Dubai becoming tennis stars' second home

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • At ease in UAE: Roger Federer.

    Roger Federer believes his choice to use Dubai as a second base many years ago has helped him stay “sane” and mentally fresh amid the gruelling travel schedule of the increasingly hectic ATP Tour.

    The Swiss legend purchased an apartment in Dubai a little less than a decade ago and has been frequenting the emirate each season to train in the winter months, when the weather is much warmer than Europe.

    Federer is often here in February prior to the Indian Wells-Miami double header in the United States and sometimes even in the hot summer months to increase his endurance and stamina. The rest of his downtime, he spends in Switzerland.

    Over the years, more and more players have chosen Dubai as a training base – Jelena Jankovic, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Svetlana Kuznetsova to name a few – making use of the state-of-the-art facilities available at clubs and hotels, as well as benefitting from the countless direct flights available to them towards their next destination.

    “Maybe I set the trend a little bit,” said Federer. “For me it worked very well in terms of travelling as well out of Dubai. Of course, you may be a little bit far away from everything but you’re kind of close to everything because you’ve got a lot of direct flights.

    “In a perfect world as a tennis player it’s nice to have two bases. I’m very happy I took that decision and I’m sure it’s helped me in the process to be mentally more sane as well on the tour.

    “Knowing I have a place to come back to, I can leave my bags, I come home and feel like, maybe I’m not in Switzerland but it still feels a little bit like home.

    “Sometimes you can avoid travelling even more and more, try to keep the travelling to a minimum as much as you can and Dubai has helped me to do that. And it’s nice to see more players here, it’s good for me too. I can profit from that fact as well that more players come to Dubai now.”

    Novak Djokovic has conducted his pre-season training block in the UAE many times, while younger players like Borna Coric, Elina Svitolina and Kristina Mladenovic are all in the country practicing.

    Andy Murray has swapped Miami this month for Dubai, where he trained at the Aviation Club before returning to the UK last Sunday.

    “South America and Australia, I think those are the roughest places to be a tennis player from. You’ve got to be really tough mentally to just say, ‘you know what? I’ll be on the road for six months’ when you’re younger and then, ‘I’ll come back, maybe I’ll have a beard but it doesn’t matter, we’ll just do this’”, added Federer.

    “From Europe you have it best because the European tour is very strong and obviously east coast as an American helps as well. So either it’s a choice to have something in America and Europe, or in Europe and somewhere in Asia.” 

    Recommended