Robson in Doha: Part 1 -- Pre-Tournament

Douglas Robson, the lead tennis writer for USA Today, is blogging about the WTA season-ending championships in Doha for TENNIS.com.

MONDAY, Nov. 3: I had never set foot in the Middle East until earlier this year, and Voila! Here I am for the second time in nine months, this time to cover the Sony Ericsson WTA year-end championships in Doha, Qatar.

I was reminded on the nearly interminable flight from California (18 hours in the air alone) that among other notables, Qatar is home to Al Jazeera, which has blossomed under the freedom of the press instituted here in 1995. The young woman scrunched next to me in coach, it turns out, works for the Arabic news outlet's English-language division and had been in Washington, D.C., covering the election. Whether you think of it as a propaganda machine that incites Islamic radicalism or as a valuable independent Middle East voice, Al Jazeera offers a vital source of news from an Arab point of view to the people here and around the world, even if some of its content is questionable. I remember driving by Al Jazeera’s guarded, large complex on my last visit to Doha and my impression is that Qataris are proud that it sits on their soil.

As a meandered around, it seemed to me that whether in Doha, Dublin or Dallas, teens are teens: slightly awkward, caught between childhood and adulthood and traveling in packs -- even if, here, the sexes are strictly separated by gender. I've tried, but I can't quite get used to women clad from head to toe in black robes (abeyyas) and veils, peering out at me through narrow eye slits. It disturbs me. As I walked through the food court, I ran into Dinara Safina dining with her coach, Zeljko Krajan, at a Portuguese meat restaurant. Hey, you read it here first: Safina is protein loading for the kill!

Like its more celebrated neighbor Dubai, Doha is a dustbowl of mind-bending buildings and construction sites. One of the biggest holes I've ever seen is right outside my hotel window. Next door they are erecting a Sofitel, and not far from there, a new Hilton. The workers (mostly from India and Bangladesh, so I've read) bang away night and day, so I wasn't taken aback to see them toiling away when I arrived Saturday night. You come to realize at some point that cranes and dump trucks and mounds of dirt and skeletal buildings are as much a fabric of the skyline here as the mosques and minarets. In my mind, construction and the cities of the Gulf are one and the same. If there is any slowdown in Doha from the global financial crisis, it's hard to tell. Buildings are going up at a fast and furious pace.

Speaking of dust, a sandstorm seems to have descended on Doha. Since my arrival, a perpetual haze, a sort of soupy blend of sand and earth, has enveloped the city. The blazing sun has barely peeped out. Because the tournament is outdoors, I can’t imagine the players are too happy about the atmospheric conditions.

As mentioned, this is my second trip to Doha. I came for two quick days in early spring when I was working on a story about sports in the Middle East for Business Week magazine. It was a whirlwind visit crammed with visits to sports complexes and meetings with officials. At the time, Doha was bidding for the 2016 Olympics, but it failed to make the short list of potential hosts.

But back to the main topic: young foreign women scampering around in the open with bare legs and shoulders in a part of the world where such displays of overt sexuality are frowned upon. Yes - the Sony Ericsson WTA gals!

First up was Sunday's draw ceremony, which took place in the sales office of the Pearl. The Pearl, in case you haven't heard, is Doha's answer to Dubai’s massive man-made developments, the Palm and the World. The artificial island spans four million square meters, according to Wikipedia. The model of itself in the sales office was bigger than most New York apartments.

The players came out one by one and lined up on stage to dreadful, ear-piercing music - Vera Zvonareva followed by Venus Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva, Ana Ivanovic, Serena Williams, Dinara Safina and finally, in a canary-yellow dress, No. 1 Jelena Jankovic. As they stood there decked out and glammed up, I watched the players exchange small talk. I wondered, what kind of idle chitchat was going on? So as I waited for the formalities to end, I fantasized about what they might be saying:

Zvonareva to Venus: Hey V, any interest in trading your gold in doubles for my bronze in singles?

Kuznetsova to Dementieva: Know any good rap clubs in Moscow?

Safina to Serena: Jeez, I went 45-7 since Berlin for this dog and pony show? Marat was right when he told me I might not like it at the top.

Serena to Safina: Hey girl, just remember you get $100,000 for showing up. I know, cuz last year I retired in my first match and pulled out!

Jankovic to Safina: How's the massage and pedicure here?

Then WTA CEO Larry Scott, tournament director Karim Alami and the head of the Qatar Tennis Federation drew the names to set the groups. (Remember former top-30 player Karim Alami of Morocco? I didn't get to chat with him at the draw ceremony, but I'm curious to find out how his job here came about. I'll try to track him down this week.)

The two pools of players are known as the white and maroon groups, in honor of the colors of the Qatari flag. The maroon group of Venus, Serena, Safina and Dementieva is clearly the tougher of the two. The white group consists of Jankovic, Ivanovic, Kuznetsova and Zvonareva. Oddly, only two countries are represented in each group: white has Serbian and Russian players, while maroon has the Americans and the other two Russians. Although American fans may be dismayed to see the Williams sisters in the same pool, if both sisters advance from their group to the semifinals, they cannot play again until the final (winners of groups play the runner-ups of opposite groups).

Today (Monday) we were treated to the dreaded athletes’ AAH (all-access hour), which was hosted on one of two indoor courts at the swank Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Instead of arranging for round-table chats, the WTA held the interviews in a traditional press-conference style, which meant the players weren't relaxed, the questions were stiff and the entire affair added to the air of inaccessibility that plagues tennis in general. Ugh.

The topic of hosting a premier women's sporting event in the Middle East inevitably came up. Players generally dodged it, but here is a snippet of my exchange with Venus:

**

!Venus Williams

Q. Do you feel like by playing here you can change perceptions about women?

VENUS WILLIAMS: You know, I'm not exactly sure that we're here to change perceptions. I think every country has their way of doing things. I don't think it's really our job to come here and tell everyone how to do things and to change mindsets. But we are here to play great tennis and to be a good role model and as women to be entertainment. Anything else might be a little bit beyond our reach and influence (laughing).

As much as one wants to criticize the WTA for its cynical money grab from the Doha tournament organizers, is it really so stupid? Granted, this is probably not a part of the world ideal for showcasing the ideals of women's equality.

On the other hand, what else are men's and women's year-end championships but glorified exhibitions rife with big player paydays and little at stake featuring more often than not lackluster performances by athletes dead-tired from 11 months crisscrossing the globe? Why not take the money and run?

I’ll check in again on Thursday.

Read more from Douglas Robson at blog.douglasrobson.com