanovic spend day together at Mallorca academy

Dubai: The rumour mills were abuzz Sunday as the two 2008 French Open champions spent a day together and tweeted about how pleased they were at this unlikely reunion.

But before your imagination goes into overdrive, here are the facts. Serbian tennis star and former world No 1 Ana Ivanovic was in Manacor, Mallorca, hooking up with none other than 14-time French Open champion Rafa Nadal at his academy. It’s an academy that has produced, among others, Filipino tennis sensation Alex Eala, who has now climbed into the top-50 at No 49 in the latest WTA rankings released on Monday.

But for Ivanovic, it was a trip down memory lane as she joined the Spaniard and watched the trainees sweat it out. Fresh from her recent divorce proceedings with footballer-husband Bastian Schweinsteiger, the 38-year-old posted on X: “Thank you for such a warm welcome and showing us around the impressive @rnadalacademy! Can’t wait to be back @RafaelNadal.”

In response, Nadal wrote it was a ‘pleasure’ to host her and hoped to see her again soon. “Thanks @anaivanovic for visiting us at the @rafanadalacademy. We hope to see you again soon!”

The exchange was a far cry from the hilarious and awkward messages the two tennis players wrote to each other when Ivanovic first joined twitter in 2013.

“Welcome to this mean of communication. Looking forward to exchanging tweets with you,” Nadal’s now legendary tweet read. Ivanovic saw the funny side of it. “Thanks, but why so formal?! Haha,” she responded.

Social media users were quick to begin speculating that Ivanovic’s visit could be a pointer to a future coaching role at the academy. The Serb retired in 2016, while Nadal officially stepped away from professional tennis in 2024. Interestingly, there is only a one-year age difference between them, with Nadal being slightly older despite retiring much later.