Tennis star Rafael Nadal has reportedly become a father for the first time at the age of 36.
According to the Spanish press, the 21-time Grand Slam champion’s wife Mery Perello gave birth in a private clinic in the Majorcan capital Palma this weekend. The couple themselves have yet to make any official comment.
In June, it was announced that Mery was pregnant following weeks of speculation. She had been regularly spotted in public wearing more loose-fitting clothes, and donned a face mask at the Champions League final.
Hola! magazine confirmed Rafa and Mery's baby had been born shortly after the news was broken by Majorcan paper Diario de Mallorca, saying: “Both the mum and her baby, born in the 37th week of her pregnancy, are doing well. The birth took place in a private clinic on the island where Mery had to remain under observation and rest completely in the last few weeks.”
Rafa’s sister, Maribel Nadal said late last month he and his wife were doing “very well” as she left an event in Madrid attended by Spain’s Queen Letizia, where she represented the Rafa Nadal Foundation.
Nadal, who won both the Australian and French Open in 2022, had told Hola! in 2018 that he intended to have children, saying: "Obviously I intend and want to form a family. I love children and I would like them to do what they want in life."
Mery's health has been the focus of Spanish press speculation ever since Nadal left last month's Laver Cup early, citing 'personal reasons'. He flew out of London having been involved in Roger Federer's final ever tennis match before retirement.
It was then reported that at the end of August, his wife been admitted to a private clinic in the Majorcan capital Palma. It emerged doctors had decided to monitor her as a precaution.
Nadal and his wife dated for 14 years before they got married in October 2019 in Majorca. The couple have always been notoriously private, but confirmed in a Hola! pregnancy exclusive in June they were expecting.
Nadal had already been expected to take a break from the sport following an injury plagued year, where he had to withdraw from Wimbledon with a rib injury. He was also plagued by the troublesome left ankle issue which forced him to end his 2021 campaign prematurely.
