The Mubadala World Tennis Championship (MWTC) is set to return to Abu Dhabi for the eighth time next week and its legacy is already starting to become apparent, according to Zayed Sports City general manager Barry Bremner.
Fans flocking to the International Tennis Centre in the capital’s sporting hub will be in for a treat this year, with capacity at the venue extended to 5,000 thanks to the latest refurbishment programme conducted by ZSC chiefs just in time for the tournament.
Rafael Nadal, a 14-time major winner, will be the leading force under the centre court lights at this year’s championship, which takes place from December 31 to January 2, and the Spaniard will be joined by teigning French Open champion Stan Wawrinka, Spanish machine David Ferrer, French fan favourite, Jo- Wilfried Tsonga, alongside huge-serving Abu Dhabi debutants Canadian Milos Raonic and South African Kevin Anderson.
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“The quality of the players that come every year is phenomenal and what’s interesting this year is the new players coming through,” said Bremner.
“It’s a world-class facility and tournament. I think the players
enjoy their time here.
“They get left alone to enjoy their time, they don’t get pestered, the temperature is perfect and we’ve got all the facilities, we’ve got everything here.
“After seven years, we know what they want. They get used to us. We know them and treat them as family when they come here.”
Nadal, 29, was back-to-back MWTC champion in 2010 and 2011, winning his first crown against Swede Robin Soderling before retaining it with a win over old foe Roger Federer a year later.
And Bremner believes the growth of the tournament and the positive impact it has had on tennis in the UAE capital in that time has been startling.
Ace your New Year with me at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi! pic.twitter.com/PBx7CS0F1f
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) December 15, 2015
“We’ve seen a huge difference,” he said. “The facility started off with five tennis courts. That’s now moved to eight practice courts, centre court, four junior tennis courts, two padel tennis courts and four beach tennis courts.
“From a tennis point of view we employed PSS (Professional Sport Services), who are our exclusive academy, and the growth here has been phenomenal.
“We’ve seen two players enter the top 600 worldwide, one of whom Sanjana Sudhir is in the first year of an NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) scholarship in the US, while Nancy Fawzy is ranked 664th in the junior ITF (International Tennis federation) standings.
“We’re up to 35,000 people playing a year, which has grown by 21 per cent since 2013, and 44 per cent of our players are female.
“We’ve added two covered facilities for Emiratis or women who want to play in privacy which has proved popular and Emirati membership has grown to about 15 per cent of our players, which is parallel to the population and very good.”
Does Bremner have any advice for someone who will be attending the MWTC for the first time?
“It’s a great spectacle to watch,” he said. “There’s no bad seat in the house, you always feel like you’re sitting on top of the play and it’s a great social event. Bring the family and have a great day out.”
