Rafael Nadal - 38 years old, and Novak Djokovic - 37 years old, have been able to accept the fact that it is time to step back into the background, giving way to the younger generation.
Nadal lost to Carlos Alcaraz - 21 years old, and Djokovic lost to Jannik Sinner - 23 years old (the second time in less than a week) in the semi-finals of the Six Kings Slam event as proof.
In fact, Nadal has decided the time to leave the racket (after the Davis Cup finals). Meanwhile, Djokovic will continue to compete - at least until the end of 2025, but perhaps, he will only strive to find some title to mark his collection as a complete 100 rather than trying to compete again with young opponents or to take the top spot on the ATP rankings.
Now, Nadal and Djokovic will play each other for the last time, in their professional careers, on the evening of October 19 (Vietnam time).
Usually when Nadal and Djokovic meet, it must be the final or semi-final of a tournament. But recently, when Nadal fell deep in the rankings, they clashed in the second round at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
That is a rare thing. And to mark the uniqueness of the duo's rivalry, the final meeting will be in the third-place match - the first and certainly the only one.
Although the Open Era still has Roger Federer in the Big Three, with the style of a " gentleman", the former Swiss tennis player did not create a thorny rivalry with the two opponents. Therefore, Nadal and Djokovic are considered by many experts, coaches and even other tennis players to be the greatest rival pair in tennis history.
They have met at least once a year, from 2006 to 2022. In 2024 alone, this is the second time.
With such a rivalry, the head-to-head score is only a small difference.
Before today's match, Rafa and Nole had faced each other 60 times, with the Serbian winning 31 matches and the Spaniard winning 29.
Those 60 matches included finals in all four Grand Slams. Djokovic leads 15-13 in finals at all levels, while Nadal leads 11-7 in majors, including 5-4 in major finals.
Nadal leads 8-2 at the French Open and 2-1 at the US Open, while Djokovic leads 2-0 at the Australian Open and 2-1 at Wimbledon.
Djokovic is the only player to have beaten Nadal in all four Grand Slams. He also leads in the five sets (2-1).
Of the 60 meetings, 27 have been on hard courts, with Djokovic leading with a score of 20-7. Nadal must have dominated the clay, with 209. In the 4 matches on the pitch, the score was 22.
Djokovic is somewhat better physically at the moment, but with his final rock-ballad in Saudi Arabia, Nadal - and fans - did not want the match to end after just 2 sets.
After the third-place match, Sinner and Alcaraz will face off in the final. 2024 is Sinner's year, having won 7 titles and Certainly ending the year as world No. 1.
However, Alcaraz is still something of a barrier that poses a challenge for the Italian tennis player. They have met 10 times since the first time in 2021, Alcaraz is leading 6-4.
In 2024 alone, Sinner may be the world number 1 but he has lost all 3 matches against Alcaraz. And when they lost in outdoor hard courts, clay courts, will indoor hard courts make a difference?
The winner will take home $6 million in prize money.
