Chapter 1164: Paradise on Earth

Mallorca Island is located on the east side of the Spanish mainland. It takes less than an hour to get there by plane from Barcelona.

This small island surrounded by infinite emerald blue has more than 300 days of sunny weather throughout the year and is known as the "Mediterranean Paradise".

All year round, you can see European residents longing for the sun coming here to enjoy a leisurely holiday, away from the hustle and bustle of the city and the cold haze.

Not only that, Mallorca is also known as the "Honeymoon Island", a name that dates back two centuries.

The protagonists of the romantic story are the Polish composer and pianist Fryderyk Chopin and the French writer George Sand.

In 1837, Chopin met Sandro, who was six years older than him, at a Paris salon. They immediately fell in love, which also caused countless controversies.

The reason comes from George Sand.

At that time, the female writer settled in Paris with her two children. She was always surrounded by a large number of suitors. She refused to accept the constraints of social morals and went in and out of public in a riding suit, showing a rebellious attitude. She smoked cigars, drank liquor, rode a horse, wore trousers, and dealt with a group of suitors. She also publicly admitted that she had four lovers.

Even her pen name "George Sand" came from one of her young lovers.

At that time, Chopin and Sandra fell in love. In order to get away from the hustle and bustle and sight, and because Chopin was suffering from tuberculosis at the time, the doctor advised him to rest. So, at the end of 1838, they came to the then little-known island of Mallorca.

The area is sparsely populated, with no hotels or apartments. They rented a few houses in a monastery in Palma, the capital of Mallorca, and lived there, spending a southern winter together. Both artists completed a series of masterpieces here.

Later, Chopin wrote a romantic story entitled "Love in Majorca". Majorca played an important role in Chopin and Sand's love life that lasted for more than ten years.

To this day, Mallorca still preserves the former residences of the two great artists, attracting a steady stream of visitors.

Later, young lovers and newlyweds who believed in and admired romance followed in the footsteps of Chopin and Sand and came here together to find their own love.

Therefore, Mallorca has also earned the nickname "Honeymoon Island".

In the blink of an eye, two centuries have passed, and Mallorca has become one of the most famous holiday islands in Europe. However, the island still retains a large number of pristine beaches and cliffs that have not been eroded by tourists or commercialized, waiting for adventurers to explore and dig.

It's like a paradise.

Of course, this has pros and cons.

The good thing is that Mallorca still retains a lot of original landscapes and is not overly contaminated by commercial atmosphere.

The disadvantage is that due to the lack of commercial development, tourists are being attracted to other more mature resorts, so that Mallorca's economy has declined. It is difficult to make a living relying on primitive fishing. The young residents on the island have gradually begun to leave and refuse to stay.

It was not until the new century that a Mallorcan teenager named Rafael Nadal emerged and became a giant in the professional tennis world.

Mallorca is the hometown of the "Spanish God of War".

Today, Mallorca is no longer a tourist destination because of Chopin and Sang, people often come here because of Nadal.

In fact, Nadal and his entire family still live in Mallorca. Not only are they rooted here, but they are also actively working to boost the economy of their hometown.

On the one hand, Nadal is actively promoting tennis in his hometown. A new ATP and WTA event will soon be held in Mallorca. What is very special is that this is not a clay court event, but a grass court event. If everything goes well, it will be held for the first time in 2016.

As the hometown of the king of clay, Mallorca held a tennis tournament, but not on clay? Obviously, things are not that simple, and Nadal has communicated with ATP and WTA in many ways.

At present, hard court tournaments are flourishing all over the world. Hosting hard court tournaments is undoubtedly the easiest, but at the same time the competition is also the most intense. It is not easy to invite top players to participate. In sharp contrast, grass court tournaments are becoming fewer and fewer and are facing a survival crisis.

From a commercial perspective, grass should not be the first choice; but in order to ensure the diversity of tournament venues, ATP and WTA have been encouraging and sponsoring grass tournaments.

If Mallorca hosts a grass tournament, it will not only receive official support and promotion, but it will also be able to attract more top players to participate. After all, in a grass tournament that lasts just one month, there are not as many tournaments to choose from as one might imagine, and adding an option is always positive.

Once the event is successfully held and attracts players with enough appeal, European fans will be willing to fly in.

On the other hand, Nadal also closely links his career planning with his hometown.

In fact, Nadal was not the first. To be precise, his start was already slow.

Among the Big Four, Federer has been running his own fashion brand and acquired a sporting goods company to develop professional tennis shoes. At the same time, he created his own agency and began signing contracts to manage the professional careers of young tennis players, expanding his own business empire.

Djokovic is more down-to-earth, as his parents are restaurant owners. So, in 2012, he opened a chain of restaurants in his hometown, preparing to expand it across the board, focusing on donkey cheese, which is unique in Europe. Later, he opened a vegetarian restaurant in Monte Carlo and started his own line of nutritious food.

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In addition, Djokovic owns an agency specializing in event planning. In 2009, he bought the Dutch Open and transformed it into the Serbia Open.

In comparison, Nadal, who has always focused on the court, is obviously less active outside the court and only started planning in the last two years.

In fact, after leaving IMG, Nadal replanned his career, found his goal, and focused all his energy on his tennis school.

Nadal plans to establish the "Rafael Nadal Tennis School" based in Mallorca.

This idea was more or less inspired by Miami.

The Nick Bollettieri Tennis School is headquartered in Miami. It not only attracts countless young players to study there every year, but also cooperates with the Miami Masters to play an important role in boosting the city's economy. This is a brand new industry for Mallorca.

At the same time, it is also a new hope.

It was for this reason that when Toni Nadal learned that Gawain was looking for a venue to adapt to clay, he took the initiative to call Sampras and extend an invitation.

We sincerely invite Gao Wen to come to Mallorca and start training for the clay court season with Nadal.

Sampras had no reason to refuse, to be exact, he welcomed it with both hands and feet raised.

(End of this chapter)