Nadal and Djokovic have signed up to play together in Abu Dhabi (Picture: AFP/Getty)

Rafael Nadal has been confirmed as part of the line-up for the Mubadala World Tennis Championship (MWTC) in Abu Dhabi, an event that takes place just five days after his proposed exhibition match with Novak Djokovic in Saudi Arabia was due to take place.

The world No. 1 called time on his season early due to an abdominal problem, while he is also to undergo surgery on an ankle injury, and withdrew from the controversial contest against Djokovic – where the pair were set to earn in excess of $1million each – that was originally set to take place in Jeddah on December 22.



Djokovic confirmed the cancellation of the Saudi match ahead of the ATP Finals on Friday, saying: ‘It’s not happening.’

When pushed if it was scrapped purely due to Nadal’s injury, he simply replied: ‘Yes.’


Nadal was forced to withdraw from the Saudi match due to injury (Picture:Getty Images)

Four days later – on Tuesday morning – MWTC organisers confirmed Nadal’s participation at the annual exhibition event in Abu Dhabi, which begins on December 27.

The Spaniard will be joined by Djokovic as well as Kevin Anderson, Hyeon Chung, Dominic Thiem, Karen Khachanov and Venus Williams.

Djokovic and Nadal had come under serious pressure regarding their Saudi agreement, which was announced amid the international conflict arising following the murder of journaist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered (Picture: AP)

Nadal’s injury problems appeared – in one sense, at least – well timed in order to dodge the exhibition match, and the pressure that came with it, while saving face of the organisers.

While, of course, it’s good news that Nadal is on the mend, sceptical observers who viewed the injury as a useful excuse to avoid political conflict will perhaps feel somewhat vindicated with the Spaniard being passed fit to play less than a week later.

Elsewhere, the ATP Tour has launched a new logo.

Tennis is evolving and so are we ? Be the first to see our new logo which launches in 2019 ? #LOVEITALL pic.twitter.com/p8zmoNbR2U — ATP World Tour (@ATPWorldTour) November 13, 2018

The current logo has been used since 2009 but will be updated for the start of the 2019 season.

Eagle-eyed observers will notice the word ‘world’ has been ditched in this edition, although, it had not featured on any of the previous logos used.

ATP chief Chris Kermonde said: ‘We’re taking a bold approach in everything we do at the ATP, from our pioneering broadcast partnership with Amazon Prime to the innovations we’ve been testing out at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.

‘It’s an exciting time for the sport – with a mix of unbelievable legends still at the top of their game and a next generation of stars emerging – so this is a great time to be engaging new, younger fans around the world.’