Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships guide: Tickets, dates and more

Ahmed Rizvi provides a guide to the 2016 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the ATP 500 Series and WTA Premier 5 event starting February 15 in the UAE.

Roger Federer shown at the 2015 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Karim Sahib / AFP / February 28, 2015

Below, Ahmed Rizvi offers a guide to 2016 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the ATP 500 Series and WTA Premier 5 event starting February 15 in the UAE:

What: The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

One of the most popular events on the crowded Dubai sporting calendar, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships will be back at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Garhoud, bringing the world’s top stars, men and women, for two weeks of action. First held in 1993 with scaffolding stands, creaking boards and wrong-facing courts, the tournament has risen from its modest beginnings to become one of the most popular tournaments on the WTA and ATP Tours, winning the ATP’s World Tour 500 Tournament of the Year award 11 times in the past 13 years.

When and where?

The tournament will be held here from February 15-27, with the WTA stars, coming here for the 16th time, taking centrestage in the first week before the ATP bandwagon arrives for their 24th tournament in Dubai.

There will be plenty of other activities, for both children and adults, around the tree-lined courtyards of the Aviation Club and the themed restaurants of Irish Village and Century Village to keep the fans entertained.

Who will be there?

The cast is all star. Nine of the current top 15 on the WTA Tour, including Serena Williams, Garbine Muguruza, Agnieszka Radwanska and teenager Belinda Bencic, will be here. Former world No 1s and fan favourites Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic will also becompeting.

On the men's side, world No 1 Novak Djokovic and reigning Dubai champion Roger Federer return to renew their rivalry along with other household names, including Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych and Feliciano Lopez. Rising stars Nick Kyrgios, Borna Coric and Hyeon Chung will also play in the emirate.

Past Dubai champions

Karel Novacek was the first Dubai winner back in 1993. Since then, the likes of Goran Ivanisevic, Thomas Muster, Alex Corretja, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Federer, Andy Roddick and Djokovic have added their names on to the trophy.

On the WTA side, Martina Hingis won the opening tournament, in 2001, and the list since includes Amelie Mauresmo, Justine Henin, Lindsay Davenport, Elena Dementieva, Venus Williams, Wozniacki, Radwanska, Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep.

The record holders

Roger Federer – Starting with three successive titles, in 2003, 2004 and 2005, which made him the first man to defend a Dubai crown, the Swiss has since added four more Dubai titles, winning in 2007, 2012, 2014 and 2015. He has lost two finals as well. Djokovic is the second most successful Dubai champion with four titles.

Justine Henin – There have been only two repeat winners on the women’s side: Henin and Venus Williams, and the Belgian leads the winners list with four Dubai titles. Venus is one behind, but surprisingly her sister, the world No 1 Serena, has never won here.

Modest beginnings

Colm McLoughlin, the executive vice chairman of Dubai Duty Free, never tires of recounting the first edition of the tournament, especially the day of the final. "I remember we had built a temporary stadium, a scaffolding stadium, and as people walked up and down, the boards creaked," he said. "The wind blew and the rain came, and it disturbed various things. It blew some tents away and some little chalets we had, it knocked them.

“The final was postponed until the Monday. It could not be played on Sunday. I remember it quite clearly, I remember we had to get pumps and keep pumping the water out of the site, but we had nowhere to pump it to, so we just kept going around in circles. I remember we had to buy hundreds and hundreds of towels because the boys had to dry the court every so often.”

And today ...

“During the championships, the Aviation Club becomes a place to go,” McLoughlin said. “People can come in here, mingle, relax.” The Aviation Club’s tree-lined courtyards, fountains, miniature lakes and dozens of themed restaurants turn the two-week championships into “a full social outing” and “a carnival”.

That atmosphere and the presence of a 293-bedroom on-site hotel makes Dubai a must-visit tournament for players and spectators.

Trivia

Did you know? – the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is the first tennis tournament, outside of the Australian Open and the US Open, to offer equal prize money to men and women. The organisers made that decision in 2005, two years before the French Open and Wimbledon. The prize money that year was upped from $585,000 to match the $1 million given to men. The prize money has doubled since and stands at $2m (Dh7.35m) now.

Tickets for the tournament

Tickets have been on sale since January 18, but if you are lucky, you could still find a few at the Box Office outside the stadium. The Box Office is open from 9am to 9pm and the grandstand prize range from Dh75 for the opening rounds to Dh700 for the finals. Season tickets are also available.

Tickets online can be searched for at the tournament website.

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