Celebrating 25 years of WTA tennis at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

Some of the top names in women’s tennis have graced the court here in Dubai

by Alex Sharp

It’s time to celebrate another memorable milestone for tennis in Dubai.

Many of the world’s very best men’s players have been gracing the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships since 1993.

Well, in 2001, women joined the party and it’s been a resounding success from the very start. To date, the WTA roll call has included eight World No.1s, competing in 17 different tournaments.

Illustrious names such as Monica Seles, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, Li Na, and Naomi Osaka, may have missed out on the title in Dubai but their participation is testament to the Championship’s success in attracting the very best players over the last quarter of a century, and its impact on women’s sport in the UAE and beyond.

“I would like to offer my congratulations and gratitude to the organisers of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships for 25 outstanding editions of the tournament. Not many events reach such a prestigious milestone on the Tour and since the inception of the WTA event in 2001, it has proved to be a trailblazer for women’s sports in the region,” says WTA CEO Portia Archer.

Watch: Celebrating 25 years of WTA tennis at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

“There is such a rich WTA history at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, with previous Champions including legends of the game such as Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki and Martina Hingis. The finals in both singles and doubles, along with the tournament as a whole, always provide a great spectacle for tennis and sports fans in the UAE.”

Archer says the tournament has been beneficial to the women’s game, “The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships was the first Tour event to offer equal prize money, a pioneering decision that helped break down barriers, not only in the Middle East but across the globe.” This belief in gender equality was shared by the late Colm McLoughlin, former Executive Vice-Chairman and CEO of DDF, who felt strongly that female players deserved the same recognition as their male counterparts.

The success stories

Justine Henin (2003-04, 2006-07) holds the record for the most titles, with four, and is joined by Venus Williams (2009-10, 2014), and Elina Svitolina (2017-18), as the only three players to defend the WTA title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium.

Rewind to 2001 and Swiss star Hingis won the inaugural WTA edition with a 6-4, 6-4 passage past Nathalie Tauziat. It was fitting that the first Champion would be the World No.1, because the opening edition was named as the ‘Best Tournament of the Year’ by the WTA, and it later went on to win the Best Premier 5 Event in 2015, an accolade which was repeated in 2019.

In 2005, The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships implemented an equal prize money policy, joining the Australian Open and US Open majors in doing so.

That year, Lindsay Davenport became the first American to win the title with a deciding set victory over Serbia’s rising star, Jelena Jankovic.

In 2010, Venus Williams marked the 10th anniversary of the women’s event by retaining her title in a scintillating 6-3, 7-5 silverware showdown triumph over Victoria Azarenka.

Scanning down the Roll of Honour; Wozniacki ruled in 2011, and the immense trickery from Agnieszka Radwanska helped the Pole in being hailed Champion in 2012. Petra Kvitova was the unstoppable force in 2013, before Venus Williams triumphantly returned in 2014 – which was even more impressive considering the all-time great American’s lengthy battle with Sjogren’s syndrome, a debilitating autoimmune disease.

Another former World No.1, Simona Halep, is etched into the Dubai history books. The Romanian won the title in 2015 and 2020. The 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) blockbuster final with Elena Rybakina five years ago was as good as it gets, and was the perfect celebration for 20 years of WTA tennis in Dubai.

The next season, two-time Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza lit up Dubai to claim the silverware in the first year of the tournament’s current WTA 1000 status.

World-renowned names have also enriched the doubles ranks in Dubai. Take 2003, when Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova, partnering Svetlana Kuznetsova, swept to the title.

India’s Sania Mirza enjoyed supreme support in a 2013 doubles delight with Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Last year it was the turn of 10-time doubles Grand Slam winner, Katerina Siniakova, to write the script, taking the title alongside Storm Hunter.

This year’s edition is headlined by singles World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka. At the time of writing, nine of the Top 10 will feature in the star-studded draw, which includes the vast majority of the Top 40 too, with Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina bringing their Grand Slam knowhow to one of the most popular stops on Tour.

“This year’s WTA 1000 tournament is once again filled with the world’s best players, as our reigning Champion, Jasmine Paolini returns to defend her crown,” said Ramesh Cidambi, Managing Director of Dubai Duty Free and Chairman of the tournament’s Organising Committee.

“This is a landmark tournament for WTA week as we celebrate the 25th anniversary, which precedes the 33rd ATP week, so it is great to have so many of the world’s Top 40 confirmed to participate.”

Tournament Director Salah Tahlak, who also serves as Deputy Managing Director of Dubai Duty Free, echoed that sentiment: “The WTA event’s significance on the global tennis calendar continues to grow, underlined by the tournament being awarded permanent WTA 1000 status in 2024. It is fitting that we have so many of the world’s top female players competing in this year’s landmark 25th edition.”