(Video) Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic ‘excited’ about their ‘last battle’ at the Six Kings Slam
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will lock horns for the third-place match at the Six Kings Slam exhibition event in Riyadh.
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Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal (Images via X)
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will battle it out for the last time. On Saturday (October 19), the two longtime rivals will walk on to The Venue for the third-place match of the Six Kings Slam.
The exhibition event in Riyadh has given the tennis community another opportunity to watch Nadal and Djokovic play for the final time. Ahead of their match, they talked about their rivalries as they were hoping to entertain the fans once more.
Yeah, we’ve played, an awful, quite a lot of times in our careers. So, one more time, it’s going to be good fun. I think, yeah, excited about playing against Novak again. We had a super long and beautiful story behind it. So yeah, let’s try to enjoy that last battle, being professional myself. Just going to try my best and just try to bring good energy and a good show to the people.
Rafael Nadal told Tennis Channel
Djokovic, before setting up the clash with Nadal, was defeated by Jannik Sinner in the semifinals, while Carlos Alcaraz went past Nadal in the second semifinal. Nadal will end his career after the Davis Cup in November and will retire with 22 Grand Slam trophies, the second most in the history of men’s tennis after Djokovic (24).
Yeah, it should be fun. You know, Rafa and I played 60 times or more. So it’s another fantastic opportunity to, you know, face each other before he retires from tennis.
Novak Djokovic told Tennis Channel
Watch the video here:
Rafa and Novak have played 60 times, but it will be for the last time on Saturday. ?
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) October 18, 2024
Stream it live 12:30PM ET on the Tennis Channel app ?#SixKingsSlam pic.twitter.com/hhOLJVYIrd
Novak Djokovic will meet Rafael Nadal for the 61st time
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have played 60 matches, and the former leads their head-to-head meeting 31-29. They last clashed in the second round of the Paris Olympics, which Djokovic won before clinching his maiden gold medal with a straight-sets win over Carlos Alcaraz.
The 2022 Roland Garros quarterfinal was their last encounter on the ATP Tour. In the same tournament in 2006, the two greats, in the quarterfinals, squared off against each other for the first time.
Although Djokovic hasn’t yet thought of retirement, he, just like Nadal, hasn’t played much this season, though he didn’t skip the Grand Slam tournaments. Before the Six Kings Slam, Djokovic advanced to the final of the Shanghai Masters, but World No. 1 Jannik Sinner denied him his first ATP title of the season.
That match against the Italian was also the 37-year-old’s second final on the ATP Tour. Both Nadal and Djokovic haven’t won an ATP title this season.
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Gouri Das
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