The men’s tournament at the Dubai Tennis Championships is set to get underway next week.
Several big names will feature at the event, including first seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev and Britain’s Jack Draper.
Also in action is 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka, who has enjoyed a strong start to his farewell year on the ATP Tour so far.
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The Dubai Tennis Championships is an ATP 500, but in 2013, Novak Djokovic suggested the event deserves a much higher status.
What Novak Djokovic said about the Dubai Tennis Championships
When asked if he thinks Dubai should be a Masters 1000 tournament in a 2013 press conference, the Serb said: “I mean, there’s not much to say except the fact that it’s elected for the last 10 years as the best tournament in the world in the series of 500. That says enough about the quality of this tournament.
“You have always at least four, five players from [the] top 10 coming here and always entertaining weeks of tennis with the women’s the week before and then men’s back to back, have over 100,000 people coming to watch.
“I mean, all these facts I think are saying enough about the quality of the tournament that they’re organising.
“I mean, I was actually talking with Tomas [Berdych] on court about it. I don’t know a single player who has played here and has a negative feeling about the tournament.
“On the contrary, everybody wishes that this tournament is played for a bit longer time, also, like we have Indian Wells and Miami, and I think that this tournament deserves.
Novak Djokovic said tournaments should compete for 1000 status
Djokovic continued: “And I believe that every few years also can be interesting idea to allow all the tournaments in the world to compete for 1000 events.
“Why not? I mean, you have to give opportunities to the cities around the world. You know, the way it looks now, tennis is growing. Men’s tennis is really popular, getting more global and global people following it, especially Grand Slams, of course, are the biggest events.
“But then, you know, if you have it as ATP has control over 1000 events, why not play around with that, try to evolve, try to grow a little bit, you know, because there has been a too much conservative path that tennis has been taking.
“It’s my opinion, again, and I think that most of the players would share this opinion that the game has to be evolving in a way.
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“If the cities are going to have the big tournaments, then they have to earn it, you know. They have to show that they’re really looking to, you know, accommodate players in the best possible way, to be player friendly, to be promoting it and doing strong marketing for that tournament, like Indian Wells, for example. They have been continuously investing in that tournament. Dubai.
“You know, this is something that also has to be determined in the future, and, you know, I think I’m ready to discuss, you know, to give my ideas. I hope that we can do something with it.”
The women’s tournament at the Dubai Tennis Championships was upgraded to WTA 1000 status in 2023.
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