Dubai: With the once robust tennis market seemingly in decline in the U.S., and Europeans more or less treading familiar water, the Middle East has really filled a void—especially in the commercial dimension. This year’s event in Doha failed to attract—“buy” or even “afford” might be better words—the typical, outstanding ATP field of years past (Richard Gasquet won, but it wasn’t quite the surprise it may appear because he was seeded second, behind David Ferrer). But Dubai ponied up once again.
The city-state put together an outstanding field to go along with its ATP 500 status (Doha is one rung down, at the entry level as an ATP 250). And keep an eye out for this guy who they say is pretty good, even though he’s played just one tournament so far this year—Novak Djokovic.
The “dream final” would have top-seeded Djokovic slugging it out with Roger Federer, who was upset in his last tournament (Rotterdam) by Julien Benneteau. Automatically, one of the more tantalizing questions is, “Will Federer make the final?” The all-time Grand Slam singles champion added fuel to that fire yesterday when he dropped the first set of his match with wild card Malek Jaziri, the Tunisian ranked No. 128.
That hiccup may have been a sign that this will be one of those events that bucks the form chart. Fourth seed Juan Martin del Potro also struggled mightily, saving three match points before he subdued Marcos Baghdatis (as tough a first-round opponent as you can ask) in a third-set tiebreaker, while No. 5 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga fared even worse. He was hit off the court by his volatile, left-handed countryman, Michael Llodra.
The upset by Llodra suggests that Dubai’s courts are quick and favor aggressive, attacking play (hey, even Dmitry Tursunov won a match). That will work to Federer’s advantage, but it also enhances the risk attached to his potential semifinal with Tomas Berdych.
Should form hold, Djokovic has a comparable obstacle in del Potro, so what you have here is a nicely balanced event, with no Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray to throw a monkey wrench into the works. It shapes up as a nice week for Federer to make a statement for the umpteenth time.