Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova are about to start their run at the prestigious Mubadala World Tennis Championship. This event in Abu Dhabi is one of the landmarks of the tennis preseason as the organization is always capable of attracting top tennis players.
This year was not the exception as the local fans will be delighted with the presence of the top2 player of the world (Nadal and Djokovic) also to have the pleasure to see a match between Maria Sharapova and Ajla Tomljanovic.
Novak Djokovic is currently training with Goran Ivanisevic and he will take on in the semifinal the winner between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev that has replaced Gael Monfils.
On the other side of the draw, the King of Clay will clash against the winner of Hyeon Chung and Karen Khachanov that replaced the world no.5 Daniil Medvedev. The Russian had to withdraw from the competition after he got injured to his leg.
Golf-cart Karaoke from Abu Dhabi🤷🏼‍♀️👋🏼 pic.twitter.com/LTG3S0DYn6
— Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) December 19, 2019
The odds and the favorites
According to bet365, the current favorite to win the event is Novak Djokovic, followed by Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
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Rafael Nadal’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.1, Rafael played his last match on the 15th of November when he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-74 6-4 7-5 in the round robin in London.
At the present, this year Rafael has a 52-7 win-loss record. Rafael has won 4 titles in 2019 in Rome, at the French Open, in Montreal and at the U.S. Open. Nadal was the finalist at the Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic’s ranking and performance in 2019
At the moment ranked no.2, Djokovic played his last match on the 14th of November when he was overcome by Roger Federer 6-4 6-3 in the round robin in London.
Currently, this year Djokovic has a 54-11 win-loss record. The Serbian clinched 5 titles in 2019 at the Australian Open, in Madrid, in Wimbledon, in Tokyo and in Paris. The Serbian was the finalist in Rome.
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic played each other 54 times. The head to head is 28-26 for Djokovic.
The last time that they squared off, Rafael Nadal won 6-0 4-6 6-1 in the final in Rome (Internazionali BNL d’Italia) on the 19th of May 2019.
Maria Sharapova’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.131, the Russian played her last match on the 26th of August when she lost to Serena Williams 6-1 6-1 in the 1st round in U.S. Open.
Ajla Tomljanovic’s ranking and performance in 2019
Now the world no.51, the Croatian played her last match on the 15th of October when she had to surrender to Varvara Gracheva 6-3 6-2 in the 1st round in Moscow.
Ajla Tomljanovic’s best result of this season was reaching the final in Hua Hin.
Maria Sharapova and Ajla Tomljanovic have never played each other.
