'She doesn't need wildcards': Nadal's sweet moment with Xisca
He took his time introducing girlfriend Xisca Perello to Australian tennis fans.
But two years after Rafael Nadal revealed his better half needed a wildcard to attend the 2017 Australian Open, the Spanish great has announced she is now welcome at all his tournaments.
Reprising his role as Nadal’s inquisitor, Jim Courier tripped up the world No.2 in Melbourne on Sunday with another very personal question.
How it all started
Back in 2017 Nadal was famously tripped up by the American commentator after a fourth-round win over Gael Monfils.
“You’ve been coming to Australia now for many years,” Courier began.
“This is the first time you’ve played in Brisbane in your warm-up? Also the first time that you brought your girlfriend Xisca down to Australia if I’m not mistaken, is that right?
“How has that been for you to have her with you here? Have you guys been having some fun in Australia as well?”
The usually cool Nadal surprisingly stumbled through his answer.
“Yes, it was great. The negative thing is I lost in the quarter-finals in Brisbane but the good thing is I had the chance to visit Sydney, where I haven’t been there before. So I was knowing a little bit of the city and we enjoyed it,” he said.
“After 10 years finally, my girlfriend gets a wildcard to come here.”
How things change
Courier got his way again – once again after a fourth-round victory by Nadal – in Melbourne.
After he put questions about Nadal’s technique to one side, the interview shifted towards potential awkwardness.
“I’m going to take this in a different direction then. I don’t know if this is going to make you feel any better,” Courier said.
“I see your girlfriend, she’s back in Australia again this year. I’m wondering, you have a day and a half now off, what do you guys like to do when you’re not working? When you’re here in Australia and you have a little bit of time?”
Nadal let just two words slip, to cackles of laughter from the crowd: “Very clear.”
But a slight change of subject took the conversation down a more family-friendly route and offered an answer to a long-awaited question.
“As I say to you a couple of years ago, in 2017, it was the first time she was able to be here. She received the wildcard in that moment,” he said.
“Now after 14 years together she doesn’t need wildcards at all. She’s coming wherever she wants. That’s how it works.”
For the record, Nadal did say the 36 hours before his quarter-final showdown with Frances Tiafoe would involve nothing but rest and recovery.
