Barclays Dubai Tennis Championship 2009
Winner in Dubai for 2009 was Venus Williams in the women's tournament and Novak Djokovic in the men's tournament
- Dubai Tennis Championship 2009 - more details, players, tickets, location, etc
- Women's tournament Sunday 15 February to Saturday 21 February 2009
- Men's tournament Monday 23 February to Saturday 28 February 2009
- Tickets available 11 January 2009, from Time Out Tickets tel 800-4669 (toll-free in UAE), or Dubai Tennis Stadium (finals and semi-finals sold out within hours).
- Ticket costs for stadium grandstand AED 30-150 depending on the day, or buy a season pass for the good seats at AED 1345 or AED 1780.
- Total prize money of $4 million split evenly between men's and women's competitions (that's $2 million each for the arithmetically challenged). Prize money and points:
| |
winner |
finalists |
semi-finalists |
quarter-finalists |
round 3 |
round 2 |
round 1 |
| prizemoney |
$350,000 |
$175,000 |
$87,500 |
$40,000 |
$20,000 |
$10,275 |
$5,400 |
| points |
800 |
550 |
350 |
200 |
110 |
60 |
1 |
- Women's tournament is one of the 20 "Premium" events on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
- Men's tournament is a "500" tournament, meaning the winner gets 500 points. There are three categories on the ATP Tour - the 1000, 500, and 250 series. Dubai joins Acapulco, Barcelona, Basel, Beijing, Memphis, Rotterdam, Tokyo, Valencia, Washington in the 500 series.
- Dubai Duty Free Tournament Owners & Organisers tel +971-4-2166444
- Dubai Tennis Championship Park 'n' Ride information tel +971-4-3020444
Player line up for 2009 Dubai Tennis Open (with current rank)
2009 Women tennis players |
2009 Men tennis players |
1. Serena Williams, USA
2. Dinara Safina, Russia
3. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia
4. Elena Dementieva, Russia (2008 DTC winner)
5. Vera Zvonareva, Russia
6. Venus Williams, USA (2009 DTC winner)
7. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia
8. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia
9. Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland
10. Nadia Petrova, Russia
11. Marion Bartoli, France
14. Alize Cornet, France
16. Maria Sharapova, Russia (withdrew 04 Feb 2009)
18. Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia
19. Anna Chakvetadze, Russia
20. Jie Zheng, China
21. Anabel Medina Garrigues Spain
23. Amelie Mauresmo, France (withdrew 16 Feb 2009)
24. Kaia Kanepi, Estonia
25. Agnes Szavay, Hungary
26. Ai Sugiyama, Japan
27. Sybille Bammer, Austria
28. Alisa Kleybanova, Russia
29. Na Li, China
32. Sara Errani, Italy
33. Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia
37. Maria Kirilenko, Russia
38. Francesca Schiavone, Italy
42. Samantha Stosur, Austria
47. Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovakia
48. Shahar Peer, Israel (denied UAE entry visa)
53.
Ekaterina Makarova, Russia
62. Yung-Jan Chan, Taipei
83. Ayumi Morita, Japan (replaced Ms Peer)
87. Sania Mirza, India |
1. Rafael Nadal, Spain (withdrew 19 Feb 2009)
2. Roger Federer, Switzerland (withdrew 17 Feb 2009)
3. Novak Djokovic, Serbia
4. Andy Murray, Scotland (UK) (withdrew 26 Feb 2009)
5. Nikolay Davydenko, Russia (withdrew, reason unknown)
6. Andy Roddick, USA (DTC winner 2008) (withdrew 21 Feb 2009)
8. Gilles Simon, France
9. Fernando Verdasco, Spain (withdrew, ankle injury)
12. David Ferrer, Spain
21. Igor Andreev, Russia
22. Marin Cilic, Croatia
25. Ivo Karlovic, Croatia
26. Richard Gasquet, France
28. Feliciano Lopez, Spain
30. Dmitry Tursunov, Russia
31. Rainer Schuettler, Germany
32. Jurgen Melzer, Austria
37. Simone Bolelli, Italy
38. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany
41. Victor Hanescu, Romania
44. Julien Benneteau, France
49. Viktor Troicki, Serbia
50. Janko Tipsarevic, Serbia
62. Mikhail Youzhny, Russia
Andy Ram, Israel/Uruguay (visa approved 19 Feb 2009) |
Israel Dubai visa controversy
There was some controversy when Dubai denied a visa to the Israeli women's singles player, Shahar Peer. The reaction, and possible cancellation of Dubai as part of the WTA tour reportedly prompted a policy rethink to grant Andy Ram, an Israeli men's doubles player, a "special permit " for a visa to enter the UAE.
- The UAE has a policy of not issuing entry visas to Israeli citizens.
- The WTA rules for host countries are that any tennis player that is qualified to play in a tournament must be allowed to play, irrespective of nationality.
- Andy Roddick said he would not play in 2009 in Dubai in protest at the visa ban for Ms Peers.
- The Dubai tennis tournament organisers were fined $300,000 for banning Ms Peer from the event and Ms Peer was to receive $44,250 of that amount.
Dubai Tennis Championships (DTC) / Dubai Tennis Open background
The Dubai Tennis Open, more correctly known as The Dubai Tennis Championship, is a yearly event held in mid February to early March as part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour for men and the Women's Tennnis Association (WTA) Tour for women, and is a great opportunity to see the top tennis players in the world battle it out on the tennis courts in Dubai. The tennis matches are held at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre in Garhood, where the Dubai Tennis Stadium is located, in Al Garhoud (on the Deira side of the Garhood Bridge traffic jam, although it should be a smoother ride since the new Garhood Bridge opened in 2008). Games are played on outdoor hard courts. The 5000 seat Dubai Tennis Stadium first opened for tennis in February 1996 and has hosted many exciting Dubai Tennis Championship games since then. There is one centre court, other matches are played on other Aviation Club tennis courts.
DTC tickets aren't quite the bargain that they were when the tournament first started, but at US$40 (AED
150) for the finals in 2009 (in the cheap seats), they're
still good value for an opportunity to watch some first class tennis
in great weather (rainy days are rare in the UAE). Or go on one of the first three days when
prices are around US$10 (AED 30-50 dhs), and tickets are easier to get. Tickets
for the finals sell out quickly when ticket sales are launched in early January.
From 2008 to 2010, the Dubai Tennis tournament will be known
as
the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, as Barclays signed a 3 year agreement
in September 2007 to be the title sponsors. Dubai Duty Free are
the main organisers of the event, and stump up the prize money.
The individual men's and women's competitions are called the Dubai
Duty Free Men's Open and Dubai Duty Free Women's Open. The Dubai Duty Free Men's Open has won the ATP award for 'Tournament
of the Year' several times, and the Dubai
Duty Free Women's Open was given 'Tournament of the Year' award
from the WTA in its first year - 2001.
The tournament started in 1993 for men and 2001 for women.
Weather is almost always fantastic (there have been rain-stopped-play
days once or twice in the late 1990s) with temperatures about
30 C and bright sunshine - bring sunscreen and water for the
afternoon games.
Evening
games are in temperatures a couple of degrees lower.
For food and drink, there is the excellent Century Village with
a fine selection of restaurants, and the famous (or infamous) Irish
Village for Guinness and stew. Both areas are right underneath
the Dubai Tennis Stadium, and are popular eating and drinking holes
during the tennis open. It's another excuse for expats to go out
and party but you do see some great tennis and it's much more civilised
than the Dubai
Rugby Sevens.
The Dubai Tennis Stadium is not only used for the Dubai Tennis
Open. Concerts and other events take place here including performances
by Bryan Adams (every couple of years), Coolio, Shaggy, Sting,
and Chris Eubank (he didn't sing). |




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Dubai Tennis Championship off-site matches and activities
- 2008: Rafael Nadal took on some part time work and helped with the construction of the Burj Dubai by fastening a bolt, and testing the external lift up to the 158th floor.
- 2007: Justine Henin and Svetlana Kuznetsova played a game in the desert
(on astroturf) before the 2007 Dubai Tennis Championships in February.
A few camels enjoyed the show.
- 2006: Maria Sharapova and Lindsay Davenport knocked a tennis ball around
inside Ski Dubai at Mall of the Emirates on some astro-turf set up for the occasion.
- 2005: Andre Agassi and Roger Federer combined vertigo with timid serves
on top of the helipad at the Burj
Al Arab hotel in Dubai (photos on
that page). About 300m above sea level.
Winners of previous Dubai Tennis Championships
Dubai Tennis Champions - Women |
Dubai Tennis Champions - Men |
2009 Venus Williams beat
Virginie Razzano
2008 Elena Dementieva beat Svetlana Kuznetsova
2007 Justine Henin
2006 Justine Henin-Hardenne
2005 Lindsay Davenport
2004 Justine Henin-Hardenne
2003 Justine Henin-Hardenne
2002 Amélie Mauresmo
2001 Martina Hingis |
2009 Novak Djokovic beat
David Ferrer
2008 Andy Roddick beat Feliciano Lopez
2007 Roger Federer
2006 Rafael Nadal
2005 Roger Federer
2004 Roger Federer
2003 Roger Federer
2002 Fabrice Santoro
2001 Jaun Carlos Ferrero
2000 Nicolas Kiefer
1999 Jerome Golmard
1998 Alex Corretja
1997 Thomas Muster
1996 Goran Ivanisevic
1995 Wayne Ferreira
1994 Magnus Gustafsson
1993 Karel Novacek |
2008 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championship 25 February - 08 March 2008
- Dubai Tennis Championship 2008 (forum topic) with dates, ticket prices, and other information.
- Prize money $1.5 million total purse for the women's and men's competitions
2007 Dubai Tennis Open 19 February - 03 March 2007
- Prize money increased to $1.5 million for each tournament, with $300,000 (AED 1.1 million) for each winner.
- Details moved to Dubai Tennis Open 2007 forum topic
2006 Dubai Tennis Championships 20 February - 04 March 2006
- Men's winner Rafael Nadal (beat Roger Federer)
- Women's winner Justine Henin-Hardenne (beat Maria Sharapova) - called
Justine Henin after split from husband.
- Prize money total $1 million for men's tournament and the same for the women's tournament
2005 Dubai Tennis Championships
- Dubai Duty Free the organiser and prize money provider
- Prize money $600,000 for each of the men's and women's tournament
This information last updated
Friday 01-May-2009
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