Hurlingham Classic: All you need to know about Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic's preparatory event for Wimbledon 2022

The Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic is a grass-court exhibition event held at the Hurlingham Club in London the week before the Wimbledon Championships. The event was first held in 1994, when it was known as the Aspall Tennis Classic. Giorgio Armani took over as the title sponsor from BNP Paribas in 2022.

Established in 1869, the Hurlingham Club is spread across 42 acres of land in Fulham. Apart from the tennis tournament, it is also home to the Wimbledon Ball.

The Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic is a notable feature on the ATP Champions Tour, where retired tennis professionals compete.

Though the tournament is not officially a part of the ATP or the WTA Tour, which means no ranking points are awarded to the participants, the event has seen the participation of multiple Slam champions over the years.

While Wimbledon sees players dressed in all-white, the dress code for the Hurlingham Tennis Classic is called 'summer chic.'

It has many similarities to Wimbledon in terms of premier hospitality, presence of celebrities, elite facilities and high-quality tennis. The presence of perennial rye grass at Hurlingham makes it an ideal tune-up to the grass-court Slam.

2022 Hurlingham Tennis Classic: Format and participants

A general view of the Hurlingham Club

In its 28th year, the 2022 Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic will be held from June 21 to 26. The first four days of the event will see ATP and WTA players battle it out in singles exhibition matches.

As of now, the participation of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Casper Ruud, Carlos Alcaraz, Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime has been confirmed for the event. British stars Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu are also expected to feature in the tournament.

While Nadal has participated at Hurlingham on multiple occasions in the past, this will be Djokovic's maiden appearance at the event. Both players have not played a tour-level grass court event in their build-up to this year's Wimbledon, and will be back in action for the first time since Roland Garros.

Nadal won his 22nd Grand Slam title at the 2022 French Open, where he defeated Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

The final two days of the event will be part of the ATP Champions Tour, where the game's legends will play in a team format. Two singles and one doubles matches will be played in a set of four games, with the tiebreak played at 3-3. Each match will be worth one point and the team with the most points will win.

The two teams for this year's event are led by Greg Rusedski and Xavier Malisse. Rusedski, along with Radek Stepanek and Tommy Haas, will face Marcos Baghdatis and Lleyton Hewitt, who are in Malisse's team.

Former WTA players Laura Robson and Daniela Hantuchova will join the legends week in an exhibition mixed doubles event. Crowd favorite Mansour Bahrami will make yet another appearance at SW6.

Wimbledon begins on June 27, with the ladies' and gentlemen's finals scheduled for July 9 and 10 respectively.