The Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre Lombok is officially on its way, and it belongs to one of the most successful tennis players who ever lived. Southeast Asia’s first centre carrying his name is being built as the centrepiece of Samara Lombok, a 150-hectare coastal development that will also carry the first “Destination by Hyatt” branding anywhere in the region. It is a strange, exciting kind of headline for an island still best known for empty beaches and volcano views — and it says a lot about where Lombok is heading.
Inside the Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre Lombok
Samara Lombok sits on the island’s southern coast, about 25 minutes from Lombok International Airport — close enough to arrive and be checking into a room before the jet lag catches up. The project is enormous by island standards: 150 hectares in total, opening in its first phase with three boutique hotels and 150 villas, out of a planned 500 residential villas across the full development.
At the heart of it all sits the tennis centre itself: four tennis courts and four padel courts, built around the training methodology used at Rafael Nadal’s own academies in Mallorca and Kuwait, operating under the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar banner. Programmes are planned for players of every age and level, not just the professional pathway the Nadal name might suggest — junior coaching, adult clinics and casual court time are all part of the plan.
Why a tennis academy, and why here
Sports tourism has been quietly building momentum on this island for a while now. MotoGP fills Mandalika every October, the Pocari Sweat Run sold out every hotel room in the south this July, and now a tennis brand with genuine global reach is planting its flag here too. Samara Lombok is betting that visitors who want more than a beach chair — families booking academy weeks, couples who play a set before breakfast, serious juniors chasing court time with real coaching behind it — will choose Lombok over destinations that got there first.
It also fits a pattern we have been tracking all year: international brands taking Lombok seriously in a way that used to be reserved for Bali. A Destination by Hyatt property, a Nadal Academy partnership, an airport upgrade in progress — these are not small, local investments. They are the kind of commitments a company only makes when it expects an island to keep growing for a decade, not a season. Rafael Nadal’s academies elsewhere have tended to anchor entire resort identities rather than sit as an add-on amenity, and the early messaging around Samara Lombok suggests the same approach here — tennis and padel as the reason people book, not just something to do on a rest day.
When it opens, and what it means for visitors
Samara Lombok is targeting a first-quarter 2028 opening, so this is not a this-year kind of trip yet. But it is worth watching, particularly if you are the type of traveller who books resort areas early, before word gets out and prices climb. The south coast around it is already home to some of the island’s best beaches — our Kuta and south coast guide covers Tanjung Aan and Selong Belanak, both a short drive from the new development.
For now, if a resort-with-a-tennis-academy holiday is not quite your speed, the island’s classic beachfront alternative remains the Senggigi–Mangsit coast on the west side, where long-established stays like Holiday Resort Lombok have been doing the quieter, unhurried version of a Lombok beach holiday for years already. Either way, the Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre Lombok is one more sign that the island is being taken seriously by brands that do not commit lightly.
Frequently asked questions
Where exactly is Samara Lombok located?
On Lombok’s southern coast, about 25 minutes’ drive from Lombok International Airport.
When does the Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre Lombok open?
Samara Lombok, including the tennis centre, is targeting a first-quarter 2028 opening.
Is this the first Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre in Asia?
It is the first in Southeast Asia specifically, built on the same training methodology as Nadal’s academies in Mallorca and Kuwait.
Sources: Business Traveller · Travel Weekly Australia · Rafa Nadal Academy