Federer, Nadal line up for Capitala

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, will head a star-studded cast list for the Capitala World Championship exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi.

Rafael Nadal of Spain will join Roger Federer at the Capitala World Championship exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi over the New Year.
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ABU DHABI // Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the world's top two tennis players, will head a star-studded cast list for the second staging of the Capitala World Championship exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi over the New Year. Swiss maestro Federer and powerful Spaniard Nadal are accompanied in the three-day event which starts on December 31 by popular Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Russia's Nikolay Davydenko, Fernando Verdasco, of Spain, and Sweden's Robin Soderling. Andy Murray, who won the inaugural event last January by beating Federer in the semi-finals and Nadal in a thrilling final, has declined the opportunity to defend the title. Americans Andy Roddick and James Blake are also missing from the original line-up. The pre-season tournament offers a winner-takes-all prize of $US250,000 (Dh917,000) with the organisers insisting that the other five competitors will leave empty handed.

wjohnson@thenational.ae