DJOKOVIC AND NADAL HEADLINE WORLD CLASS QATAR EXXONMOBIL OPEN, PLUS COMPLETE ENTRY LIST

Written by: Staff on 3rd December 2014

SPANISH TENNIS PLAYER RAFA NADAL PLACES FIRST BRICK OF THE

DJOKOVIC AND NADAL HEADLINE WORLD CLASS QATAR EXXONMOBIL OPEN, PLUS COMPLETE ENTRY LIST

epa04502393 Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal speaks during a press conference held after laying the first stone of the "Rafa Nadal Academy", in Manacor, Balearic Islands, Spain, 24 November 2014. The academy will cover an area of 24.014 square metres with 18 tennis courts, one school and one residence for young sportsmen from all over the world. EPA/Cati Cladera EPA/CATI CLADERA |

Another exceptional list of players has been confirmed for the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, 5-10 January 2015, the first tournament on the ATP World Tour calendar for the New Year. The 2015 tournament heralds the return of the defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain and for the first time the appearance of seven-time Grand Slam winner and current world No1 Novak Djokovic.

Novak Djokovic (L) of Serbia holds the championship trophy following his win over Roger Federer (R) of Switzerland in the men’s singles final of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 06 July 2014. EPA/ANDY RAIN

Serbian, Djokovic has had a stellar year on the ATP Tour in 2014 winning seven titles including Wimbledon where he defeated Roger Federer in five sets in the final. He was also a finalist at the French Open and won five Masters titles as well as the Beijing tournament.

Nadal will be back in Doha for the seventh time, having won the event last year, making the final in 2010, the semifinals; 2012-13 and the quarter-finals in 2009 and 2005.

Despite injuries Nadal still had a record breaking year in 2014 capturing his ninth Roland Garros singles title in ten years with a four-set win over Djokovic to become the first player in tennis history to win at least one Grand Slam title for 10 straight years.

He also won the Madrid Masters and Rio de Janerio and was a finalist at the Rome and Miami Masters as well as the Australian Open.

The Qatar ExxonMobil Open has four players ranked in the top 10 with the addition of regular visitors Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) ranked No.7 and David Ferrer of Spain who is ranked tenth.

Berdych won his second ATP World Tour doubles title by partnering Jan Hajek to success in the final at Doha in 2014,

In singles he won his second straight Stockholm title beating Grigor Dimitrov in the final. Berdych also captured the Rotterdam title and was a finalist in Beijing, Oeiras and Dubai.

Ferrer became the first player to win three straight Buenos Aires titles, additionally he won the title at Vienna and made the finals at the Cincinnati Masters and Hamburg

Ferrer broke a 17-match losing streak on clay versus Rafael Nadal and gave Nadal his first Monte Carlo loss before the final since his debut in 2003.

Other players of note in the entry list include Latvian Ernests Gulbis who was a semifinalist at the French Open this year as well as Richard Gasquet, a member of the French Davis Cup team who played in the recent final and a 2013 winner of the ExxonMobil Open.

The cut off for the tournament direct entrants is Spaniard Nicolas Almagro ranked 71, a former top ten ranked player and three-time Roland Garros quarter-finalist.

Qatar ExxonMobil Open tournament director, Karim Alami believes it is one of the best tournaments ever with plenty of talent on display.

“We have four players in the top 10. It’s a great draw for the first week of the year; it’s a very important week in the calendar to go to Australia.

“It’s great to have Novak Djokovic the world No.1 here for the first time. I’m sure he’ll bring out lots of Serbian fans. To also have Rafael Nadal our defending champion returning is fantastic especially as we are the first tournament on his return from injury.

Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts after defeating Ernests Gulbis of Latvia during their match at the Exxon Mobil Qatar ATP Open Tennis tournament at Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha, Qatar, on 06 January 2011. EPA/STR

“There is so much depth throughout the player list, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, Ernests Gulbis, Fernando Verdasco a former top eight player and former champion Richard Gasquet, it is going to be a great tournament,”

Event sponsor ExxonMobil are pleased with the strength of the tournament and the talent they bring to Qatar from all over the world. “Thanks to the efforts of the Qatar Tennis Federation, the Qatar ExxonMobil Open continues to attract big names in the world of tennis,” said Alistair Routledge, Vice President and Joint Venture Interest Manager for ExxonMobil Qatar Inc. “We are thrilled to have such a star-studded list of players this year, and look forward to seeing them perform on the court next month.”

The tournament is held at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex with tickets available from December 4 onwards at City Center, Landmark, Lagoona, Villaggio, on-site at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex and from www.qatartennis.org

Qatar ExxonMobil Open 5-10 January 2015

Official Player Acceptance List

Ranking Name Country

1 Novak Djokovic SRB

3 Rafael Nadal ESP

7 Tomas Berdych CZE

10 David Ferrer ESP

13 Ernests Gulbis LAT

24 Philipp Kohlschreiber GER

26 Richard Gasquet FRA

27 Ivo Karlovic CRO

28 Leonardo Mayer ARG

31 Lukas Rosol CZE

33 Fernando Verdasco ESP

39 Dominic Thiem AUT

40 Benjamin Becker GER

41 Pablo Andujar ESP

45 Andreas Seppi ITA

48 Mikhail Youzhny RUS

49 Denis Istomin UZB

55 Simone Bolelli ITA

58 Sergiy Stakhovsky UKR

59 Jan-Lennard Struff GER

62 Juan Monaco ARG

64 Paolo Lorenzi ITA

67 Teymuraz Gabashvili RUS

69 Dusan Lajovic SRB

71 Nicolas Almagro ESP

Alternates

74 Andrey Golubev KAZ

89 Dustin Brown GER

90 Joao Souza BRA

93 Andrey Kuznetsov RUS

96 Ivan Dodig CRO

Topics: Atp World Tour, Novak Djokovic, Qatar ExxonMobil Open, Rafa Nadal, Tennis

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10sBalls_com says:

December 3, 2014 at 12:07 pm

-@DjokerNole AND @RafaelNadal HEADLINE WORLD CLASS #QATAR #ExxonMobilOpen, PLUS COMPLETE ENTRY LIST- http://t.co/L4hT9DamHD #tennis #Rafa