Sports | Sunday 10 December, 2017 2:15 pm |

Former world number one, Novak Djokovic, is aiming to mark his comeback to on-court action with a win at the 10th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship (MWTC).

 

This will be the Serbian superstar’s fifth visit to Abu Dhabi having previously won the tournament three times. Tennis fans will get to see Djokovic in action on day two when he plays the winner of the match between Dominic Thiem and Milos Raonic. 

 

The 30-year old Serb expressed he is keen to return to action saying, “It is always an honour to play in Abu Dhabi and I can’t wait to get back on court again. This tournament will offer me the perfect opportunity to start my preparation for the Australian Open.” 

 

The 12-time Grand Slam winner has enjoyed a total of 223 weeks as world number one. Considered as one of the all-time greats, Djokovic has 68 career titles, which is the sixth-most in the Open era, and also owns third-most titles among active players. He became only the eighth player to complete a career Grand Slam and third to hold all four major titles at once. 

 

The Serbian will be hoping to kick-off the new season and his comeback with a win. Djokovic will be joined by current world number one Rafael Nadal, world number five Dominic Thiem, three-time Grand Slam Winner Stan Wawrinka, recent US Open semi-finalist Pablo Carreño Busta and former Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic. 

 

The tournament will run from December 28 to 30 at the International Tennis Center at Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi. 

 

As always, in the unique ‘winner takes all’ format of the MWTC, the victor will claim $250,000 in prize money. The tournament, which has firmly established itself as the beginning of the global tennis season, was first staged in 2009 and has continuously attracted the best players in the world, as it is closely followed by the Australian Open in January, the first Grand Slam of the season.