Mallorca tennis ace Rafa Nadal and his wife Xisca "Mery" Perelló are expecting their second child, according to Semana magazine this morning. The magazine said: ‘Mery is five months pregnant, so the baby will arrive next summer and will join their first-born’. The couple welcomed their first child, Rafa, two and a half years ago.
Rafa Nadal and Xisca Perelló began their love story almost twenty years ago and they were married about five years ago in Pollensa.
Nadal retired from tennis last year and he said at the time that he wanted to concentrate on his family. They live in Porto Cristo on the outskirts of Manacor.
For nearly two decades, Nadal was a leading figure in men's tennis, alongside Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, collectively known as the Big Three. Early in his career, Nadal became one of the most successful teenagers in ATP Tour history, reaching No. 2 in the world and winning 16 titles before turning 20, including his first major title at the 2005 French Open.
Nadal became the world No. 1 for the first time in 2008 after defeating Federer in an historic Wimbledon final, his first major championship off clay. He followed with an Olympic singles gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. By defeating Djokovic in the 2010 US Open final, Nadal became the youngest man in the Open Era to achieve the career Grand Slam at 24, and the first man to win majors on three different surfaces in the same year.
Nadal won the second-most major men's singles titles (22) in tennis history and the second-most "Big" titles (59) since 1990. He appeared in the Top 10 of the ATP rankings consecutively from April 2005 to March 2023 – a record spanning 912 weeks.