Serena, Venus, Nadal and Djokovic to face off in Abu Dhabi

The first ATP and WTA tournaments of the 2019 season get started on Dec. 30 and 31, but big-name tennis begins a little earlier than that, with the Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition in Abu Dhabi, commencing on Dec. 27.

The opening day there is set to include a match between Serena and Venus Williams, at the court where Serena first returned to tennis a year ago.

That Thursday will also feature Hyeon Chung, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem and Karen Khachanov.

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, both have byes to Friday's semifinals.

The final and third-place matches are scheduled to take place on Saturday, Dec. 29.

The tennis season comes at you fast, so a late-December look at these top players could prove both entertaining and insightful.