Jim Courier, the former world No 1 and winner of 23 ATP tour titles - four of them grand slams - tops the bill at the fourth staging of the Legends Rock Dubai tournament which takes place over five days at the Dubai Tennis Stadium in November. The American was beaten in the inaugural final last year by Holland's Paul Haarhuis. Goran Ivanisevic, the popular Croatian who won an emotion-charged Wimbledon final against Pat Rafter in 2001, is also in a quality field of tennis old boys. The big-serving Ivanisevic has happy memories of the Aviation Club venue, having become the fourth winner of the annual tournament there in 1996 - one of 22 career titles he amassed.
Sergi Bruguera, the Spanish clay court specialist who was twice a French Open champion, the defending champion Haarhuis, Sweden's Anders Jarryd and another former Dubai champion, Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, are the other big names involved in the tournament that begins on Nov 19 when the six singles players will be divided into two groups of three for round-robin matches. The event, sponsored by The National, will also feature exhibition doubles matches with the Iranian Mansour Bahrami and Australia's John Fitzgerald to the fore.
Bahrami is well regarded as the world's most entertaining trick shot artist and a leading doubles player who maintains his flare for entertaining the crowd, while Fitzgerald won 30 doubles titles during a lengthy career. Dubai is the final leg of a programme of eight Legends events this year, which is a part of the Outback Champions Series. @Email:wjohnson@thenational.ae
