Nineteen-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal had been dating Xisca Perello since they were teens, getting married on October 19, 2019. According to reports, Rafael Nadal proposed Xisca during a trip to Rome.

Rafael Nadal’s ‘high-school’ sweetheart

Maria Francisca Perello, 33, was born and raised in Mallorca, Spain. She is popularly known by her nickname, Xisca, in the media, even though her loved ones call her Mery. According to Express, Maria met Rafael Nadal while the two were in high school and Nadal’s sister and Maria’s friend Maria Isabel Nadal introduced them.

However, it was only in 2005 when the pair officially started dating, when they were literal children and were studying at the University of Balearic Islands when his age was 19, and she was 17.

Xisca Perello is also a graduate of Business Administration and English from the United Kingdom. By profession, she is an insurance worker. She also serves as a Project Director at the Rafa Nadal Foundation, which was launched a decade ago, in 2008.

Why is Xisca Perello absent from Nadal’s matches?

Rafael Nadal and his wife have been notoriously private about their personal lives. Nadal when asked, often talks about the importance of his family, in his life, but rarely does he offer personal information.

Xisca Perello is also often absent from Rafael Nadal’s tennis matches as she wants to preserve their equation The Spaniard feels that her presence in Nadal’s matches would probably disrupt his focus. It’s however not like that she never appears in his player’s box when Nadal is playing. She was seen supporting her husband throughout the 2021 clay-court swing.

She said in an interview, “He (Rafael Nadal) needs his space when he is competing, and just the idea of me hanging around and waiting on his needs all day tires me out.”

She further added, “It would asphyxiate me. And then he would have to be worrying about me… No. If I followed him everywhere, I think there’s a risk we might stop getting along.”

It was during the 2017 Australian Open that Nadal had a cheeky moment about this. During the courtside interview, while speaking to Jim Courier, he said how finally after 10 years, his girlfriend had gotten a wildcard to be in Australia. Much to the amusement of the crowd and Maria herself, when Courier poked further, jokingly, asking why she was not a ‘main draw’ player yet, Nadal, smilingly replied that “it’s better we stop here.”

Why is she not on social media?

Xisca is also very particular about maintaining her privacy. She does not have any official, verified social media profiles.

She clarified her position bout being photographed, and why is that she is in so less of them.“I am not in them because those images are snapshots of a moment. They are not planned. In the case of tennis, it was a spur-of-the-moment idea and they put it up because it was fun. But that’s it. Besides, I’ve always been very clear that I’m not the famous one,” Xisca said.

Xisca, in a rare interview, also spoke about how she does not enjoy fame, and that she was sure that Nadal also would not want to be with such a woman.

Rafael Nadal and Xisca Perello marriage 

The couple got engaged secretively in 2018 and the news remained private until 2019. The Spanish pair also wanted to keep their marriage a secret affair, but the news went public earlier in 2019.

Rafael Nadal and Xisca Perello tied the knot on October 19 at La Fortaleza – a Spanish fortress in Mallorca. This fort is one of the most expensive properties in Spain. Some of the big names from the tennis fraternity were part of the 350-strong guest list. Some of the famous guests to have been invited were Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Coleman, Hugh Laurie, and Nadal’s friends from the circuit like David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez and his coach Carlos Moya.

Where does the couple live?

One of the highest-paid tennis players of all time, Rafael Nadal owns only two residential properties. He and his wife, stay in a mansion, in his hometown of Mallorca, and they also own a second holiday home in the Dominican Republic. His Mallorca home apparently costs around $1.5 million, and the one in the Caribbeans is $2 million.

Other than residential properties, Rafael Nadal also invests in his academy, which has franchises in several parts of the world now, and his luxury catamaran.

Why do Rafael and Xisca not have children yet?

Rafael Nadal has often been asked about his plans to have kids. His counterparts in the Big Three, are already fathers, Roger Federer with 4 children and Novak Djokovic with 2.

“I would love to have children: boys, girls… I am a person who loves kids and I am a family guy. But also I tell you that the reality is, the years keep passing, I would like to start to do all of this when my sporting life determines it.” He mentioned that it won’t suit his sensibilities to have kids when he was travelling all the time, while on tour.

He once also spoke to the press about how it was difficult to time things like getting pregnant and planning a family, but he did want it not to coincide with him being away on tour, most of the time. Nadal, however, had always maintained that he definitely wants to have children someday.