LONDON — The hearts of many have broken as news comes down that tennis star Rafael Nadal has a girlfriend after all.
While being portrayed in the media for years as a single stud, the Spanish standout has actually been dating a hometown girl named Maria Francisca Perello for nearly three years.
“I guess a lot of girls will be upset to know the truth,” Toni Nadal, the 22-year-old tennis star’s uncle and trainer, tells Britain’s The Mail on Sunday. “My nephew always maintained he was single. It was a well-kept secret.”
The man favored by many to win Wimbledon met his 20-year-old girlfriend in school years ago. The longtime couple has managed to keep their relationship quiet around their hometown of Majorca, thanks to a lack of desire for the limelight.
“She is a straightforward, no-nonsense girl not interested in glamour and fame,” Perello’s cousin, Maria Perello Limones, says. “You won’t see her rolling out of a nightclub or laden down with designer bags after a shopping spree.”
Friends say Nadal and Perello, whose nickname is Xisca, simply like to fly on the radar.
“Raf and Xisca are both very shy and ordinary people who like to live simply,” pal Pedro Hernadez tells The Mail.
“They are not at all interested in a celebrity lifestyle,” he added. “They get together when the tournaments are over. That’s how Raf winds down.”
