With Rafa watching, Rincon completes full-circle triumph at Nadal Academy
Daniel Rincon glanced up from the baseline and suddenly froze. Leading 2-0 in his second-round match at the ATP Challenger Tour event held at Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, the Spaniard spotted Rafael Nadal himself watching from the stands.
“I saw him looking and I lost six games in a row,” Rincon said with a laugh, speaking with ATPTour.com. “I got a bit tight there.”
The nerves did not derail Rincon for long. The 22-year-old regrouped, won the match and went on to capture the trophy at the very place where he trained and graduated from in 2021.
While competing in the final, Rincon again spotted the former World No. 1 Nadal watching, although the match was almost halfway over, so Rincon “didn’t have too much time to think about it”.
Rincon’s triumph at his stomping grounds — with friends, family and other supporters (like Rafa!) in attendance — completed a full-circle moment for him.
“It was the best week of my life, by far. I really cannot compare it to anything else,” said the No. 209 player in the PIF ATP Rankings. “I thought about how it could be before the final, or the feelings of winning there, but it was even more than I imagined. It was unbelievable.”
Both of Rincon’s Challenger triumphs have featured memorable moments. When he won his first Challenger title last year in Tampere, Finland, his luggage was lost. He battled through the opening rounds with only three racquets, borrowed strings and grips.
“I was going with a little bag on court, I was looking like an amateur player going to practise on a Sunday,” Rincon said at the time. “Just with three t-shirts and going to do laundry every day.”
In Manacor, the 22-year-old rallied from 2-5 in the third set of his first two matches and also needed a decider in his quarter-final and semi-final matches.
Nadal’s presence added to the storybook week, even though Rincon did not have the chance to speak with the 92-time tour-level titlist during the tournament.
“In the second round, I knew he was coming,” Rincon said. “I have some people who are close to him and they knew he had to come do some media things and he was going to stay a little bit for the match, so I was trying not to look, but at the same time looking like, ‘When is he going to come?’ So the first day, I was basically looking for him.”
Rincon’s connection to the Rafa Nadal Academy runs deep. He first arrived at the state-of-the-art facility as a 16-year-old in September 2019. The Manacor Challenger final was being played on his first day, so it is fitting he would one day claim a special victory at the same event.
Rincon reflected on his journey: “Now that I actually played the final, who would have thought when I was just 16 and working with my two suitcases that I would play there?”
<img alt=”Daniel Rincon triumphs at the Manacor Challenger.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/09/01/02/29/rincon-mallorcach-2025.jpg” />
Credit: Alvaro Diaz/Rafa Nadal Open by Movistar