Flying Tennis! The World’s Highest Tennis Court at Burj Al Arab, Dubai

 

The world’s highest tennis court stands atop the one of the highest hotel in the world - Burj al-Arab at Dubai. On February 22, 2005, the Burj al Arab hosted Andre Agassi and Roger Federer to play a match on their helipad tennis court before heading to the US$1 million Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open, which was the first round of the two-week Dubai Tennis Championships. The tennis legends couldn’t resist the temptation to have a friendly ‘hit’ on the world’s most unique tennis court. The court is circular in shape ,and also doubles as a helipad, hovering 211 meters above the Arabian gulf and covers a surface area of 415 sq m.

Would you like to play round of tennis at this height?
Here is some info about hotel so you can book your game today!

Designed by Tom Wright and completed in 1999, the hotel features a double membrane PTFE fiberglass covering that reduces solar heat gain, but lets in filtered light. Burj Al Arab is located on Dubai’s Jumeirah Beach strip, 15 km from the main city centre and 25 km from Dubai International Airport. It is Dubai’s most recognisable landmark and the fourth tallest hotel in the world at 321 m (1,053 ft) and stands 280 metres offshore on a man-made island, linked to the mainland by a slender, gently curving causeway. Resembling the sail of a ship, the iconic hotel gives itself a 7 star rating, although we’re not really sure if you can go above 5 on the luxury scale. It is well served by taxis and has its own fleet of chauffeur driven Rolls-Royces, BMWs, and a helicopter.

Contact Details:

Burj Al Arab
PO Box 74147, Dubai, UAE

Tel: +971 4 3017777
Fax: +971 4 3017000

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Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

 

Pretty much anybody who is anybody in tennis will be in Dubai over the next couple of weeks in one of the biggest of the non-Grand Slam tournaments. The $2 million Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is certainly a big deal.

Eight of the top ten ranked men will be in the city, which has already become a serious sporting destination, while seven of the top ten women will also be there. Interestingly, the women play in week one, starting on Monday, and then the men are in action in week two.

Since its inaugural tournament in 1993, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships has consistently showcased the world's best players in competition and also in spectacular locations around Dubai.
The Dubai Tennis Championships (also known as the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships for sponsorship reasons) (formerly known for sponsorship reasons as the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships and the Dubai Duty Free Men's and Women's Championships) is a professional tennis tournament owned and organized by Dubai Duty Free and held annually in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on outdoor hardcourts. The tournament organizes both a men's and women's event. The tournament takes place under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.


In 2005, two ATP World Tour Champions - Andre Agassi and Roger Federer - scaled the Burj Al Arab for a friendly practice session atop the helipad at the iconic hotel.

 -- click here for more info --

The respective winners of the recent Australian Open are ready to follow their success down under with a good showing in the Middle East.
For the women, Justine Henin and Venus Williams have enjoyed themselves over the years, with four and two wins each respectively, but last year the crown went to Caroline Wozniacki.
The Dane was knocked off the number one spot just last month after her quest for a first Grand Slam win ended in failure in Melbourne. Now the number four in the world, she has her sights set on the winner of the Australian Open and the new number one, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
Wozniacki will have to do better than last week, when she was knocked out of the Qatar Open early by Lucie Safarova, despite having three match-points.
"I just want to get out of here. You don't want to stay when you lose a match like that," Wozniacki said, and added, “It's really disappointing but you have to move on.”
Azarenka returns to the Middle East in much better shape than she was a year ago when defeats in Doha and Dubai almost prompted her to quit the sport.
"My mum told me to come home and rest, and not be crazy about it,” she said. “And my gran pointed out there are things so much harder in life than tennis matches.”
“Last year I was in a bit of a mess. I couldn't control any of my emotions. I had to change my mentality. So now I don’t try to, you know, think ‘why is this happening to me?’ Instead I just try to accept and deal with it.”
Novak Djokovic has dominated men’s tennis in the past few years and Dubai has been no exception with the last three titles going the Serbian’s way.
Already, 2012 couldn’t have gone better. He won the Australian Open and last week was given his country’s highest honor, Order of the Karadjordje’s Star of the 1st degree by Serbian president Boris Tadic.
He’s going to take some stopping soon...

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 ATP (Men's)

• Name: Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
• Category: ATP World Tour 500
• Place: Dubai, U.A.E
• Date: 27.02.2012-03.03.2012
• Draw Size: S-32 D-16
• Surface: Hard
• Prize Money: $ 1,700,475
• Total Financial Commitment: $ 2,313,975
• Ticket Hotline: +9714-224-4568

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WTA (Women's)

• Prize Money: $2,000,000
• Surface: Hard/Outdoors 
• Tournament Director: Salah Tahlak

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Dubai Tennis Stadium:

The Aviation Club is home of The Dubai Tennis Stadium which was inaugurated in 1994 and has hosted the Dubai Tennis Championships ever since. The state-of-the art stadium is home to the prestigious centre court that has hosted tennis stars Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, Goran Ivanisevic, Venus & Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport and many more.

The Dubai Tennis Stadium was voted "Best Venue" by players on the ATP Tennis Tour for three consecutive years.

Tournament Schedule :

Day Date WTA Rounds
Sat 18-Feb Qualifying Women's
Sun 19-Feb Qualifying Women's
Mon 20-Feb 1st Round
Tue 21-Feb 2nd Round
Wed 22-Feb 3rd Round
Thur 23-Feb Quarterfinals
Fri 24-Feb Semifinals
Sat 25-Feb Finals

Day Date ATP World Tour Rounds
Sat 25-Feb Qualifying Men's
Sun 26-Feb Qualifying Men's
Mon 27-Feb 1st Round
Tue 28-Feb 2nd Round
Wed 29-Feb 3rd Round
Thur 01-Mar Quarterfinals
Fri 02-Mar Semifinals
Sat 03-Mar Finals

MEN
	SINGLES	DOUBLES
1993	Karel Novacek	Anders Jarryd/John Fitzgerald
1994	Magnus Gustafsson	Mark Woodforde/Todd Woodbridge
1995	Wayne Ferreira	Grant Connell/Patrick Galbraith
1996	Goran Ivanisevic	Byron Black/Grant Connell
1997	Thomas Muster	Goran Ivanisevic/Alexander Groen
1998	Alex Corretja	Mahesh Bhupathi/Leander Paes
1999	Jerome Golmard	Wayne Black/Sandon Stolle
2000	Nicolas Kiefer	Jiri Novak/David Rikl
2001	Juan Carlos Ferrero	Joshua Eagle/Standon Stolle
2002	Fabrice Santoro	Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor
2003	Roger Federer	Leander Paes /David Rikl
2004	Roger Federer	Mahesh Bhupathi/Fabrice Santoro
2005	Roger Federer	Martin Damm/Radek Stepanek
2006	Rafael Nadal	Paul Hanley/Kevin Ullyett
2007	Roger Federer	Fabrice Santoro/Nenad Zimonjic
2008	Andy Roddick	Mahesh Bhupathi/Mark Knowles
2009	Novak Djokovic	Rick de Voest/Dmitry Tursunov
2010	Novak Djokovic	Simon Aspelin/Paul Hanley
2011	Novak Djokovic	Sergiy Stakhovsky/Mikhail Youzhny
WOMEN
2001	Martina Hingis	Barbara Rittner/ Marlene Weigartner
2002	Amelie Mauresmo	Barbara Rittner/Maria Vento Kabchi
2003	Justine Henin-Hardenne	Svetlana Kuznetsova/Martina Navratilova
2004	Justine Henin-Hardenne	Janet Husarova/Conchita Martinez
2005	Lindsay Davenport	Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez
2006	Justine Henin-Hardenne	Kveta Peschke/Francesca Schiavone
2007	Justine Henin	Cara Black/Liezel Huber
2008	Elena Dementieva	Cara Black/Liezel Huber
2009	Venus Williams	Cara Black/Liezel Huber
2010	Venus Williams	Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez/Nuria Llagostera Vives
2011	Caroline Wozniacki	Liezel Huber/Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez

Grandstand Ticket Prices

Women's Week
CATEGORY	DAY	TIMINGS	2012
Day 1 (Feb 20)	Mon	2:00 AND 7:00 PM	50
Day 2 (Feb 21)	Tues	2:00 AND 7:00 PM	50
Day 3 (Feb 22)	Wed	2:00 AND 7:00 PM	50
Day 4 (Feb 23)	Thurs	2:00 AND 7:00 PM	150
Day 5 (Feb 24)	Fri	2:00 AND 7:00 PM	250
FINALS (Feb 25)	Sat	5:00 AND 7:00 PM	350
Total Price Per Week			900

Men's Week
CATEGORY	DAY	TIMINGS	2012
Day 1 (Feb 27)	Mon	2:00 AND 7:00 PM	50
Day 2 (Feb 28)	Tues	2:00 AND 7:00 PM	50
Day 3 (Feb 29) - SOLD OUT	Wed	2:00 AND 7:00 PM	50
Day 4 (Mar 1) - SOLD OUT	Thurs	2:00 AND 7:00 PM	150
Day 5 (Mar 2) - SOLD OUT	Fri	2:00 AND 7:00 PM	250
FINALS (Mar 3) - SOLD OUT	Sat	5:00 AND 7:00 PM	350
Total Price Per Week			900

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Dubai, UAE

Dubai is located in the north east of the United Arab Emirates and is the country’s principal commercial center, chief port and the capital of the state of Dubai. The city has a population of approximately 970,000 people, a large proportion of which are expatriates and, according to the Dubai Development and Investment Authority; the population is expected to reach 1.4 million by 2010. 

Economy:
Dubai’s economy was built on the back of the oil industry, which developed rapidly after oil was first struck in the mid 1960s. Since then Dubai has developed a diverse economy and by 2000 the oil sector accounted for just 10 percent of Dubai’s GDP. The city now has thriving manufacturing, finance, information technology and tourism sectors and is home to numerous multinational companies such as AT&T, General Motors, Heinz, IBM, Shell, and Sony. Figures published by the Dubai Development and Investment Authority show that Dubai’s GDP totaled $16.4 billion US in 2000.

The manufacturing sector in Dubai is very healthy with some of the most important industries including beverages, chemicals, paper, pharmaceuticals and rubber. The financial services industry grew by a remarkable 12 percent per annum during the 1990s and this trend seems set to continue. All the major international accountancy firms have offices in Dubai and the city is also home to dozens of national and locally incorporated international banks. Furthermore, the banking sector will be completely opened up to foreign banks by 2005. In March 2000, the UAE’s first stock exchange, the Dubai Financial Market was opened.

To encourage the development of the technology sector the Dubai Internet City was established. This information technology and telecommunications centre has been set up inside a free trade zone and allows 100 percent foreign ownership and sales, while company earnings and private income are exempt from any form of taxation. The site is already home to hundreds of companies including Arabia, Cisco, Compaq, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle.

The tourist industry is the fastest growing sector within Dubai’s economy. The number of tourists visiting Dubai has increased dramatically over the last 10 years, especially with regards to visitors from Western Europe, and the government hopes to attract 10 million tourists a year by 2010. With this in mind, huge investment is being made to develop the city’s hotel, leisure and recreational infrastructure.

Local Infrastructure:
Dubai International Airport is the busiest in the Middle East and, according to the Airports Council International (ACI), is one of the fastest growing airports in the world. It catered for approximately 16 million passengers in 2002, an increase of some 18 percent on the previous year, and is expected to cater for 30 million passengers a year by 2010. The airport has benefited from considerable investment and, in 2000, the first stage of expansion was completed with the opening of a new terminal. This brought the airports capacity up to 22 million passengers a year. The next stage of expansion work is currently underway and is due to be completed in 2006. By 2018 the airport plans to have a total passenger handling capacity of 45 million.

Dubai also benefits from extensive port facilities with terminals at Jebel Ali Port and Port Rashid. In 2001, the Dubai Ports Authority (DPA) catered for well over 11,000 ships carrying a total of 47 million tons of cargo. The ports are capable of handling a large variety of cargo and are among the best in the Middle East. The (DPA) was recently awarded the ‘Best Seaport in the Middle East’ award for the 9th consecutive year, at the Asian Freight & Supply Chain Industry Awards. 

Local Workforce:
According to figures from the Ministry of Planning, Dubai had an employed workforce of more than 522,000 people in 2000. The trade sector was the biggest employer, accounting for 25 per cent of employment, followed by manufacturing, construction and services. Government services were responsible for employing 9 percent of the workforce. 

Standard of Living:
Dubai is a truly cosmopolitan city with a lively and modern environment that offers a fantastic quality of life. The city benefits from excellent schools, modern medical facilities and great shopping and entertainment opportunities. Dubai also plays host to a fantastic horse racing track and the ATP tennis tour and there is an annual shopping festival, which is gaining an international reputation.

The city has a sub-tropical climate with mild temperate winters and very hot summers. There is very little rainfall, even in the winter months.

Business Costs:
Office occupancy costs in Dubai are extremely competitive. Figures from a report published by Richard Ellis Global Research & Consulting in 2002 put the total occupancy cost of offices in Dubai at $24.10 US per square foot per annum.

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