The new ATP calendar for the 2021 season still needs to be officialized. However, there are already very strong indications about the tournaments that are going to be played in the 1st quarter and the relative dates. Unfortunately, it is a given that the events in Rio de Janeiro and Indian Wells will be canceled. There is still a hope that they will be played in another moment during the season, but almost for sure, they won’t take place in the first quarter of the following year.
The Australian Open
The new schedules will revolve around the fact that the Australian Open will be postponed to February so as to push aside some other minor events. Therefore, the new season should start with the ATP250 in Delray Beach (and 1 in Antalya?) that was originally scheduled to be played in the second month of the year.
There should be 14 tournaments that will be played in the first quarter of the ATP Tour and 13 of them will be packed in February and March.
Novak Djokovic
The Serbian sensation has always declared that he has 2 main objectives in the years to come. One was being the man who was at the top of the rankings for most weeks in tennis history. With the new ranking system, that will happen for sure in 2021.
Novak is also chasing Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s record of 20 slam titles. Therefore, he will put his full attention on the Australian Open, a tournament that he has won already won on 8 occasions.
Novak is always extremely passionate about representing his country and therefore he is expected to play the ATP Cup the week before the 1st slam of the year. However, according to rumors, this edition of the ATP Cup will feature not as many teams as last year. Therefore, it is still to be seen if Serbia will be part of the line-up. If so, Novak will definitely play for his country.
Novak is not expected to play any other tournament in February. While it is unplausible that Djokovic will compete in Rotterdam (1st of March) it is extremely possible that he will decide to play in Dubai later in the month (15th of March). Novak is the defending champion in the Emirates.
Rafael Nadal
Rafa will try to be the first man to win 21 slams at the Australian Open and that will obviously be his target in the first quarter of 2021. Nadal doesn’t have a smashing record at the Australian Open since he won this major “only” once, but he still has a good chance to bring home the title.
Similar to Djokovic, Rafa is extremely keen on playing for his country. Therefore, if Spain is part of the line-up, he is widely expected to compete in the ATP Cup.
Finally, Nadal is expected to play at least 1 tournament in March if he’s fit. In that case, the world no.2 is expected to play in Acapulco that will be probably be staged on the 15th of March. Nadal is the defending champion in Mexico.
All dates and tournaments need to be confirmed.
Novak Djokovic in 2020
Ranked world no.1, the Serbian played his last match on the 21st of November when he capitulated to Dominic Thiem 7-5 6-710 7-65 in the semifinal in the Nitto ATP Finals (draw).
Currently, during this year the Serbian has 41-5 match record. Novak clinched 4 titles in 2020 at the Australian Open, in Dubai, in New York and in Rome. Djokovic was the finalist at the French Open.
Rafael Nadal in 2020
Ranked no.2, Rafael played his last match on the 21st of November when he lost to Daniil Medvedev 3-6 7-64 6-3 in the semifinal in the Nitto ATP Finals (draw).
At the moment, during this season Rafael owns a composed 27-7 record. Rafael clinched 2 titles in 2020 in Acapulco and at the French Open.
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal faced off 56 times. Their actual record is 29-27 for Djokovic. Previously, the last time when they played, Rafael Nadal won 6-0 6-2 7-5 in the final in Paris (French Open) on the 11th of October 2020.
In the following video you can watch the key moments of their match.
