TENNIS in DEPTH.

World No. 14 Ferrer, who reached a career-high No. 4 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings on February 25, 2008, is through to his first final on the ATP World Tour since June last year

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Top-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic booked his place in the 18th ATP World Tour final of his career after beating Gilles Simon of France 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 in two hours and 45 minutes, at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships on Friday. The World No. 3, who has a 13-4 season record, will meet either fourth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer or Richard Gasquet of France in Saturday’s final.

At times Djokovic’s performance was reminiscent of his match with Andy Roddick at the 2009 Australian Open where he retired after being overcome by the heat. He never looked comfortable, he had difficulty with his forehand, and continually held up his arms in a frustrating appeal-like gesture to his supporters. Somehoe he managed to win, but for most of the match it was Simon who played better and looked to be on his way to a victory. Down a set and a break, Djokovic finaaly broke back in the third to level the set at 3-3, he broke Simon again at 6-5 to take the match. Even though he was the winner there remains a question about his physical condition, and had this been a best of 5 Grand Slam event, it is difficult to see him winning against other top 10 players. He now enters the final as the only top 10 player in the tournament, a little bit of a let down for the tournament organisers, and a gift to Djokovic for both the prize money and the points.

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2009 Men’s Line Up

This is a prestigous ATP 500 event with total purse of $2.2 million, and yet only 3 top ten players will be participating. Of the 7 who are not playing only Andy Roddick is making a statement about his feelings over the Shahar Peer situation, the others are either injured or committed to another event. It almost seems as if some higher tennis power is directing a message to the UAE tennis organizers.

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Spaniard Fernando Verdasco has withdrawn from next week’s Barclays Championships in Dubai. He joins Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer as the list of injured top 10 players increases. Davydenko the #5 player just recently returned to the tour from an injury, but is not completely healed, and Novak Djokovic has not appeared at his best since his retirement at the Aussie Open. He has undergone a complete physical examination to determine if there was any lingering effects and was give a clean bill of health. He has reached the semi final of the ATP Marseille event, and it will be interesting to see how he handles the pressure of a return match with Tsonga.
Andy Roddick, who has made a statement supporting Shahar Peer, is the first player to actually make a stand against the discriminatory policy of the UAE, and he has withdrawn from the tournament. His action should be noted and highly commended!

Andy Murray is being handed another title and another $1 million plus a bunch of ranking points that will lift him up closer to the top. It must be his lucky day!

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A knee injury has caused World Number One Rafael Nadal to withdraw from the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

The Australian Open champion injured his right knee in the second set of the final of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam last week, in which he went down to Scotland

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Israeli tennis player Andy Ram will be allowed to play in a premier Dubai tennis tournament after the Arab country said it would permit the 7th-ranked doubles player to enter the country.

The Persian Gulf country banned Israeli woman

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There will be no comments or blogs on the Women’s matches taking place in Dubai! If you are interested in learing who is winning or losing there are many sites to check. Will my stand make a difference? No…but we have to try!

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Dubai could witness an all-Williams semifinal showdown after world number one Serena and her sister Venus were drawn in the same half of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships today.

The two have not gone head to head in Dubai before, but there

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