Who is Rafael Nadal, the boy from Manacor who became a tennis legend?

Rafael Nadal Parera was born on 3 June 1986 in Manacor, on the island of Mallorca, into a family of sportspeople and entrepreneurs: his father Sebastián ran a joinery and glass business, and his uncle Miguel Ángel Nadal played for Spain's national football team. It was another uncle, Toni Nadal, a former amateur tennis player, who spotted his potential early and began coaching him at just three years old.

Toni Nadal guided his nephew until 2017, with a demanding method built on sobriety and discipline: the young Rafael picked up his own balls and trained for long hours on modest courts in Manacor. Around the age of nine or ten, on his uncle's advice, he adopted a left-handed game for tactical advantage, even though he is naturally right-handed off the court, according to several consistent biographies.

Nadal turned professional in 2001, at fifteen, and quickly established himself on clay before going on to dominate every surface on the tour. His rivalry with Roger Federer, and later Novak Djokovic, defined two decades of men's tennis.

By the end of his career, Rafael Nadal had amassed 22 Grand Slam titles: 14 at Roland-Garros, 4 at the US Open, 2 at the Australian Open and 2 at Wimbledon. That tally made him, at the time of his retirement, the second most decorated Grand Slam champion in history, behind Novak Djokovic.

Nadal opened the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor in 2016, a training centre that began operating in June of that year before its official inauguration on 19 October 2016, with Roger Federer in attendance. The academy now trains young players from around the world on the island of Mallorca.

On 10 October 2024, in a video posted to his social media, Nadal announced the end of his career: «Hello everyone, I’m here to tell you that I am retiring from professional tennis.» He played his final match on 19 November 2024, in Málaga, in the Davis Cup quarter-finals, where he lost to the Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp as Spain went out to the Dutch team.

Nadal married Maria Francisca (Xisca) Perelló, also from Mallorca, in October 2019. The couple's first son, Rafael, was born on 8 October 2022 in Palma, followed by a second son, Miquel, born in early August 2025. On 25 May 2025, Roland-Garros paid tribute to him on Court Philippe-Chatrier by unveiling a plaque bearing his handprint, in the presence of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.

Retirement has not slowed the Academy down. On 29 May 2026, it hosted the world premiere of RAFA, a new Netflix documentary series on his life and career. On 9 June 2026, Nadal led the graduation ceremony of the Academy's 10th class, alongside former world number one Ana Ivanovic, as 47 students from around the world completed their studies. In July 2026, the site unveiled its renovated Rafa Nadal Museum, Inside the Legend, which Federer visited soon after its reopening.

Photo credit: Rafael Nadal at his Manacor academy, September 2025, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (CC BY 4.0), Wikimedia Commons.

This portrait was prepared with AI assistance, then cross-checked, verified and edited by our editorial team, who take full editorial responsibility for it. Facts verified on 18 August 2026.