February 25th, 2022
Dear Members,
Another exciting week full of tennis for everyone here in Dubai. Last week we enjoyed the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship watching some of the greatest women tennis, that ended on Saturday night with Ostapenko raising the champions trophy. During the weekend we had so much fun with the exhibition tennis matches that took place at the Dubai Expo 2020 and this week we have had here in Dubai, the one and only Novak Djokovic playing. Who do you think will be this year’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship champion?
Dubai Expo 2020
We enjoyed this weekend so much watching some of the greatest legends of tennis playing at the exhibition matches at the Dubai Expo 2020. The weekend started off strong on Saturday at 5pm when some junior and adult players from Rackets Academy participated at the clinic with Mark Philippoussis, Fabrice Santoro, Greg Rusedski and Richard Krajicek.
After the clinic, we witness some amazing tennis watching two former world number one WTA players Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki. The night ended with the men’s doubles exhibition match, where John McEnroe paired up with Richard Krajicek and Mark Philippoussis with Greg Rusedski. It was so much watching these legends of tennis playing again and also having some of our Rackets Academy enjoying the experience of watching them play for the first time live and being the ball kids for the match.
On Sunday the junior players from Rackets Academy had the pleasure to play with Fabrice Santoro and Mansour Bahrami at a clinic at the Expo Sports Arena, and afterwards they watched them play a match against each other.
This week we have also had the Elite program players training at the Expo 2020 showcasing some of the best junior tennis in the UAE.
“It was a great experience to be able to play with ex number 1’s and grand slam champions. The clinic was well organized and very enjoyable. After the clinic, I watched players like McEnroe and Rusedski play a doubles match. This was a great because I got the opportunity to watch the icons of the game play live, even though they had retired years ago. All in all, thank you to Rackets for organizing a great event” Ege Topkoc’s, player of the Elite program, thoughts on the Expo 2020 tennis events this weekend.
“I had the best experience being a ball kid at the expo and being able to play with such legends was incredible, im so lucky and grateful to have had the opportunity to play with them and also talk to them and get signatures/photos. They are inspiration to many people including me and i an beyond happy to have had that time with them. I enjoyed it so much! Thank you to Expo and Rackets Academy for making that possible!” Larissa Brasil stated on her experience at the clinic and being a ball kid at the exhibition matches.
Padel Tennis
If you have not heard about it yet, the Fitness First in Mudon opened the first padel tennis court in Mudon Ranches for members and non-members. Make sure you download the Rackets Academy App and book your session, exclusive 10% off for all Fitness First members and for every booking enjoy complimentary access to Fitness First Mudon. This is the first of many padel courts at Mudon, there are another six courts opening very soon.
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
Last week we had the pleasure to have in Dubai some of the best women tennis players on the tour at the moment. After an amazing week of watching women’s tennis, Jelena Ostapenko clinched the title after blasting past Viktoria Kudermetova in the final.
This week we have top ten men’s players competing at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship like Novak Djokovic, Andrey Rublev, and Jannik Sinner and we are excited to see who will be this year’s champion.
Tournaments
Registration ends today for the Men’s Singles 4k Tournament that takes place this weekend Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th. The format is singles knock out, best of three sets (3rd set super tie break) and there is a prize money of 4.000drh. The matches will take place at the venues of Motor City and Atlantis.
We are excited to announce that we have another Ten Pro Global Tournament scheduled for next October. It was great having players from all over the world at Rackets Academy for the Ten Pro Tournament this past month and we cannot wait to host it again next upcoming October.
Great news for women’s tennis players! Rackets Academy is hosting a Women’s UTR PTT very soon. Stay tuned and check out latest news and announcements to find out when this tournament is happening.
Travel Tour
Everything is set for the players who signed up for the Ten Pro Global Tournament at Mallorca. Coach Alejandro and the players Larissa Brasil, Federica Barbieri, Idhant Kastwar and Enzo El Kahi will jump on a plane on March 12th to Spain to compete at the Ten Pro that the Rafa Nadal Academy hosts.
The Elite squad will also be travelling in March. The players will be competing at the ITF Tournaments that take place in Cyprus, a J4 in Larnaca from the 8th – 12th of March and J3 in Limassol from the 14th to the 19th of March. Both tournaments are played on hard court. Stay tuned to follow our Rackets players in their journey throughout the tournament.
Rackets Academy Ladies League
This are this week’s matches results:
Matchpoint v Get a Grip
Line 1 2/6, 2/6
Line 2 3/6, 2/6
Get a Grip wins
Rackettes v Drop Shot Divas
Line 1 7/5, 6/1
Line 2 6/4, 6/1
No Strings Attached v Radu’s Rebels
Line 1 4/6, 6/0, 10/8
Line 2 2/6, 4/6
Radu’s Rebels win
Baseliners v Matchmakers
Line 1 0/6, 3/6
Line 2 6/4, 6/3
Matchmakers win
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