Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have seen plenty of one another during the past 20 years.
But it would be fair to say that they’ve come face to face on the court more often than in the air. Perhaps that’s why World No. 1 Djokovic took to Instagram to share a selfie Rafa snapped when the legends met up on the same commercial flight to the United States.
Both players are preparing for the year’s first ATP Masters 1000 tournament, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Djokovic, who has won five titles in Indian Wells, including a hat-trick between 2014-16, will compete at the event for the first time since 2019. And it will be just his third tournament of the year, and first since the Australian Open, where the Serbian fell to Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals.
Nadal triumphed in the desert in 2007, ’09 and ’13. His most recent appearance was in 2022, when he defeated Nick Kyrgios and Carlos Alcaraz in the quarters and semis before falling to Taylor Fritz in the final.
Nadal, 37, has not played since his long-awaited return to the tour in the first week of the season in Brisbane, where he defeated Dominic Thiem and Jason Kubler before losing to Jordan Thompson in the quarter-finals. The Spaniard suffered a micro muscle tear in Brisbane and missed the Australian Open
