With their parents, Maria Isabel Nadal was certainly the first supporter of the Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal. Both from the island of Majorca in the Balearic Islands, the pretty blonde never misses an opportunity to come and support her big brother on the tennis courts. Currently in Paris to observe the exploits of his elder at the Grand Slam of Roland-Garros. Last winner of the tournament in 2020 and holder of 13 Porte d’Auteil victories, will Rafael Nadal lift the cup for the fifth time in a row? The Hispanic player seems off to a good start after winning all of his matches in this 2021 edition, including the quarter-finals this Wednesday, June 9 against world number ten, Argentine player Diego Schwartzman.
For her part, Maria Isabel Nadal shares her brother’s passion for tennis, according to her Instagram account. On her social network, the young woman, five years younger than the world number three, regularly appears on the tennis courts of the Rafa Nadal Academy, a world sports center founded in 2016 by her eldest. In 2020, during the first confinement, the brother and sister even faced off for an atypical match on the sportsman’s terrace.
It must be said that Rafael Nadal still resides on his native island, closer to his family. For the specialized site Tennis World, Maria Isabel Nadal even suggested that the tennis player would never leave Mallorca. “Although Rafael has traveled a lot all over the world since his youth, he has always expressed the wish to come back to us, I don’t think he imagines living anywhere else than in Mallorca”. And it is certainly not to displease his youngest with whom he has always had a special and close relationship. “Most boys growing up think of their younger sisters as an annoyance, especially when they’re teenagers, but that was never the way Rafael treated me. He always invited me over when he went out. with his friends. It’s natural for us, even if some have sometimes found it strange, it’s part of the secret of our special bond”, confided the young woman of 30 years in the autobiography of the sportsman, soberly titled Rafa, published in 2012.
Always present during the major competitions disputed by her brother, Maria Isabel Nadal practices tennis herself and won second place in the ITF S200 tournament in Manacor at the end of 2021. Unwavering support from her brother, Rafael Nadal, she regularly attends his matches and does not miss a single one of his appearances at Roland-Garros. Recently, she encouraged her brother during the knockout stages of the tournament and did not hide her joy to see him reach the semi-finals after a titanic match against his favorite opponent, Novak Djokovic. There is no doubt that she will be faithful to the position during the next clashes when the player could well win his 14th Roland-Garros.
