TheDubai Tennis Championships (also known as theDubai Duty Free Tennis Championships for sponsorship reasons) (formerly known for sponsorship reasons as theBarclays Dubai Tennis Championships and theDubai Duty Free Men's and Women's Championships) is a professionaltennistournament owned and organized byDubai Duty Free and held annually inDubai,United Arab Emirates on outdoorhardcourts. It is currently listed as aWTA 1000 on theWTA Tour and anATP 500 on theATP Tour.
The tournament takes place at the end of February and organizes a men's and women's event. The tournament takes place under the patronage of SheikhMohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE andRuler of Dubai. In 2001 the ATP upgraded the tournament from anATP 250-level to the more prestigious ATP 500-level tournament. On theWTA Tour, it alternated yearly between a WTA 1000-level tournament and aWTA 500-level tournament, until 2024, when it remained a WTA 1000 event from the prior year. Prior to the 1990s there was an annual Dubai Tennis Championship played at theBritish Embassy.
The Dubai Tennis Championships was the third tournament in pro tennis history to award equal prize money for both men and women, until 2021.[citation needed]
The courts usually have a medium-fast speed considered to be similar in speed to the Shanghai and Swiss Indoor (Basel) courts.[citation needed]
The Dubai Tennis Championships debuted at the Aviation Club in 1993 as an ATP 250 tournament.[1] At the time there was no formal stadium and the tournament was hosted on hardcourts surrounded by temporary scaffold seating to host a total of 3000 viewers across all courts.[1]
In 1996, the Dubai Tennis Championships took place at the newly erected Dubai Tennis Stadium DESIGN BY Italian architects Mario Donato and luigi Donato at the Aviation Club. The construction of the Dubai Tennis Stadium also led to the development of various food & beverage entertainment locations in and around the stadium base, like the Irish and Century Villages. In 2012, a 293-bedroom hotel was constructed on-site that hosts many of the players and officials during the 2 week event.
The inaugural ATP men's tournament was won byKarel Nováček in 1993 who was ranked world number 23 at the time. The inaugural WTA women's tournament debuted in 2001 as aPremier tournament and was won byMartina Hingis.
For five years, SwissRoger Federer, on the men's side, and BelgianJustine Henin, on the women's side, dominated the singles' tournaments. Between 2003 and 2007, Federer and Henin each won the singles title four times. However, in 2008, neither player managed to reach the finals;Andy Roddick andElena Dementieva became the new champions.
In 2005, the Dubai Tennis Championships implemented equal prize money policy[2] becoming the third professional tennis event to do so after theUS Open andAustralian Open.
In February 2009, Israeli playerShahar Pe'er was denied an entryvisa by theUnited Arab Emirates, a country that did not have diplomatic relations with Israel at the time. Tournament director Salah Tahlak said that Pe'er was refused on the grounds that her appearance could incite anger in the Arab country, after she had already faced protests earlier at the ASB Classic over the2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict.[3] A number of top-seeded players, among themVenus Williams,[4] condemned the action not to grant Pe'er a visa.
In response, the Dubai Tennis Championship was fined a record US$300,000. The fine was appealed by DTC, but the WTA Tour Board rejected the appeal.[5] Pe'er was awarded a guarantee to enter the next (2010) edition of the event, plus US$44,250, an amount equal to the average prize money she earned per tournament in 2008.[6] A number of highly ranked tennis players, including 2008 winnerAndy Roddick, pulled out of the men's event (ATP 500 Dubai) which was scheduled to take place the week after the women's event. As a result, the UAE issued IsraeliAndy Ram a visa for the men's tournament.[7]
In the men's singles,Roger Federer (winner in 2003–05, 2007, 2012, 2014–15, 2019, runner-up in 2006, 2011) holds the records for most titles (eight), most finals (ten), and most consecutive titles (three), sharing the last record withNovak Djokovic (winner in 2009–11, 2013, 2020, runner-up in 2015). In the women's singles,Justine Henin (2003–04, 2006–07) holds the record for most titles (four) and shares withVenus Williams (2009–10, 2014) andElina Svitolina (2017–18) the record for most consecutive titles (two). In men's doubles,Mahesh Bhupathi (1998, 2004, 2008, 2012–13) has won the most overall titles (five), and co-holds withGrant Connell (1995–96) the record for most consecutive titles (two). In women's doubles,Liezel Huber (2007–09, 2011–12) took the most titles (five) and, alongside partnerCara Black (2007–09), the most back-to-back titles (three).
Roger Federer (winner in 2003–05, 2007, 2012, 2014–15, 2019, runner-up in 2006, 2011) holds all records in Dubai, for most titles (eight), most finals (ten), most consecutive titles (three) and most consecutive finals (five).Novak Djokovic (winner in 2009–11, 2013, 2020, runner-up in 2015) shares with Federer the record for most consecutive titles (three).
Justine Henin (2003–04, 2006–07) collected a record total of four singles titles in Dubai.Former world No. 1Simona Halep clinched the title in Dubai in 2015 and 2020.
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Mirra Andreeva
Yuki Bhambri
Alexei Popyrin
Kateřina Siniaková
Taylor Townsend
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
