World No 1 Novak Djokovic and seven-time champion Roger Federer will continue their rivalry at the 2016 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after organisers announced the line-up on Saturday.
Joining Djokovic, a four-time winner in Dubai, and world No 2 Federer will be world No 4 and two-time grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka, and world No 6 Tomas Berdych, twice a runner-up at the tournament.
Djokovic and Federer have created a duopoly in Dubai over the past seven years, and have won 11 of the last 13 titles.
Taking place on February 22-27, the ATP Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, which will follow the WTA event, will also welcome world No 19 Feliciano Lopez, world No 22 Viktor Troicki, and the highly-rated Australian youngster Nick Kyrgios, ranked No 30 in the world.
“With 11 titles between them at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are the tournament’s favourites but we can’t rule some of the other contenders in the lineup,” Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman of Dubai Duty Free, said. “Both Stan Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych are enjoying great success and it will be fascinating to see who emerges at the end of the week as the winner.”
Tournament Director Salah Tahlak said: “With the outstanding lineup of players announced for the ATP we are in for another nail-biting week as some of the best players in the world meet each other on the courts and provide great entertainment for all tennis fans.”
The announcement of the ATP line-up comes days after the WTA tournament was revealed, with the likes of world No 1 Serena Williams, world No 3 Garbine Muguruza, and world No 5 Agnieszka Radwanska all confirming their participation.
Tickets for the event will go on sale Monday January 18 from the Box Office at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, which is open from 9am to 9pm daily but will open at 8am on Monday in anticipation of early morning crowds. Grandstand ticket prices range from Dh75 for opening rounds to Dh700 for finals, with season tickets also available. Fans are reminded that four tickets are available for purchase per person.
MEN’S LINE-UP (Not including wildcards and qualifiers)
Name, Nationality, World Ranking
Novak Djokovic, SRB, 1
Roger Federer, SUI, 3
Stan Wawrinka, SUI, 4
Tomas Berdych, CZE, 6
Feliciano Lopez, ESP, 19
Viktor Troicki, SRB, 22
Roberto Bautista Agut, ESP, 25
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, ESP, 27
Andreas Seppi, ITA, 29
Nick Kyrgios, AUS, 30
Joao Sousa, Por, 33
Philipp Kohlschreiber, Ger, 34
Leonardo Mayer, Arg, 35
Vasek Pospisil, CAN, 39
Janko Tipsarevic, SRB, 39
Borna Coric, CRO, 40
Jiri Vesely, CZE, 42
Tommy Robredo, ESP, 43
Martin Klizan, SVK, 45
Marcos Baghdatis, CYP, 48
Teymuraz Gabashvili, RUS, 50
Hyeon Chung, KOR, 51
Lukas Rosol, CZE, 54
WOMEN’S LINE-UP (Not including wildcards and qualifiers)
Name, Nationality, World Ranking
Serena Williams, USA, 1
Garbiñe Muguruza, ESP, 3
Agnieszka Radwanska, POL, 5
Angelique Kerber, GER, 7
Lucie Safarova, CZE, 9
Timea Bacsinszky, SUI, 12
Carla Suárez Navarro, ESP, 13
Belinda Bencic, SUI, 14
Roberta Vinci, ITA, 15
Ana Ivanovic, SRB, 16
Caroline Wozniacki, DEN, 17
Elina Svitolina, UKR, 19
Sara Errani, ITA, 20
Jelena Jankovic, SRB, 21
Ekaterina Makarova, RUS, 23
Andrea Petkovic, GER, 24
Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS, 25
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, SVK, 2 6
Shuai Peng, CHN, 27
Kristina Mladenovic, FRA, 29
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