Saudi Arabia will quickly be a hard and fast venue for the tennis circuit (together with the ladies’s circuit) and the match on Wednesday, December 27 between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in Riyadh would be the opening bout.
The factors at stake and the combat for the number one will include the United Cup, this week and particularly the Australian Open, in mid-January, however the pre-seasons are already over and what will probably be seen within the Saudi capital would be the weapons with which the primary and primary on the earth will combat their first battles.
Carlos Alcaraz reveals Ferrero’s excessive coaching strategies that make him a champion
For Djokovic, the upcoming season will probably be his twenty first on the circuit, since he made his debut on it in 2004, and he will probably be 37 years previous within the course of.
He appears, nonetheless, to have stopped time extra successfully than Rafael Nadal with whom he could face once more this yr: Final season he confirmed only a few cracks in his dictatorship over the circuit, however by means of certainly one of them a 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz slipped by means of to win Wimbledon.
The truth that Alcaraz has been chosen for this match just isn’t solely a recognition of his present rating and the deserves which have led to it, but additionally ‘designates’ him as the largest contender to Djokovic‘s throne, both by conquest or inheritance, forward of Jannik Sinner or Daniil Medvedev, for instance.
And Alcaraz takes that very critically. This week he has been coaching – even on Christmas Eve – on the JC Ferrero Academy with, exactly, Sinner. He is aware of that this primary contact is vital. And simply 24 hours later, by the best way, he’ll play in Murcia towards Roberto Bautista.
Earlier than the Alcaraz-Djokovic match in Riyadh, Ons Jabeur and Aryna Sabalenka will play.
Additionally it is vital: regardless of the WTA’s beneficial stance, there’s reluctance within the ladies’s tennis world to return to a rustic the place ladies don’t get pleasure from the identical fundamental human rights as males.
Earlier matches between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic
- 2023: ATP Finals, Semi-finals, Djokovic 6-3, 6-2
- 2023: Cincinnati, Last, Djokovic 5-7, 7-6, 7-6
- 2023: Wimbledon, Last, Alcaraz 1-6, 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
- 2023: Roland Garros, Semi-finals, Djokovic 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1
- 2022: Madrid, Semi-finals, Alcaraz 6-7, 7-5, 7-6
