Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will play an exhibition match at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, the home stadium of football giants Real Madrid, hoping for a crowd of 80,000 to watch tennis' top two players.
Real Madrid says on its website that the top-ranked Djokovic and local favourite Nadal will meet on July 14 at the Bernabeu, with proceeds going to the club's and Nadal's charity foundations. Spaniard Nadal is a well-known Real Madrid fan while Serbian Djokovic has been a guest of honour at the club's facilities, and once wore a Real Madrid shirt when he walked out for a tennis match at the Madrid Masters.
The stadium has a maximum capacity of approximately 85,454 and the pair are hoping to smash tennis single session attendance record. The current record for attendance is the 35,681 fans that watched an exhibition between Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium in July, 2010. That exhibition broke the previous record of 30,372 fans that saw Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the famous "Battle of the Sexes" in Houston in September, 1973.
Nadal and Djokovic have won a combined 14 majors and have had one of sports' top rivalries of late. Djokovic had defeated Nadal in the last seven finals they've played, including in the last three Grand Slam tournaments — Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open.
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