Big Prize Money Exhibition Set for Abu Dhabi – Djokovic, Nadal, Federer

Written by: Staff on 13th December 2011

Big Prize Money Exhibition Set for Abu Dhabi - Djokovic, Nadal, Federer

Serbia's Novak Djokovic makes a return to Thomas Berdych of the Czech Republic during their Group A tennis match at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals held in the O2 Arena, London, England, 21 November 2011. EPA/FOTOSPORTS/ROGER PARKER |

Novak Djokovic will get the first chance to see if his runaway 2011 season was a fluke or a habit when the No. 1 makes his debut in just over a fortnight at the rich Abu Dhabi exhibition, the Mubadala World Tennis Championship.

Joining the Serb will be tournament regulars Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, with bags of money doing the talking to the Top 3 in the world as they start the 2012 campaign less than a month after ending 2011.

With the draw already sorted out at the six-man event, Djokovic will play his first match of the new season – or one of his last of 2100 – against Frenchman Gael Monfils, a fellow debutante at the Gulf exhibition.

Also along to make up the numbers are Spain’s No. 5 David Ferrer,, who faces off first against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, beaten by Federer in the London year-end final.

Federer and Nadal, as longtime honored guests of organizers, happily receive first-round byes, with the Swiss going against the Djokovic v Monfils winner and Rafael Nadal facing either Ferrer or and Tsonga.

The event runs through December 31, allowing players to get into position for the ATP start in nearby Doha on January 1.

Topics: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer