Rafael Nadal vs Novak Djokovic live stream: How to watch Madrid Open online

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, the two prohibitive favourites heading into the 2017 French Open, will lock horns in the semi-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open on Saturday. It will be the 50th career meeting between the two all-time great players.

While Djokick leads the head-to-head rivalry by a 26-23 margin, Naadal holds a 9-4 edge against the Serbian in Grand Slam events and a 4-3 record in Grand Slam finals. Nadal has also dominated Djokovic at the French Open, beating him on six out of seven occasions. In their two previous encounters at Madrid, Nadal saved three match points to overcome Djokovic in a classic 2009 semi-final before the Serb returned the favour in the 2011 final. In fact, Djokovic's win in 2011 was his first and only win over Nadal on clay.

In recent years, the younger Djokovic has dominated the match-up, beating the Spaniard in seven consecutive matches via 15 straight sets. Nadal last beat Djokovic in the 2014 French Open final. While the numbers favour Djokovic as the favourite, Nadal has made a remarkable comeback from injuries and is eyeing his third consecutive clay-court tournametn victory after capturing Monte Carlo and Barcelona.

Djokovic, the World No. 2, is in the middle of his worst season since 2010. After relinquishing the World No. 1 ranking to Andy Murray in November, Djokovic suffered a shocking second-round defeat at the Australian Open to Denis Istomin followed by consecutive losses to Nick Kyrgios in Acapulco and Indian Wells. Despite the Serb's recent woes, Nadal acknowledged that his long-time rival would pose a legitimate threat on Saturday.

"On his slump, 99 percent of players would love to be in his position. We have to analyse the numbers. In his dip after Wimbledon, he won in Montreal... made the final at the US Open, the semi-finals in Shanghai, the final in the World Tour Finals. When you win every single match in every tournament, that is abnormal. In history, we have never seen what he achieved during those years," Nadal said of Djokovic, via First Post.

Nadal reckoned his historically-great rivalry with Djokovic has helped him improve as a player. "It has made me better. When you play people that are so good it always makes you give 100 percent. I think we have done damage to each other during our careers. We have taken plenty of titles from each other The reality is that it's been a really good era because the matches between Djokovic, (Roger) Federer and me... we've made it many times to the final rounds, competing in the most important tournaments." The 2017 French Open begins on May 22. Rafael Nadal vs Novak Djokovic live streaming, Madrid Open live streaming and tennis live streaming info follows.

Rafael Nadal vs Novak Djokovic live stream: How to watch Madrid Open 2017 online

Start time: 12 a.m. (Sunday, AEST), 4 p.m. (Local Time, CEST), 10 a.m. (ET)
On TV: Tennis Channel (USA), ESPN (Australia), Sky Sports 1 (UK)
Live Stream: Tennis TV (Global), Sky Go (UK), WatchESPN (Australia)