Rafael Nadal announced early this morning that he will play Novak Djokovic in a charity exhibition match after Wimbledon and before the Olympics on July 14th in Madrid, Spain.

I thought it was a little bizarre that Rafa, who always complains about how tight the schedule is for the ATP is going to play exhibition match during such a pivotal time in the tennis calendar. He always talks about how important and special winning an Olympic medal is, especially for Spain so I would think he would want to be super prepared and well rested. But it is for his charity and I think that’s really nice and special that he would do that. There’s going to be a huge eye on tennis because of Wimbledon during that time so maybe that’s why he wanted to do it in July, there will be a lot of attention and therefore a lot of media for his foundation. For the kids!

What’s also really cool (*Justin Timberlake in The Social Network voice*) is that Novak Djokovic is doing it. Roger Federer apparently turned him down simply because of the timing, which I don’t blame him for, apparently he was still very much willing to do it. Novak has some weird on court antics that bother me a little bit but apart from that, I can’t help but like him. He’s such a likable guy that has really earned his spot as the world number one and has stayed pretty humble throughout. But I guess since Rafa was adamant about it, he was determined to find a replacement so who better than the world number one who Rafa hasn’t been able to defeat in over a year? I think it’s going to be awesome.

Let’s talk about the location. Santiago Bernabéu Stadium! No big deal, just where Real Madrid plays. What a huge venue and stage for the world’s current two best tennis players. Rafa is huge in Spain and I don’t know if he’ll sell out all 80,000 tickets with Nole but there’s going to be a huge crowd and I for one cannot wait!