Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are about to commence a thrilling race in Paris and London to try to conquer the coveted world no.1 year-end rank.
Before starting their fight in France, the duo went to play an exhibition in Kazakhstan, where they had a rather intense day on Thursday. The tennis legends held a press conference, a clinic, and then they finally engaged in a match that was rather engaging.
Rafa and Nole ended-up their contest at the champions tiebreak and eventually it was the Spaniard to win the thriller 6-3 3-6 11-9.
The match filled up the 11,578-seat Barys Arena in Nur-Sultan and it was considered as “a unique opportunity for young Kazakhstani tennis players and the younger generation to learn from the experience of legendary players, and for residents of Nur-Sultan and the whole country to enjoy a unique spectacle.”
The battle for no.1
It’s time now for Rafa and Nole to go to Paris to play the Master1000 of the season. Djokovic needs to outperform Nadal in France to dimish the 1,280 points gap he has in the year to date rankings.
Novak Djokovic’s ranking and performance in 2019
Now the world no.1, Djokovic played his last match on the 11th of October when he was defeated by Stefanos Tsitsipas 3-6 7-5 6-3 in the quarter in Shanghai.
This year Djokovic has a 48-9 win-loss record. Novak clinched 4 titles in 2019 at the Australian Open, in Madrid, in Wimbledon and in Tokyo. The Serbian was the finalist in Rome.
Rafael Nadal’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.2, Rafael played his last match on the 8th of September when he beat Daniil Medvedev 7-5 6-3 5-7 4-6 6-4 in the final in U.S. Open to win his 84th career title.
This year the Spaniard has a 47-6 win-loss record. Rafael has won 4 titles in 2019 in Rome, at the French Open, in Montreal and at the U.S. Open. Rafael was the finalist at the Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal played each other 54 times. The head to head is 28-26 for Djokovic.
The last time that they played each other, Rafael Nadal won 6-0 4-6 6-1 in the final in Rome in 19th May 2019.
Nice of Djokovic to play for Nadal's charity. I wonder whether he was aware that he might be risking his no1 status when he accepted to play this match?