Did Rafael Nadal date Shakira?

• Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal and Shakira thrilled the world with news of their ‘romantic escapades’
• Jordi Martin a paparazzi based in Spain alleged that Shakira had an illicit affair with Nadal
• The Spanish paparazzi revealed it on the television show America Noticias

Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal and Shakira, a Columbian-born singer thrilled the world with rumours of their romance.

All this came to the fore after Jordi Martin a paparazzi based in Spain alleged that Shakira had an illicit affair with Nadal. Martin cited that this was before she met her ex-husband Gerard Pique in 2010 in South Africa during the FIFA 2010 World Cup.

The Spanish paparazzi revealed it on the television show America Noticias without specifically mentioning Nadal. He intimated that the 22-time Grand Slam champion and Shakira may have dated in 2009 when they met for a video shoot for Gitana (Gipsy). Shakira was still together with Alejandro Sanz at the time.

Martin was categorical that although Shakira had something going on with Sanz, she never got intimate with him. He also couldn’t directly link Nadal with Shakira but made very direct allusions to the king of clay.

“I can say that Shakira made a video clip with Alejandro Sanz, but she did not get involved with him. She got involved with someone equally or more famous,” he stated at the show.

In a clear indication that he was referring to Rafael Nadal and Shakira, he added the following.

Shakira and Rafael Nadal. Photo/Italian Post

“He is a world-renowned person and a top sportsman. He’s not a footballer, he’s a tennis player. I say that there was something in a video clip with a top athlete in Spain, among the three best athletes in the history of the country… That’s where I leave it, I can’t name names.”

Neither the recently divorced Columbian singer nor Nadal ever cleared the air on whether or not they dated.

HOW MANY GIRLFRIENDS HAS RAFA NADAL HAD?

Beyond his rumoured affair with Shakira, Nadal wins a ‘faithfulness medal’ for having only one publicly known girlfriend, Maria Perello. He dated her since high school and married her in 2019. Nadal has never been linked to any other woman – save for the Rafael Nadal and Shakira rumour.

Famously known as Xisca, she is a Spanish born on July 7, 1988. Many people do not know her because she keeps a low profile despite being married to a top tennis personality in the world. Perello is a Business Administration graduate from the University of the Balearic Islands.

She manages the Rafael Nadal Foundation, a charitable organisation started by her husband to aid impoverished children as a project manager.  The lovebirds dated for many years and finally walked down the aisle in October 2019 at an invite-only ceremony in Mallorca, Spain.  Theirs is a fairy tale of two lovers who ended up together and are from the same neighbourhood.

WHO IS THE WIFE OF RAFAEL NADA L?

Maria Fransisca Perello is Rafael Nadal’s wife and she is 33 years old now. She officially married him in 2019 and they welcomed their first child in 2022. Nadal says he always looked forward to the day he would become a dad which he did at 36. She is not a common figure in the public which safeguard’s her family’s privacy.

WAS NADAL IN A SHAKIRA VIDEO?

Rafael Nadal and Shakira. Photo/FanPop

Rafael Nadal and Shakira ‘relationship’ stems from Gypsy music video where the Columbian artist featured him.  She released this song in 2010 and is off her eighth album ‘She Wolf’. Gypsy was commercially successful, as the song peaked in Mexican, Spanish, Columbian, American and Hungarian music charts. Additionally, the music video received positive reviews from critics, who applauded the relationship between Shakira and Nadal.

Shakira announced a year later after this song that she was dating Pique who she spent the next decade with. The couple has two sons but divorced recently over the retired Barcelona star blamed for promiscuity. Shakira indirectly implied in an interview with Elle magazine that unfaithfulness contributed to their divorce. She also claimed that paused her career in order to raise her family the right way.

Pique is reportedly going out with 23-year-old Chia Marti who works in Pique’s company Kosmos based in Barcelona as a public relations expert. Shakira relocated to Miami and is starting life afresh. There are reports that she is now dating Formula One star Lewis Hamilton.