The 2017 edition of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships will welcome back a player who missed last year’s event. It will, however, be missing two of the bigger names on the ATP Tour. The answers will be provided below. The crowd will be thrilled to see Roger Federer back in the mix as the ageless wonder continues to dazzle. He has been outstanding this year and continues to be the epitome of consistency. He became the oldest man to win a grand slam at the Australian Open in January and should be among the favorites to win here as well. It will help that two of his biggest career rivals will not be playing at the event. Novak Djokovic, who is going through a whole host of issues, won’t be participating in the ATP Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. As for Rafael Nadal, who gave Federer all he could handle at the Aussie Open final, will also be absent from the field this week.
The competition in the 32-player main draw begins on Monday, February 27.
Event Details
Event: Dubai Tennis Championships
Category: ATP World Tour – 500 Series
Date: February 27 – March 4, 2017
Location: Aviation Club (Dubai Tennis Stadium) – Dubai, United Arab Emirates
With a prize money allotment of just over $2.4 million, the 500-point tournament is one of the richest 500-point events on the ATP Tour, which gets the attention of players. For only a 32-player event, the prize money is hard to pass up for players who are able to qualify. This begins a stretch of play where the top players can rake in earnings. Indian Wells and Miami, which follow this tournament on the calendar, are greater in stature than all tournaments other than the four majors and the year-end championships.
Points
Champion – 500
Runner-up – 300
Semifinal – 180
Quarterfinal – 90
Round of 16 – 45
Former Champions and Results (5 Years)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2016 – Stan Wawrinka def. Marcos Baghdatis – 6-4, 7-6
2015 – Roger Federer def. Novak Djokovic – 6-3, 7-5
2014 – Roger Federer def. Tomas Berdych – 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
2013 – Novak Djokovic def. Tomas Berdych – 7-5, 6-3
2012 – Roger Federer def. Andy Murray – 7-5, 6-4
Player Info:
The player who will be welcomed back in Dubai is a player who often trains in the city: Roger Federer, who missed the 2016 tournament with an injury he suffered just after the end of the Australian Open. Federer has no points to defend here, as is the case with all tournaments before the grass season except Monte Carlo. He can make a move up the ladder on tour and is hoping he can at least reach the quarterfinals. An upper leg injury he suffered in Australia is still bothering him, however. He has said he is less than 100-percent at the moment.
The players who are not in Dubai this year are Novak Djokovic, who is going through personal problems and a general malaise on court, and Rafael Nadal, who is resting up for Indian Wells while presumably saving his energy for the European clay season, when he hopes to become the favorite for the French Open.
Federer is ninth in the rankings, but he is the third seed here due to the Nadal and Djokovic absences, plus the absence of Milos Raonic, Marin Cilic, Kei Nishikori, and Dominic Thiem. (The Nishikori and Thiem absences are due to those players’ decisions to play on clay in South America.) Andy Murray is the top seed. The World No. 1 returns to action for the first time on tour since the Australian Open. Stan Wawrinka, No. 3 in the world, is the second seed. Gael Monfils, who is No. 12 in the world, is the fourth seed. Tomas Berdych (fifth) and Lucas Pouille (sixth) are the only other players in the top 25 of the rankings. Logic suggests that the top players will make it into the semifinals, at least three of four.
Aviation Club
The club began hosting this tournament in 1993, but the main tennis stadium in Dubai wasn’t opened until 1996. That stadium seats 5,000 people and gives this tournament an anchored presence. The first three years of the tournament involved a makeshift structure before giving way to the permanent center court, which has seats behind the baselines partly covered with an overhead deck.
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