Smooth sailing for Djokovic in Dubai... maybe not...
Novak Djokovic successfully defended his Dubai Championships title after defeating Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 in a rain-affected final.
Leading 7-5, 2-0 before rain suspended play, Djokovic was made to work hard to win his 17th career title in a match that lasted 3 hours, 21 minutes at the Aviation Club.
Djokovic is now $383,000 richer and he gains 500 ranking points for his victory.
(Image via Yahoo! Sports)
Is it bad karma or pure coincidence?
At the beginning of this tournament, Dubai Open has already lost defending champion, Andy Roddick who boycotted the event.
Other top players including Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Nikolay Davydenko also withdrew from this tournament due to injury problems.
And in the latest development, Andy Murray pulled out from the tournament after coming down with a virus.
Now this ATP 500 event is all yours, Nole!
(Image by Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images)
Roger: (Smiling sheepishly) Andy, I'm sorry for being a jerk at the Aussie Open. You know, all the comments about you at the press. It didn't help me to win my 14th Grand Slam anyway.Andy: (Giving Roger his trademark blank look) Oh, ok... So, what are you doing in Dubai? I thought you're not playing.Roger: Well, you see the backache is not true.
Andy: (Giving that blank look again)Roger: I just needed more time to recover from that humiliation last month. Hehe!
Roger: You know, I have a house here in Dubai. You want to drop for a coffee? I have a great coffee machine courtesy from *beep*. Mirka will bake you delicious donuts. We can sit down and strategize a bit. You know, you take on that Djoker and I grab my no.1 ranking back from Rafa.Andy: (And the blank look again) What do you mean? You think I can't be no. 1?To be continued...(Images via Georgina Chang Ace at Facebook/ESPN Star)
Yesterday, Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships top seed and world. 3 Novak Djokovic had his first experience in a flight simulator courtesy of Emirates.
The A380 flight took Djokovic on his chosen route, from Belgrade to Dubai. He flew with Emirates Captain Milan Kosanovic, a fellow Serbian.“It’s always fun to do this kind of activities in Dubai, last year I skied indoors at the Mall of Emirates and this year the flight simulator. I had so much fun, it looked so real,” said Djokovic.
On the other hand, Andy Roddick, who won at Memphis last weekend, 'flies kite' (translated from Cantonese 'FFK') by withdrawing from the tournament as a protest to the UAE's decision not to grant Israeli player Shahar Peer a visa to compete in last week’s women’s event.
Congrats to Elena for becoming the 27th woman in the Open Era to record 500 career singles victories!
She was presented a huge cake for her achievement after defeated Sybille Bammer in the second round at the Barclays Dubai tourney.
(Images via tennisforum.com)
Dinara Safina: "It's pretty disappointing she's not playing here. She's a great player and a great athlete. I hope she will have many more chances. I think the WTA is doing its best for them."
Amelie Mauresmo: "It's not acceptable. I think sport should be above issues like that to do with religion and wars and whatever. I'm surprised."
Elena Dementieva: "I feel very sorry for her. She's a very good girl and very sensitive. I played her in Auckland and there was some kind of demonstration during the match. I just feel sad for her. She really cares about what's going on between Israel and Palestine and it's just a very tough situation. I think the tour takes it seriously and I wish she could play in Dubai."
Venus Williams: “All the players support Shahar. We are all athletes, and we stand for tennis.”
Ana Ivanovic: "It's very unfortunate, I feel very sorry for her. Shahar is a friend of mine and I feel sorry she's not here. It's always a pity to mix politics and sport. But the WTA is looking into it." (Images via sports.sina.cn)
Ana doesn't look good in this latest picture from Dubai, isn't she?
The acne caused by hormonal imbalance could only mean one thing (or two)... Ana is single and she needs lotsa love :D
(Image via tennisforum.com)
Why me???
Israeli Shahar Peer caught up in a political controversy (what else?!) again.
The UAE refused to grant a visa to Shahar, which means preventing her from competing in the Barclays Dubai.WTA said it was "deeply disappointed" that Peer was being denied entry to the country hosting the tournament.
However WTA did not cancel the tournament.The move is against WTA policy, whereby no player should be barred from competing in a tournament for which she has qualified.Dubai could lose its WTA membership next year over the ban on Shahar, according to the WTA's rules."We are deeply disappointed by the decision of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) denying Shahar Peer a visa that would permit her to enter the country to play in the Dubai Tennis Championships," said Larry Scott, chairman and chief executive of the tour.
"Ms. Peer has earned the right to play in the tournament and it is regrettable that the UAE is denying her this right."
"Following various consultations, the Tour has decided to allow the tournament to continue to be played this week, pending further review by the Tour's Board of Directors."
"Ms. Peer and her family are obviously extremely upset and disappointed by the decision of the UAE and its impact on her personally and professionally, and the Tour is reviewing appropriate remedies for Ms. Peer, and also will review appropriate future actions with regard to the future of the Dubai tournament," Scott said.
"The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour believes very strongly, and has a clear rule and policy, that no host country should deny a player the right to compete at a tournament for which she has qualified by ranking."
The Dubai Tennis Championships began Sunday and a cool 2 million dollars in prize money is at stake.Updates
While I believe a player shouldn't be denied his/her rights to play in any tournament he/she qualified for, let us just face it and accept that this practice is nothing new.
For example, Pakistani player Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi was simply delayed in his Indian visa resulted in his non participation in Chennai Open.
Read Reem's blog here (she's from Eygpt) and try to understand her point of view too.
I think Shahar and all of us have to start accepting the fact that she'll possibly be denied visas in other Islamic countries too.
At this moment Shahar should stay out of controversies until the political tension has improved (I wonder when) and play in only countries where is she welcomed.
(Via cnn.com; Image by Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images)
Smooth sailing for Djokovic in Dubai... maybe not...
Leading 7-5, 2-0 before rain suspended play, Djokovic was made to work hard to win his 17th career title in a match that lasted 3 hours, 21 minutes at the Aviation Club.
Is it bad karma or pure coincidence?
Roger: (Smiling sheepishly) Andy, I'm sorry for being a jerk at the Aussie Open. You know, all the comments about you at the press. It didn't help me to win my 14th Grand Slam anyway.
Roger: You know, I have a house here in Dubai. You want to drop for a coffee? I have a great coffee machine courtesy from *beep*. Mirka will bake you delicious donuts. We can sit down and strategize a bit. You know, you take on that Djoker and I grab my no.1 ranking back from Rafa.
Yesterday, Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships top seed and world. 3 Novak Djokovic had his first experience in a flight simulator courtesy of Emirates.
Congrats to Elena for becoming the 27th woman in the Open Era to record 500 career singles victories!
While Jelena Jankovic is having a boring day signing autographs at the WTA Barclays Dubai, Ana Ivanovic is having a great time looking pretty for a photo shoot.
Dinara Safina: "It's pretty disappointing she's not playing here. She's a great player and a great athlete. I hope she will have many more chances. I think the WTA is doing its best for them."
Venus Williams: “All the players support Shahar. We are all athletes, and we stand for tennis.” 
Ana doesn't look good in this latest picture from Dubai, isn't she?
Why me???