Notoriously private tennis superstar Rafael Nadal has teased the possibility that he might soon become a father for the first time.
The prospect was raised by the loose-lipped 33-year-old after he navigated his way through Instagram live chats with Andy Murray and Roger Federer on Monday night in Europe.
With tennis shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, Nadal first hooked up with Federer – after some difficulties logging on – and later spoke to Murray.
In conversation with the Scot, Nadal mentioned that without his tennis routines he has been going to sleep as late as 3am during lockdown.
“Enjoy your late nights and lie-ins while you don’t have kids,” Murray said, adding that his three young children have him tucked into bed for 6am wake-ups.
Nadal laughed, teasing: “I hope to be in this situation in not a very long period of time.”
“Well now’s a good time because we’re at home with the family all the time. Now’s a good time,” Murray said.
Taking the final word on the topic, Nadal said “you never know, you never know”.
In October last year Nadal married long-time girlfriend Xisca, who has made more appearances at tournaments around the world in recent years.
Nadal is the last of the ‘Big Four’ without a child, with his three historic rivals already balancing tennis with fatherhood.
Federer and Mirka have two sets of twins, Murray has two daughters and a son with Kim, while Novak and Jelena Djokovic have a son and a daughter.
No practice
Speaking to Federer with 40,000 viewers logged on, Nadal told the Swiss he had not practised since the COVID-19 crisis put sport on hold.
Federer, meanwhile, has been practising against a wall and going viral with challenges and Twitter threads.
“Perfect! You won’t be able to play tennis any more when you come back,” a laughing Federer said.
Nadal will, however, pick up a controller to play with a virtual racquet in the forthcoming Madrid Open contested with a tennis video game.
While Nadal admits he is an Esports novice, Murray told him he might have found an early edge.
“I played last night and I played as you,” Murray said.
“I played as you against Roger, on clay obviously. We, I mean me and you, we were playing unbelievable but after a set your character was unbelievably tired. I thought I had never seen you getting tired after one set before.”
After Nadal then challenged him to a game, Murray said he does not even have his own character on the video game.
“I can’t be myself so I have to choose someone else so maybe I will choose Nick (Kyrgios)!”
