Love Stories: Rafael Nadal's private but cinema-perfect romance with Mery Perello

Rafael Nadal and Maria Francisca Perello's 17-year-long relationship is one of the most low-key and wholesome love stories in the world of sport.

Now that Nadal's career has come to an end, they face a completely different and unknown future together. But how did their romance start? 

The two met in Spain when they were teenagers. According to 24/7 News Agency, Nadal's younger sister, Maria Isabel, attended the same school as Perello – also known as Mery or Xisca – and introduced her to Rafael.

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The couple began dating in 2005, just four years after Nadal began playing professional tennis. 

Very little is known about Perello. Though she shows up to tennis games to support her husband, she generally prefers to stay off social media and keep her life private.

"I prefer not to say much," she told The Telegraph.

"It's what works for me, and what works for Rafael and me as a couple. We wouldn't have it any other way." 

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Rafael also feels like he has a responsibility to keep his personal relationships out of the spotlight, preferring only to publicise his career.

"I'm already exposed enough in my professional life," he said, "my loved ones and I like to live with a low profile." 

In an interview with ATP Tour, he even said his family was more important to him than his career. 

"The reality is simple: You can have all the titles you want, but if you don't have the capacity to be able to enjoy life with people that you love, and that love you, what does anything else matter?"

HOLA! revealed the couple got engaged in May 2018. Reportedly, Nadal proposed to Perello during a romantic trip to Rome. In October 2019, the two had a lavish wedding in Majorca. 

When asked in 2020 if he was interested in being a father, Nadal sounded more than a little excited about the prospect.

"I love children and I would like to form part of a family, and at the age we are now, we're not going to wait five years." 

And sure enough, at a 2022 press conference in the lead up to Wimbledon, he officially announced he and Perello are expecting their first child. 

"If everything goes well, I'm going to be a father," he said.

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"I'm not used to talking about my private life. We live more peacefully with a lower profile. I don't expect that my life will change much with it."

Now, Nadal has bid farewell to all he has ever known, officially retiring from tennis.

The 22-time grand slam champion made his last appearance on the court in the Davis Cup quarter-final in Malaga.

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He told the crowd, "The important legacy is that all the people I have met during these 20 years have a good human memory of me. At the end of the day, the personal issue, education, respect and the affection you can treat people with comes before the professional issue, because that is what remains.

He brought the crowd to tears, including Mery who was sitting with their two-year-old child, Rafael Nadal Jr.

"The titles, numbers, they're there. People probably know that," he said, "The way I'd like to be remembered more is like a good person from a small village in Mallorca."

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