Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are set for one final battle against each other for the third-place playoff match at 6 Kings Slam on Friday. The legendary duo will look to reignite their historic rivalry one last time as the Spaniard is set to retire from professional tennis next month.
Six Kings Slam, an exhibition non-ATP tournament, will be waiting for the first winner when the world no.1 Jannik Sinner and the world no.2 Carlos Alcaraz clash in the final on Friday. But before that, the tennis world will witness arguably the biggest sporting rivalry unfold one last time at The Venue, Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center in Riyadh.
Nadal lost 6-3, 6-3 to another Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-final while the 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic fell 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 to the top-ranked Italian Jannik Sinner. But both Nadal and Djokovic gave a strong fight in the semi-final fixtures to get pumped for the historic meet for the third-place playoff.
Djokovic will enter the fixture as a favourite having played in competitive tournaments regularly this season. He missed out on all four majors and also failed to win a single ATP title in 2024 but achieved a memorable gold at the Paris Olympics 2024 to complete the tennis.
On the other hand, Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam winner, has played very little competitive tennis in 2024 but seemed in good rhythm against Alcaraz on Thursday. Notably, Nadal's previous singles match came against Djokovic at the 2024 Paris Games second round where the Serbian registered an impressive 6-1, 6-4 win.
Both players are facing each other in the singles for the 61st time and there is no clear head-to-head winner in this contest. The Serbian narrowly leads the number with 31 wins while Nadal has more wins in their last five encounters.
Rafael Nadal vs Novak Djokovic head-to-head record
| Singles matches | Nadal won | Djokovic won |
|---|---|---|
| 60 | 29 | 31 |
