Federer and Nadal to headline Abu Dhabi
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will return to Abu Dhabi to play in the exhibition Mubadala World Tennis Championship from December 30th to January 1st.
The world’s top-two ranked players are to be joined in the six-player draw by Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marcos Baghdatis.
The tournament could provide the first chance in the new season for fans to see great rival Federer and Nadal go head-to-head, although the same was anticipated at the previous staging of the event, before Soderling put paid to that plan with a semi-final win over the Swiss.
The dual French Open runner-up, however, fell to Nadal 7-6(3), 7-5 in the final as the Spaniard made a winning start to what has proved to be a highly successful season.
While a knee injury ended his title hopes at the Australian Open, the left-hander went on to win the three remaining Grand Slams and recapture the world No. 1 ranking from Federer.
"Abu Dhabi is a very special place to me,” Nadal said in a statement on the tournament website. “I've enjoyed the best season of my career so far and it all started with a victory in Abu Dhabi, so it holds great memories. The early season momentum gained in Abu Dhabi is good preparation for the Australian Open."
While Nadal will be using the tournament as part of his preparations to claim the Australian Open crown and thus hold all four major titles simultaneously, Federer has just as much incentive as he prepares to return to Melbourne Park to win the title he’s already won four times, including in 2010.
"To win the Mubadala World Tennis Championship against such a strong field will be the perfect start to the 2011 season,” Federer said.
Especially, one imagines, if in the process he can defeat Nadal – something the 16-time Grand Slam champion has only done once in their past seven matches – and gain some small edge before the 2011 season begins in earnest.
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