TENNIS ace Rafael Nadal's year could hardly have gone better – 2019 saw him return to world number one, net his 12th Paris Open title and marry his high school sweetheart María Francisca 'Mery' Perelló.
Their wedding in their native Mallorca was far from the private, cosy ceremony the world was expecting from a couple who has always lived on the same island and has never been out with anyone else since their teens except each other – but security was water-tight and details were hard to come by ahead of the ceremony; in fact, they tried, and failed, to keep it secret.
Nadal was recently interviewed on the popular US talk show 60 Minutes – which Colombian pop-rocker Shakira has also appeared on in the last few weeks - and asked, inevitably, to fill in the blanks about the whole proposal-wedding-future family story.
He had reportedly proposed to Mery, now 31, when they were on holiday in Rome in May 2018 – a whole year and five months before they finally tied the knot.
But Rafa, 33, did not exactly go down on one knee.
“When you've been together for 15 years, you don't really need to talk it through much,” he admitted.
“It was just a case of, 'so, are we going to get married at some point?' And 'yes, I guess so'.”
Mery was 14 when her best friend at school, Maribel Nadal Parera, introduced her to the latter's elder brother, then 17, and within two years, they were an item.
Whilst Rafa's international sporting career was just getting off the ground, Mery was at university in Palma de Mallorca, a short drive from the couple's home town of Manacor, studying business and economics, and she went on to work in the PR department for Endesa electricity and then as assistant office manager for MAPFRE insurance.
When Rafa finally set up his eponymous charitable foundation with his mum, Ana Parera, as chairwoman, Mery started work there as project manager.
Rafa told the interviewer on 60 Minutes that the main idea of the unstarry celebrity couple's getting married was to start a family.
“I'd always thought I'd have had children by this age,” he admitted.
He says he 'has not ruled out' becoming a dad, and would 'quite like to' have three kids with Mery.
In the last few years, though, as well as focusing on his career at the sharp end of tennis – with Mery accompanying him to every match on every continent – the Spaniard's main project has been his sports school, the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movístar.
He was determined this should be based in Mallorca – and in fact, as near as possible to Manacor, where he and Mery are 'just another local couple'.
“I could have earned much more money setting it up in another country, but all the people I love are in Mallorca,” Rafa admitted.
“For me, returning to Mallorca always means returning to normal, everyday life.
“Normal life is what makes me happy. I'm not just Rafa Nadal the tennis player. In Mallorca, I'm Rafa Nadal the human being once again.”
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