Rafael Nadal and his wife Mery Perello just welcomed their second child. The tennis legend’s got his hands pretty full at home these days.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion has been spending way more time with his family since he hung up his racket in November. His career ended when Spain lost to the Netherlands in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.
Nadal got farewell ceremonies at both the Davis Cup and at Roland Garros this year. The Paris one went over much better than the one in Malaga – even his uncle Toni wasn’t thrilled with how the Davis Cup ceremony went down.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rafael Nadal | 38 | 215 | 7 - 5 |
Throughout his entire career, Nadal’s always talked about how important Mery has been to him. They started dating when he was just 19 and she was 17.
That was 20 years ago.
Baby number two arrives
Their first son Rafael was born back in October 2022. Everyone knew Mery was pregnant again, but they’d kept the baby’s gender under wraps.
On August 7th, 2025, they welcomed another boy.
They named him Miquel. Close family members headed to the hospital to meet the newest addition to the Nadal family.
Spanish newspaper Ultima Hora reported that Mery bounced back from this birth faster than her first pregnancy. She and Rafael took Miquel home on the third day.
Nadal’s talked about the pregnancy a few times since it was announced in April. He mentioned it during his appearance at the 2025 Laureus Awards.
The former world No. 1 has said before that he just wants his first son to be happy and follow his own interests. He’s not expecting little Rafael to become a tennis pro too.
Retirement life suits him
Given how desperately Nadal fought to keep playing during his final years, you’d think stepping away would be really tough for him.
But unless he’s hiding it well, the 39-year-old seems to be handling retirement just fine. It probably helps that he’s living virtually pain-free now that he’s off the ATP Tour.
Nadal’s academy in Mallorca keeps him busy these days. His uncle Toni runs most of the day-to-day operations, but Rafael stays pretty involved – especially since retiring.
Recently, Alexander Zverev spent time training with Toni at the academy. That’s got people wondering if Toni might become the German’s new coach, with Rafael maybe acting as a mentor.
Toni hasn’t coached anyone full-time since he stopped working with Rafael in 2017. Well, except for Felix Auger-Aliassime.
But Toni’s pretty committed to running the academy, which makes it less likely he’d take on Zverev full-time. Still, plenty of people think Zverev needs to hire a big-name coach to replace his father.
For now though, Nadal’s got more pressing matters at home. Two young boys will definitely keep him and Mery on their toes.
