It was the moment tennis fans knew would come someday: Rafa Nadal, the pride of Mallorca, announcing his retirement. While the sports world buzzed with the news, in the small town of Manacor, it hit especially hard. This wasn’t just another famous player signing off; this was Rafa, the son of Manacor who started swinging his racket on the town’s clay courts and whose roots run deep in every corner of this close-knit Mallorcan town.
Rafa’s journey began at just three years old on those modest courts at Club Tenis Manacor. Under the watchful eye of his uncle Toni, himself a former player, Rafa got his first taste of the game. “As soon as I threw the ball to Rafael, he went towards it,” Toni recalled to BBC Sport. “He didn’t wait for it to come to him. Normally, when I threw a ball to a small child, he would stay still until it came to him. But my nephew went to get it. For me, that was special.” It was there, in the beating Mallorcan sun, that his relentless spirit took shape.
By 15, Rafa had made his pro debut at an ATP event in Mallorca, winning his first match against a seasoned top-100 player, Ramón Delgado. While he fell in the second round, he set a record as the youngest player to win an official ATP match. That was only the beginning. What followed was nothing short of epic: 92 ATP titles, 2 Olympic medals, 5 Davis Cups, and 14 historic Roland Garros wins.
Rafa’s athletic prowess runs in the family. In addition to his uncle Toni, another uncle, Miquel Ángel Nadal, was an international footballer who played for RCD Mallorca and FC Barcelona. While Rafa dabbled in football, basketball, and even considered golf after a foot injury, tennis remained his truest calling.
A die-hard Real Madrid fan, Rafa recently attended the “Merengue’s” season opener against RCD Mallorca at Son Moix Stadium, where he watched in admiration as both his beloved club and his home team battled to a draw. “It was an exciting match; the result seems fair to me although both could have won,” he remarked, showcasing his loyalty to both teams.
While sports shaped much of his life, family was always at the heart of Rafa’s world. He met his wife, Francisca Perelló, at 19 when she was a classmate of his sister Maribel. They married in 2019 at Sa Fortalesa, a stunning 17th-century fort near Pollença. Three years later, they welcomed Rafa Jr., and now reside in a custom-built retreat in Porto Cristo, with sweeping Mediterranean views and enough space to raise a family close to home.
Not far from home is the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, his sprawling sports complex in Manacor with 45 tennis courts and room for 140 students. Since its 2016 opening, with rival and friend Roger Federer at his side, the academy has become a center for young talent. Managed by his uncle Toni, it’s a place where the next generation can follow in Rafa’s footsteps. In 2018, after severe flooding hit the area, Rafa became a local hero once again by wading through mud and water to help his neighbors, showing that his connection to Mallorca runs deep beyond the court.
“Family is everything to me,” Rafa said in his farewell video. This sentiment extends to his friends, neighbors, and even his rivals, all of whom he counts as part of his inner circle. While his official goodbye will take place at the Davis Cup in Malaga this November, fans are already expecting a grand farewell event at his academy in Manacor, a celebration of his origins and the place that made him who he is.
As Rafa steps back from the game, he remains Mallorca’s favorite son — a champion, neighbor, and friend.
Text by Sebastian Cerutti
Photo: Flickr
