Dubai Tennis Championships

[shawarma]

• What? Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships
• Where? Dubai Tennis Stadium at the Dubai Aviation Club
• When? 15-21 February 2009 for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour (Dubai Women's Tennis Open), and 23-28 February 2009 for the ATP World Tour (Dubai Men's Tennis Open). Matches usually start at about 1400 (2pm) and finish around 2100 (9pm).
• How much? Grandstand tickets AED 30-150 depending on the day, free seating meaning you can't pre-book a seat so get there early for the good seats.
  Women's tennis: AED 30 (day 1), AED 40 (day 2), AED 50 (day 3), AED 50 (day 4), AED 75 (quarter finals day 5), AED 100 (semi finals day 6), AED 150 (finals day 7)
  Men's tennis: AED 30 (day 1), AED 40 (day 2), AED 50 (day 3), AED 75 (quarter finals day 4), AED 100 (semi finals day 5), AED 150 (finals day 6)
  
  For better seats, there are two options (both are season tickets for both men's and women's tennis tournaments, no daily tickets):
  The best seats are Prime A (close enough to catch a drop of tennis player sweat flicked your way if you're lucky), AED 1780 season ticket, email bdtc2009@ddf.ae to buy them.
  Prime B are next best, AED 1345 for a season ticket, can only buy from the Dubai Tennis Stadium box office.
  
• Tickets from where? Tickets on sale from 11 January 2009 at Dubai Tennis Stadium (Garhoud) Ticket Box office, Time Out Tickets tel 800-4669 (toll-free in the UAE). The tennis is popular, tickets will probably be sold out for the final days very quickly, and there are daily limits on how many tickets you can buy.
• Organisers? Dubai Duty Free (DDF)
• Main Sponsors? Dubai Duty Free, and Barclays Bank
• Contact tel? +971-4-3020444
• Website? www.barclaysdubaitennischampionships.com

Anything else?

A 10 January 2009 report from WAM (the Emirates News Agency) said all 10 of the top 10 women would attend, and 6 of the top 10 men. Players attending the 2009 Dubai Tennis Open might include (Update: see the updated Dubai Tennis player list)

Car parking is not available at the Dubai Tennis Stadium for 2009 but shuttle buses will be provided by the tennis tournament organisers, free to ticket holders, from the Park n Ride facility on the other side of the Garhood Bridge Road (Casablanca Rd), except on 22 February 2009 (no tournament matches). Shuttle services will start 2 hours before matches begin and continue throughout the day.



See also:

Legends Rock Dubai 2008 tennis tournament
Dubai Tennis Championships 2008

[shawarma]

Maria Sharapova withdrew from Dubai last year also. This time it's a shoulder injury that she hasn't recovered from. A Reuters report 04 February 2009 quoted a spokeswoman saying "I confirm she will not be there, she will not be taking part in the Dubai tournament the following week,"

[shawarma]

The Dubai Tennis Championships press officer (or similar - didn't catch his name) was just on Dubai Eye radio talking about the tennis. He said there was no car parking at the Dubai Tennis Stadium but shuttle buses would be provided. I didn't hear from where, but presumably there will be signposts directing drivers where to park but allow more time since roads close to the venue will be jammed with drivers harrassing the attendants and trying to park there anyway. I couldn't find more details on the Dubai Tennis website. There was a list of attending tennis players though - see the updated Dubai Tennis Championship information .

[DubaiInformationSite]

federrer over nadal in this one...this will marke the return of the fed express - what say you guys?

[shawarma]

There are reports on the newswires that Shahar Peer, an Israeli player, has been denied a visa to enter the UAE for the tennis tournament. Ms Peer is currently ranked at number 48 (and was a former top 20 player). She played in the Qatar Open last year (February 2008). The visa denial has prompted the WTA board of directors to meet to reconsider the future of the Dubai tennis open as part of the tour since the WTA rules say that any player must be allowed to play in any event. The boss of the WTA Tour, Larr Scott, said "We are deeply disappointed by the decision of the United Arab Emirates denying Shahar Peer a visa that would permit her to enter the country to play in the Dubai Tennis Championships,"

[shawarma]

A few updates on players competing or not competing in the Dubai tennis championship.

Rafael Nadal withdrew 19 February 2009 to recover from a knee injury, on his website he says "I am very disappointed not to be able to compete in Dubai but the doctor has advised me to stay home and rest after the pain in my knee in Rotterdam last week,"

Roger Federer withdrew 17 February 2009 due to back injury, on his website he said "As a precautionary measure, I will use the next few weeks to make sure the back injury is fully rehabilitated and I am ready for the rest of the 2009 season,"

Andy Ram (an Israeli tennis player) will be, or has been, granted a visa to visit the UAE. AP reports "The head of the Emirates consular affairs department said a "special permit" had been granted. But Sultan al-Qurtasi stressed that the decision should not be interpreted as a political one and would not change the fact that the Emirates does not have relations with Israel." The apparent about face may have been helped by Mr Ram having Uruguayan nationality (if he does - he was born there and currently resides in Israel). It was also prompted by possible sporting boycotts of Dubai according to at least one report. Larry Scott, the WTA head, said to Reuters "They had no idea of the international condemnation and the ripple effects, not just in the world of sport but beyond ... that they were starting to feel, in the worlds of business, arts, culture,"

Last week Shahar Peer was denied a UAE visa due to security fears - there were worries about demonstrations and/or boycotts. The Dubai Tennis tournament organisers said "We do not wish to politicize sports, but we have to be sensitive to recent events in the region and not alienate or put at risk the players and the many tennis fans of different nationalities that we have here in the UAE". Judging by the worldwide reaction to the visa denial, the players and tennis fans were alienated by the decision, not by the possible attendance of Ms Peer. Ms Peer herself also wishes not to politicize sports apparently - AFP reported today that Ms Peer hopes to come to Dubai in 2010 - she said "I personally look forward to competing in Dubai next year"

[shawarma]

The Dubai tennis championship event was fined $300,000 by the WTA governing body yesterday (Friday) for not allowing Shahar Peer to play in the tournament according to a statement on the WTA website. Ms Peer would get $44,250 of that amount which is the same as the average prize money she received in each tournament in 2008 (after some adjustments for 2009), and she would also get an additional 130 ranking points. Obviously not one to mince his words, the WTA chief, Larry Scott said "The actions taken today are intended to redress the wrongs suffered by Shahar Peer, who was victimised by an unjust policy of discrimination by the UAE ... These actions are also intended to send a clear message that our Tour will not tolerate discrimination of any kind and that we will never allow this situation to happen again in the UAE or elsewhere."

Ms Peer was also scheduled to play in the doubles tournament. As she couldn't play, that meant her doubles partner, Anna Lena Groenefeld from Germany, had to run around a lot more so she was was awarded $7,950 out of the fine (equivalent to her average tournament earnings in 2008). The remainder of the fine would go to a charity to be determined by the WTA and Ms Peer.

There were other penalties/conditions levied on the Dubai Tennis Championship organisers:

- a US$2 million financial performance guarantee as an incentive to follow the revised conditions of remaining as part of the tour.
- confirmation that any player that qualifies will receive a UAE entry visa
- any Israeli player would receive a UAE entry permit at least 8 weeks before the start of the 2010 Dubai tennis tournament
- a guaranteed wild card entry for Ms Peers for the 2010 Dubai tennis championship (if she doesn't qualify by ranking)

[shawarma]

Andy Roddick, after playing in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, said he won't play the Dubai tennis tournament in protest at the UAE decision to deny Shahar Peers a UAE entry visa. Well, apparently it was for other reasons also but Roddick did say "There were a lot of factors why I should probably go, and obviously having played well there doesn't make it any easier ... I really didn’t agree with what went on over there ... I don't think you make political statements through sports." So withdrawing from a tennis tournament over politics is not actually a political statement in the Roddick Guide to Politics and Sport then .

Andy Roddick was the winner of the Men's Singles competition in Dubai in 2008.

[shawarma]

Andy Murray has withdrawn from the Dubai Tennis Championships due to a virus. He'd won against Arnaud Clement (France) yesterday (Wednesday) and was due to play Richard Gasquet (France) in the quarter-finals, so Mr Gasquet is through to the semi-finals presumably.

[shawarma]

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) won the men's final of the Dubai Tennis Championships 2009. He beat David Ferrer (Spain) 7-5, 6-3 this evening (Saturday 28 February 2009).
Venus Williams (USA) won the women's Dubai Tennis final against Virginie Razzano (France) 6-4, 6-2 last week (Saturday 21 February 2009).

[adamronchi]

It is impressive how the management organized this event in the middle of desert, though tennis is not popular in UAE,there r few players who have been make entry to ATP tournaments, This is quite amazing also.

What r the possible winner of next season in dubai open.i remember that incident last year of denied visa of Israeli player sahar peer. this is disappointing decision. they have to pay a fine of 300,000$ . and hope incident like this will never happen again in future...