"Everywhere you look in Saudi Arabia, you can see growth and progress and I'm excited to be part of that," Nadal, who pulled out of the ongoing Australian Open with a muscle injury, said in a statement.
The 37-year-old returns to the courts in Brisbane this week, almost a year since he last played professionally before an injury curse that has long plagued him returned with a vengeance.
Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, makes his comeback after a near year-long injury absence at the Australian Open warm-up event in Brisbane starting Sunday.
Nadal dropped out of the top 100 for the first time in 20 years earlier this season and has slipped to number 668 but is eligible for a protected ranking having been injured and not competing for at least six months.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion has undergone surgery twice in 2023 after struggling with a hip injury.
"I believe that numbers are numbers and statistics are statistics. In that sense, I think he (Djokovic) has better numbers than mine and that is indisputable," Nadal said in an interview with AS published on Wednesday
"I said that possibly 2024 was my last year, I maintain that, but I can not confirm it 100 percent because I do not know," Nadal told Movistar.
The 'Big Three' dominated men's tennis over the last two decades with a collective 66 Grand Slam titles between them but Djokovic is now clear of the retired Federer (20) and Nadal (22), who is expected to call time on his career next year
"I think he's got basically best of all three worlds," said Djokovic."People have been talking in the past 12 months or so about his game consisting of certain elements from Roger, Rafa, and myself. I would agree with that."
"Everywhere you look in Saudi Arabia, you can see growth and progress and I'm excited to be part of that," Nadal, who pulled out of the ongoing Australian Open with a muscle injury, said in a statement.
The 37-year-old returns to the courts in Brisbane this week, almost a year since he last played professionally before an injury curse that has long plagued him returned with a vengeance.
Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, makes his comeback after a near year-long injury absence at the Australian Open warm-up event in Brisbane starting Sunday.
Nadal dropped out of the top 100 for the first time in 20 years earlier this season and has slipped to number 668 but is eligible for a protected ranking having been injured and not competing for at least six months.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion has undergone surgery twice in 2023 after struggling with a hip injury.
"I believe that numbers are numbers and statistics are statistics. In that sense, I think he (Djokovic) has better numbers than mine and that is indisputable," Nadal said in an interview with AS published on Wednesday
"I said that possibly 2024 was my last year, I maintain that, but I can not confirm it 100 percent because I do not know," Nadal told Movistar.
The 'Big Three' dominated men's tennis over the last two decades with a collective 66 Grand Slam titles between them but Djokovic is now clear of the retired Federer (20) and Nadal (22), who is expected to call time on his career next year
"I think he's got basically best of all three worlds," said Djokovic."People have been talking in the past 12 months or so about his game consisting of certain elements from Roger, Rafa, and myself. I would agree with that."
Veteran Feliciano Lopez watched the rise to greatness of fellow Spaniard Rafa Nadal at close quarters