The World Number two tennis player, Rafael Nadal announced his betrothal with his long-term girlfriend, Maria Francisca Perello soon after his Australian Open defeat to Novak Djokovic this year. She presently works at the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy in Mallorca. Perello serves as the project director for Rafael Nadal’s ten-year-old charity, the Rafael Nadal Foundation and also initiated projects on the 17-time major champion’s name. However, reports regarding their marriage this fall are yet not confirmed.

Perello, Rafael Nadal’s girlfriend is an introvert when it comes to addressing the media and it is seldom to see her reporting the press. In a recent interview with Tennis World USA, she spoke about her duties at the foundation and the academy.

“We always opted for the balance because we’d rather work and get a result than first explaining what we are doing, but it’s a time to make people know about the people we are developing”, said Perello. During the floods in Manacor last year, Rafael Nadal stepped out to help his countrymen and rescue them from that disaster, she also mentioned that incident. “For the Mallorcans that was a tragedy and a lot of people came and a lot of solidarity was done through this situation,” Rafael Nadal’s girlfriend, Perello added.

She also talked about the ethical and highly-principled initiatives by Rafael Nadal’s foundation. “The goal is more ambitious than tennis,” Perello said. “When we created the Foundation we thought that the sport would be a key aspect, but not in terms of high competition but giving positive values. We believe that the sport can change you like it was proved, but the education too and combining these two aspects you create very important weapons for poor people.”

Perello selectively chooses Rafael Nadal’s matches and accompanies him on tour, because she feels that Nadal needs space to compete on tours and also thinks that her presence might distract him. She believes that it might be risky for his performance when she is touring with him.