Daniil Medvedev has won his second Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title in four years following the injury-related withdrawal of the Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor on Saturday.
Griekspoor, who suffered a left hamstring injury during his semi-final victory over Andrey Rublev on Friday, was deemed unfit to play in the ATP 500 men's final following a medical assessment.
Organisers had confirmed earlier on Saturday that the title match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium was set to go ahead despite Iranian attacks on the UAE throughout the day.
The doubles final between the team of Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten and the pairing of Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic went ahead as planned.
The tour now moves to California for the ATP Masters 1000 at Indian Wells, but with UAE airspace closed and flights suspended, the participation of several players – especially Medvedev and Griekspoor – is in doubt.
On Saturday at 1pm, UAE airspace was closed as an exceptional precautionary measure. The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) announced the closure to ensure the safety of flights and aircrews and protect the UAE’s territory.
The Ministry of Defence announced that the UAE was attacked by two waves of Iranian ballistic missiles, which were brought down by air defences.
Medvedev, who won his first Dubai title in 2023, said: “Of course, unfortunate, but Tallon, I could see yesterday that maybe he had an injury. You never know how these injuries develop through the night. Sometimes they get easier and you can play, like with some soreness. Sometimes they get worse, so I guess it got worse.
“I cannot do anything about it, I played a great tournament, the four matches I played. Of course I wanted to play the final, but it is what it is. I played an unbelievable match yesterday, so I would either way take it as a final for me and I’m happy to win the tournament.
“Of course (I take) a lot of confidence. But tennis is a very fast-going sport, so one week you can play not the way you want and the other week you’re playing amazing. So, I just hope to bring this confidence from the four matches I played into Indian Wells, for sure.
“I played unreal the whole week, so I was actually really looking forward to the final and trying to play even better than I did. But it is what it is and I’m really happy with how the week turned out in general.”
