Tennis superstar Rafa Nadal has had a hair ­transplant to sort out his thinning thatch.

The old earth No1, famed for his thick flowing mane, had the x-hr Follicular Unit Extraction op at a specialist dispensary in Madrid, the Dominicus People reports.

Nadal, 30, had 4,500 follicles transplanted after a local anaesthetic and sedation – the aforementioned kind of op footballer Wayne Rooney, 31, had in 2011.

The Spaniard was ranked i of People ­magazine's Sexiest Men Live last yr in a poll won by David Beckham.

But the amount of scalp showing at his centre departing set tongues wagging at an Australian Open up political party in Melbourne in Jan.

Nadal was starting to show slight signs of pilus loss and dealt with it appropriately (

Image:

Getty Images)

And world No1 Andy Murray, who has besides had hair-loss worries, teased Nadal previously past tweeting: "Who loses their hair kickoff out of me and Rafa?"

A photograph of Nadal, currently world No8, taken terminal Saturday showed him with uncharacteristic brusk hair.

His next friction match is on December 29 in Abu Dhabi but information technology is expected to take about half-dozen months for the full results of the hair transplant to be visible.

Rooney confirmed his hair transplant in June 2011 , tweeting: "I was going bald at 25, so why non. I'one thousand delighted with the results."

FUE is more than time-consuming and expensive than traditional hair transplant techniques, which leave scarring.

Rooney's op in Harley Street is thought to have cost up to £7,700.