Roger Federer said no to playing a Saudi Arabia exhibition event.

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal and former No. 1 Novak Djokovic are scheduled to play the King Salman Tennis Championship exhibition on December 22nd in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah.

More: Nadal, Djokovic Unsure About Saudi Arabia

The third-ranked Swiss said organizers contacted him about playing, but he declined.

"I prefer not to play," Federer said he told organizers. "Because I don't want to play. It's okay. I'm happy practicing. I'm happy doing other things, and I didn't want to play there at that time. So, for me, it was a very quick decision."

Nadal and Djokovic have come under criticism by some for playing after the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

On October 2nd, Khashoggi entered the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey and was never seen alive again.  

In his pre-tournament press-conference in Paris this week, Djokovic said the pair committed to play a year before Khashoggi's murder.

"I personally always try to be very apolitical. I don't like to involve myself in any political exchange or situations," Djokovic told the media in Paris. "And it's unfortunate that we are both drawn into this right now.

"All I can say is that we have the commitment with them for over a year, actually last year when we were discussing this potential matchup, we agreed that it's going to happen in December as a kind of a lead-up to the beginning of the season. And it was my professional tennis decision to do that."

Djokovic said his team is in touch with promoters in Saudi Arabia as well as Nadal so that "we can make a rational decision whether it’s good to go or not."

"Of course I know, I'm aware of what's happening, and it's sad, of course," Djokovic said. "I mean, it's the only thing that you can feel when you see something like that and when you hear something like that.

"But I can't say more than that. My team right now is in touch with the people in Saudi Arabia as well as Rafa's and of course we are all talking to understand the situation better. Because right now we just don't have obviously enough information, and we have to look into that a bit more and then we'll make our decision soon."

Photo credit: Christopher Levy