Dubai Draw Has Venus & Serena Williams & Wozniacki, Ivanovic, Radwanska, Errani, Kvitova

Serena Williams is back in Dubai a year after pulling out at the last possible moment from the hard-court event. And the world No. 1 says that she hopes to make amends for that embarrassment by working to win the title at this edition for the first time.

 

“I really wanted to play here after pulling out in 2013,” said Williams, a 2005 and 2009 semi-finalist who lost in the Australian Open due to back pain which has kept her from the court until this week. “My goal is to lift the trophy, but we will see how my back feels.”

 

Williams only made a late entry as a welcome wild card. “I get bored training, I’d much rather play a match,” said the 17-time grand slam champion. “My back feels better than it did in Australia, I still have to take it a day at a time. I’ll do my best this week, but my goal is to lift the trophy. I always set higher goals, I always want to improve.”

 

The No. 1 insists that she can put no timetable on her career: “Age is not catching up to me. This generation is playing longer, I think racket and fitness technology have something to do with it. We know what we have to do in the gym.

 

“There’s no more playing tennis and then going to the bar like several decades ago, The sport now is more of a lifestyle. For me, I just cannot say how long I will play. I’m still setting new goals.”

 

 

Apart from a distinct hiccup a few years ago over the Shahar Peer episode, when the Israeli was inititially denied an entrance visa to the United Arab Emirates, the relationship between the WTA and Dubai Duty Free is one of the strongest in women’s tennis; convivial and mutually beneficial.

 

Each year the women’s champion in the Middle East emirate collects a marginally higher winner’s check than her male counterpart a week late. But in these days of financial parity it now emerges that women players aren’t doing quite so well as would initially appear and tournament director Salah Tahlak admits only the leading men still get paid highly lucrative appearance guarantees by the tournament.

 

In this year’s event, starting today at Dubai’s Aviation Club, world no.1 Serena Williams is a late addition to the cast list which also includes Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki, Sara Errani, the Serbian pairing of Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic and defending champion Petra Kvitova.

Speaking of the women’s competition, Tahlak proudly admitted: “We have passed that period when we have to pay players to come here. We have stopped giving them appearance money since way back in 2010, the same year after the “Road Map” was introduced by Larry Scott.”

 

However the lure of excellent hotel accommodation, superb playing and practice conditions, very amenable weather and a warm welcome, does not quite suffice for leading male players, such as part-time Dubai resident Roger Federer or defending champion Novak Djokovic.

 

“We still do give the men some appearance fees, but that is restricted only to the top ones,” admitted Tahlak to the Gulf News newspaper. “This year we have done well to bring back Juan Martin Del Potro along with the others like Roger [Federer] and Novak [Djokovic].

 

Tahlak confirmed that increased competition from South American tournaments, particularly that in Acapulco which clashes directly with Dubai, has made things more competitive in attracting top flight talent. Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer and Andy Murray are notable exceptions from the field and even if Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka were sufficiently rested to play, he would not have been making the trip to the Middle East.

 

“We try to nail these top players down on a three-year contract,” said tournament director. “For example, we know that Djokovic will be here again, and so will Roger and now Del Potro. We have formal written contracts with these players. This same principle operates in golf as well.

 

“IMG own a lot of tournaments especially in South America and hence they are pushing for a much stronger South American swing. In the good old days our men’s tournament used to be alone, but now we have to compete. Although Rafa is now an independent in terms of management companies, Nadal is still an IMG contracted player. So we have Nadal, Murray and David Ferrer going all the way to South America to play.”

 

This will be the 21st year of the Dubai Duty Free Championships and attendances are much better than the rival events just up the Arabian Gulf in Doha. Tahlak concluded: “I think this tournament is no longer about just tennis. There is so much more that happens around any such major sporting event. It is a meeting of minds and of like-minded people – players, administrators or whoever — who can make a difference to the sport.

 

“Now as Dubai contemplates about Expo 2020 our instructions from the leaders is clear: everything needs to be geared towards this one big event that we will have in less than six years. So I think we play our role, in whatever small way, in promoting ‘Brand Dubai’ by using tennis as a vehicle.”

Topics: 10sballs, Agnieszka Radwanska, Ana Ivnovic, Andy Murray, Caroline Wozniacki, Dubai, Juan Martin Del Potro, Novak Djokovic, Petra Kvitova, Rafael Nadal David Ferrer, Roger Federer, Sara Errani, Serena Williams, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Venus Williams, Wta

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