Nadal, Djokovic to play in Jeddah on Dec. 22

Jeddah — Top seeded tennis players Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are set to make their first appearance in Saudi Arabia when they participate in the King Salman Tennis Championship at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah on Dec. 22.

This was announced by the head of Saudi General Sports Authority and adviser to the Crown Prince, Turki Al-Sheikh on Sunday night.

Al-Sheik tweeted, “The top two players in the world are coming to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to compete for the King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Trophy.”

“Thanks for the invitation and looking forward to playing and visiting for the first time,” Nadal said on Twitter.

Nadal, the reigning French Open champion, has 17 Grand Slam titles to his name.

Former world number one Djokovic, now at three in the rankings, won Wimbledon and the US Open this year to take his majors collection to 14.

Djokovic and Nadal have played 52 times in their careers with the Serb leading their head-to-head 27-25.

Tickets will be on available on Sauditicket.com.

In recent months, Saudi Arabia has hosted a series of international sports events such as the World Boxing Association super middleweight boxing bout between Britain’s Callum Smith and George Groves in Jeddah, WWE’s Greatest Royal Rumble, as well as its first-ever international motorsport event, featuring stars from Formula One, World Rally Championship, IndyCar, NASCAR, sportscars and touring cars, World Chess championship, first European Tour Golf event, and Four-Team International Football Tournament featuring Brazil, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.