Why Federer and Nadal will not play Djokovic’s Adria Tour

Novak Djokovic has been doing a fantastic job in organizing the Adria Tour, an unofficial tennis tournament that will be played in the Balkans.

The Serbian legend managed to attract some top players such as Dominic Thiem, Sascha Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov. However, some wondered why Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are not going to be part of the tour.

When asked, Nole was extremely straight to say that it was practically impossible for Federer to play as he is still recovering from his knee issue after the operation. The Swiss went under the knife back in February and he already revealed he would have been ready for the grass season. However, that has been delayed by the Coronavirus pandemic, and Roger also announced that he has not been training.

As per the world no.1, Rafa has just started training and therefore he didn’t ask him to join. Also, there are unconfirmed rumors that the Spanish sensation will host a competition with some top players at his Academy.

“Federer, Nadal and I have been communicating more than we usually do because of the coronavirus pandemic changes and we discussed the situation of hte lower-ranked players. Federer is still having issues with his knee so I didn’t ask him [to join the Adria Tour]. Rafa has just returned to training. Last week we talked about the US Open but I didn’t ask him [to join]. I don’t believe he would come even if I invited him,” said Djokovic.

Roger Federer in 2020

Ranked no.4, the Swiss played his last match on the 30^th of January when he lost to Novak Djokovic 7-6¹ 6-4 6-3 in the semifinal of the Australian Open.

Roger Federer’s best result of the present year was getting to the semi-finals at the Australian Open.

Rafael Nadal in 2020

At the moment ranked no.2, Rafael played his last match on the 29^th of February when he defeated Taylor Fritz 6-3 6-2 in the final in Acapulco to win his 85^th career title.

At present, this year the Spaniard has a 13-3 win-loss record. Rafael clinched 1 title in Acapulco.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal played each other 40 times. The head to head is 24-16 for Nadal. The last time that they locked horns, Roger Federer won 7-6³ 1-6 6-3 6-4 in the semifinal in London (Wimbledon) in July 2019.

Novak Djokovic in 2020

Now ranked no.1, Djokovic played his last match on the 29^th of February when he overcame Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 6-4 in the final in Dubai to win his 80^th career title.

At the moment, this season Novak has a 18-0 win-loss record. Novak conquered 2 titles in 2020 at the Australian Open and in Dubai.