Rafael Nadal’s 2023 season didn’t go the way many expected. The Spanish star’s hopes were cut short when he suffered an injury in the second round of the Australian Open that forced him to have a hip flexor surgery in June. Nadal has been sidelined for the remainder of the season but has announced that he will be back on the court in 2024.
Despite his career troubles, Nadal, who became a father last year has revealed that he feels special to have a child and voiced his thoughts on fatherhood.
Rafael Nadal weighs in on fatherhood
Rafael Nadal has admitted that being a father gives him happiness and having a child is special. The 37-year-old star and his wife Mery XIsca Perello welcomed their first baby in October 2022. Nadal, who been sidelined from the court, also said that he is spending a lot of time with his child since he sustained a serious psaos injury at the Australian Open.
“I have always taken things well. But in that sense, of course having a child at home who is also the first is always special, because of course it makes you happy in many moments. But I think that I would have been fine without it too, because I have accepted and tolerated it well throughout my life.”
“But without a doubt it helps and gives me happiness,” Nadal told EFE.
Previously, Rafael Nadal revealed in an extensive interview with Movistar+ that he will be back on the court come 2024 after almost a year away.
How many kids does Rafael Nadal have?
Raphael Nadal disclosed that he and his wife Mery “Xisxa” Perello would be expecting a baby was during a press conference in Palma de Mallorca in June 2022. “If all goes well, I’m going to be a father,” he said at the time. The couple are now blessed with their only child, Rafael Nadal Perello.
The Spanish tennis star said he kept the pregnancy news private for as long as he did because he prefers to keep certain details of his family away from the limelight. But Nadal did share a few details at the time about what might lie ahead of him as a parent and tennis star.
“I don’t know what will change in my life because I don’t have experience, but I don’t think it will change my professional life,” he said of becoming a father.
Nadal and his wife wed in October 2019 after dating for 14 years. In a rare glimpse into his home life in 2017, Nadal discussed wanting to expand his family.
“I would love to have children: boys, girls… I’m a person who loves kids and I’m 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,” Nadal told The Sun.
“I think it’s also above all about looking after the kids. I don’t know if it [traveling] throughout the year and having children] is ideal.”
Tennis fans and lovers hope that as Nadal gets back to the court in 2024, he will put his troubles of 2023 behind him and fight hard to regain his lost position in the game.
