Last week, the Mubadala World Tennis Championships organization seemed to be quite upbeat about the possibility to host their event also this year despite the pandemic.
The optimism seemed to be well placed because, in the following few weeks, the Middle East will become the “center” of pro tennis. The Australian Open’s qualifications will be played in Doha and Abu Dhabi will host a WTA500 at the beginning of January.
However, eventually, the Mubadala World Tennis Championships had to be canceled with the following statement:
“Tournament owners Flash Entertainment have made the difficult decision to not host the 2020 edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship after consultation with stakeholders and tennis governing bodies. The decision is a result of scheduling challenges in the tennis calendar of events due to the international response to COVID-19. The safety and wellbeing of our guests, players, officials, and spectators always comes first and we look forward to welcoming the Championship back in 2021.”
Nadal will remain the defending champion after he won the last edition following a final against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Rafael Nadal in 2020
Currently 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 present, during this year the Spaniard has a compiled 27-7 win-loss record. The Spaniard clinched 2 titles in 2020 in Acapulco and at the French Open.
