Novak Djokovic will continue his rivalry with Rafael Nadal in just over a week’s time as the two travel to Nur-Sultan (formerly called Astana).
On October 24th the duo will lock horns in a charity exhibition match. It will be held at the Barys Arena, which is a multi-purpose indoor venue that is the home of KHL ice hockey team Barys Nur-Sultan. Details of the event have been fairly limited, but the Kazakhstan Olympic federation has outlined what will occur during their time in the country.
On the day of the event, both players will hold a press conference at 12:00 with local media. That will be held at the luxurious Ritz Carlton Hotel in the city. Later in the day the two will then hold what has been dubbed as a ‘tennis Masterclass’ with children at 18:00 before they play their match an hour later.
The timing of the event also has a significant impact in the race for year-end No.1. As neither player will be able to earn any ATP points during that week, Rafael Nadal will return back to the top position. The first time he has done so since November 2018. The exhibition occurred during the same time as tournaments in Vienna and Basel. Both of which have 500 points up for grabs for the winner.
Should he stay healthy and continue to play this season, Nadal has the best chance of finishing the year at the top. The Spaniard has no points to defend until January. Compared to Djokovic, who will be defending his title at the Paris Masters and was runner-up in the 2018 ATP Finals.
“I don’t compete for it. I just do my way. If I am able to be No.1 doing it my way, great. But I always say the same: today is not my main goal.” Nadal said during the US Open.
“Of course, it’s great to be in that fight. But for me personally, it’s not really a fight. I just try to be competitive the weeks that I need to compete, or the weeks that I want to compete.’
“With my age and with my goals, I cannot lose energy or time to follow the No.1. I need to think about my career in a different way.”
In their head-to-head, Djokovic leads his rival 28-26. However, Nadal won their most recent meeting on the clay at the Italian Open.
