After defeating Rafael Nadal on Saturday in what is likely to be the last match of their legendary rivalry, Novak Djokovic asked the Spaniard to postpone his scheduled retirement.
After defeating Nadal in straight sets 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at the “Six Kings Slam” exhibition in Saudi Arabia, Djokovic declared in an on-court interview, “Don’t leave tennis, man.”
On October 10, the 38-year-old Rafael Nadal declared his intention to retire from tennis following the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga the following month.
The Saudi event’s organizers touted Saturday’s showdown as potentially Nadal’s final professional singles encounter.
On Thursday, Rafael Nadal expressed uncertainty about his ability to play singles in Malaga.
Before Saturday’s exhibition match, Djokovic and Nadal, two of the sport’s renowned “Big Three” along with Roger Federer, had played each other 60 times on the main tour, with Djokovic leading by a slim 31-29 margin.
Djokovic easily won 6-1, 6-4 in their most recent match, which took place during the Paris Olympics on the same Roland Garros courts where Rafael Nadal won 14 French Open titles.
The 37-year-old Djokovic told Nadal on Saturday that he hoped they could “sit on a beach somewhere” and share a drink someday, adding that the rivalry had been “very intense.”
After winning the match, Nadal congratulated Djokovic for the “amazing rivalry” and “for all the moments we shared on court.” He was also given a golden tennis racket.
Nadal said that his level of fitness was significantly lower than that of the best players on the tour after falling to Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets in his opening match at the Saudi exhibition on Thursday.
In the “Six Kings Slam” final later on Saturday, French Open and Wimbledon champion Alcaraz was scheduled to face Australian Open and US Open winner Jannik Sinner.
The Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s first ATP Tour event, and exhibition matches that pitted Djokovic against Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka versus Ons Jabeur gave the country’s tennis endeavors a boost last year.
In April, the Women’s Tennis Association declared that the top eight singles players and doubles teams would compete in the Tour Finals, which would be held in Riyadh for the next three years.
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