▲ Tennis player Nadal (top) and head chatting live
Rafael Nadal (2nd, Spain) and Andy Murray (129th, UK) face off.
Nadal and Head together with Novak Djokovic (No. 1 and Serbia) and Roger Federer (No. 4 and Switzerland) form the 'Big Four' of men's tennis.
They have never faced an official tournament since 2016, but this year's head-to-head encounter with Nadal is not a real tennis court, but an online game.
At the Madrid Open Virtual Pro Charity Event, held for four days starting on the 27th, Nadal and Head belonged side by side to compete in the tennis game.
The Madrid Open was originally scheduled to be held in Madrid, Spain in early May, but was canceled due to Coronavirus Infection-19 (Corona19).
Instead, we decided to provide something for fans through an online game showdown with 16 men and women players for four days starting on the 27th.
In addition, the prize money for the men's and women's departments is 150,000 Euros (approximately 200 million won), and some of the prize money is used to help the lower rankers who face economic difficulties due to the suspension of the tennis tournament.
Nadal and his head belonged to a pair with Gael Montpis (9th, France) and Dennis Shaphobalov (16th, Canada).
Of course, world rankings have nothing to do with game skills.
Nadal, called Emperor Claycourt, won five championships in the Claycourt competition, the Madrid Open, in 2005, 2010, 2013, 2014, and 2017.
However, the game wasn't good enough, so I recently joked with my head and social media that the tournament organizer (replaced by online games) doesn't seem to want me to do well at the Madrid Open this year.
The head also said, "I chose Nadal's character in an online game to face Federer." Nadal advised, "Federer should continue to target the backhand."
As each team advances to the 8th place to the 2nd place, Nadal and his head may advance to the 8th place side by side depending on the result of the match.
(Photo = Nadal social media video screen capture, Yonhap News)