ABU DHABI // Tennis is not being left in peace, despite being in the middle of a widely acknowledged golden era, at least in the men’s game.
At one end it is stretched ahead into the future, and at the other it is being dragged back into the past. In both cases, the UAE is the testing lab.
Later this year, Dubai will host one leg of the new International Premier Tennis League, which organisers claim is one version of the game’s future direction: shorter matches, team format, franchise-owned, power points.
Next March, the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi will host a retro throwback to the days when men in long, white trousers played tennis in perfectly manicured gardens, while the spectators sat nearby drinking tea and eating cucumber sandwiches.
That is the unambiguous aim of Tennis at the Palace, an event that, according to organisers, brings “top tennis action in a traditional English garden party atmosphere to Abu Dhabi”.
The official launch of the three-day exhibition event took place at the Emirates Palace on Wednesday, the event is scheduled for March 12-14.
It will not be so much a drag back into the past as a gentle amble into nostalgia.
Tennis has a lot of time for its legends, with a well-constructed and populated competitive seniors tour and a legends circuit.
Tennis at the Palace will take its place in that mix, with a cast of participants suited to the purpose.
Richard Krajicek, a Wimbledon winner, is the highest-profile former men’s tour player there, but also present will be the sport’s most successful Arab player, the Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui, a legends circuit favourite.
Pat Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon champion, will also take part, and much of the entertainment will come from Mansour Bahrami, the French-Iranian trick-shot specialist, without whom no exhibition event is ever complete.
The event is the brainchild of Vicky Collins, who is also the official tournament director.
Collins is a veteran of senior exhibition events and is the owner of Boodles Tennis At The Mere.
The Boodles is a popular social highlight of the summer tennis season in the UK, with top stars playing exhibition events in unique locations.
Etihad is a sponsor for her events, which is how Abu Dhabi came into her radar.
“I came out here with them 18 months ago. My ambition was always to grow events in different parts of the world,” Collins said.
“I thought I had a choice of where to put those events, but when I landed in Abu Dhabi I realised I had no choice. It had to be here, had to be at the Emirates Palace. Tennis is a great British tradition, but I’m excited to see where tennis can go in Abu Dhabi.”
Six names have been announced and Collins said there could potentially be eight or 10 players, including women.
“We are still recruiting players and we want exciting players who maybe haven’t been to the region before. We’ll keep adding to that list,” Collins said.
A grass court – the first of its kind in the capital – will be especially built for the event, which organisers hope will become an annual fixture on the circuit.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter at SprtNationalUAE
