The wonderful feeling of having his son watch his matches will never get old for Rafael Nadal, but the tennis legend has jokingly suggested that he appears to have lost more matches than he has won since the arrival of Rafael Nadal Junior.
Nadal and his wife María Francisca Perelló became first-time parents in October 2022 when they welcomed a son named Rafael Nadal Junior into the world.
With former world number one Nadal missing most of the 2023 season due to injury, his son was unable to see his father in live action during his first year, but that changed in 2024.
Rafa Jr travelled to Australia with his parents while Nadal competed at the Brisbane International, while the little one was also present at the Netflix Slam in Las Vegas, the Barcelona Open, the Madrid Open, the Italian Open, the Roland Garros and the Paris Olympic Games.
The two-year-old’s last notable appearance came at the Six Kings Slam in Riyadh, when his sire faced Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-final.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner fell 6-3, 6-3 to his young compatriot and during the on-court interview after the match, Nadal told him: “It must be nice to have baby Rafa here with your wife and your family. He thinks you are great whether you win or lose… he was jumping like crazy.”
And the 38-year-old tennis player responded with a funny answer: “Well, I don’t think it’s great. Since he came into the world, I lost more than I won [but] at the same time having him here helps me in all the difficult moments I’ve been through in the last few years,” he said.
“He behaves very well even when it is late. I am happy.”
For the record, Nadal has a 12-7 record in singles matches since the beginning of the year, while also losing exhibition matches against Alcaraz in Las Vegas and Riyadh.
The tennis great, who announced he will retire after the Davis Cup finals in November, has made no secret of the fact that he wants his son to see him as often as possible before he hangs up his racket.
“I would love to play a little bit more and give her a memory of myself playing tennis,” he said earlier this year. “That’s the ideal thing for me and my wife and my family.”
The Spaniard added: “I probably can’t make that happen. But at least I’m happy to have a great team and family and friends around me throughout my life who helped me in every way to be happy.”
Rafa Jr will see his father in action again on Saturday when Nadal takes on Novak Djokovic in the third-place playoff on Saturday.
It will probably be the last time they see each other, although it will be unofficial.
“Having Novak in front of me is kind of nostalgic,” Nadal said. “We’ve played a lot against each other, so it will be fun to play this match again.”
