The tennis professional is breathless. The 2022 season had eleven uninterrupted months of tournaments: the circuit ATP extension closed on November 20 with the final of Masters Tournament of Turin and that of WTA, a few weeks earlier, with the Finals being played in Fort Worth, Texas. And the action of 2023 is coming, which will be launched two days before the new year with the united cupa new coed country competition to be held in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney.
With this schedule, players have just over a month to recharge their batteries before returning to the vortex of the circuit. But far from relaxing and restful, the big stars, the same ones they tend to raise their voices protest against time constraintswill play three exhibition tournaments in Arab countries in the coming weeks, seduced by not losing pace and by the Millions of dollars what will be at stake
The first date will be Diriya Tennis Cup, which will take place between Thursday and Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In its second edition, it will bring together 12 top-level tennis players, including five top 10: the Greek Stephen Tsitsipas (4th), the Russians Daniel Medvedev (7th and winner of the competition in 2019) e Andrei Rublev (8th), the American Taylor Fritz (9th) and Polish Hubert Hurkacz (10th).
The list of participants is completed by German Alexander Zverev (12th), the British Cameron Norie (14th), Italian Matthew Berrettini (16th), the Australian Nick Kyrgios (22nd), the Swiss Dominic Stricker (118th, 20 years old and figure of Next generation) and two Grand Slam champions returning after long periods of injury stoppage: the Austrian Dominic Thiem (105°) and the Swiss Stan Wawrinka (149th).
The draws for the singles will begin on Thursday, with the round of 16 and the quarter-finals (the top four classified will advance to the first round). The semi-finals will be played on Friday and the final on Sunday. The curious thing is that the eight players left out of the semi-finals will form four couples to play in the last two days, doubles draw for the semi-final and final.
The contest will distribute 3 million dollars. To measure the importance of that number, none of the ATP 500 (third category in importance in the men’s circuit) played this year has delivered a lot of prizes of this magnitude.
The singles champion will get a million dollars, a not inconsiderable reward for winning four matches (or three if he is one of the favourites). That’s almost half of what he collected diego schwartzmann in 2022 (2,004,231), the year in which he played 24 official tournaments, reached two finals (Buenos Aires and Rio) and finished with a record of 31-26.
The runners-up will win $500,000 and those who lose in the semifinals, $250,000 each. The champion doubles duo will split half a million; the finalist, 250 thousand, and the two couples who fall in the semifinals, 150 thousand.
The tennis players didn’t mention money as the main reason for accepting the invitation. “Most choose to take some time off, but for me it’s very important to play matches before traveling to Australia. So having good opponents to compete against is the best pre-season I can do before 2023,” he said Tsitsipas.
Medvedev had a similar reading: “I really enjoyed playing here in 2019. It was a great tournament, with great players and I played very well. Then I had a great season, one of the best in my life. It gave me a lot confidence and that’s what I will try to do for 2023”.
For Zverev the tournament will be the first since he tore all three lateral ligaments in his right ankle in the semifinal of Roland Garros in view of Rafael Nadal, in June. “I’m happy to be back and it’s best that I can reappear before the official start of the 2023 season. The Diriyah Tennis Cup offers a great opportunity for that,” commented the German.
“I’m always excited to play these kinds of events. It’s very important for the fans to participate. I love going to places where they might not know much about tennis and keep them entertained,” said Kyrgios, who prioritized the Arab tournament over the Finals from Davis Cupwhich were played last week and in which Australia lost to Canada.
Two shows in the UAE
Several of the players who will be in Saudi Arabia this weekend will then travel to the UAE for two more exhibitions, also with big stars and big money on the line.
From Friday 16th to Sunday 18th the already traditional Mubadala World Tennis Championship will be played in Abu Dhabi, a tournament that held its first edition in 2009 and in which they were able to be champions Rafael Nadal Y Novak Djokovic.
The main attraction will be the Spanish Carlos Alcaraznumber one in the world, accompanied by the Norwegian Casper Ruud (3rd), Tsitsipas, Norrie, Rublev (winner last year) and the American Frances Tiafoe (19). A knockout table will be played, starting from the quarter-finals (the first two will be free in that round). The champion will take all the prize: 250 thousand dollars.
There will also be a women’s competition, with a match between the Tunisians On Jabeurnumber two in the world, and the British Emma Raducanu75th and champion of US Open 2021, which will put the same prize at stake.
The day after the final in Abu Dhabi, the tennis world championship, a new tournament to be held in Dubai between Monday 19th and Saturday 24th, in the midst of Christmas Eve. What’s different? That the 18 players will compete in franchise-like teams, each with their own signature crests and colors and with one of the event’s sponsors as the “owner”. Everyone will play against everyone in the first phase and the best two will meet in the final.
Although the prize pool that will be distributed has not been officially disclosed, sources familiar with the event ensure that it will be the “most lucrative” for the participants.
Djokovic and the Pole Iga Swiateknumber one in the WTA, lead a list of notable names who will say they are present at the Coca Cola Arena.
“This new tournament is exciting. I love playing in Dubai, I was very successful there and I really like the fans. This is something different and it will be great to be part of it,” said the Serbian, former leader of the league and winner of 21 tournaments of the Grand Slam.
Freightfifth in the table, he will join the Falcons squad alongside the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (28th), the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (5th) and the Spanish Paola Badosa (13th). Swiatek will wear the Kites shirt with the Canadians Felix Auger-Aliassime (6th) e Eugenie Bouchard (formerly number 5, now 330th), the Danish Rune Holger (11th) and India Sania Mirza (24).
Kyrgios, the French Caroline Garcia (4th), the Canadian Bianca Andreescu (45°), Italian Andrew Seppiwho hung up the racket a few months ago, and the Indian Rohan Bopanna (19th in the world in doubles) will integrate the team Eagles. While Zverev, Thiem, the Estonian Anett Kontaveit (17th) and Kazakh Elena Rybakina (22) will form the Hawks.
The event will offer a mix of sport and entertainment, in which each day will close with a different concert.
“What I love most is when tennis connects with people and when it’s real entertainment. When it’s combined with great entertainment and music, it’s even better. That’s why I’m excited to play the World League,” said Swiatek .
Big stars, spectacular scenery and millionaire prizes, for a December of action in the Arab countries, which will give no respite to professional tennis. There will be time to complain about the long calendar…
Source: Clarin
Jason Root is the go-to source for sports coverage at News Rebeat. With a passion for athletics and an in-depth knowledge of the latest sports trends, Jason provides comprehensive and engaging analysis of the world of sports.