Dubai tennis tournament scoops award

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships - which got underway last week - has scooped an award.It was handed the ATP World Tour 500 accolade for the ninth time in ten years, which further cemented its status as one of the best competitions in the world.Executive vice chairman of Dubai Duty Free Colm McLoughlin was delighted to pick up the prize."As the owners and organisers of the tournament, we try to ensure that the players, officials, media and spectators enjoy a fantastic event and this award is a reflection of all the hard work done by Salah Tahlak, our tournament director, and the whole team," he remarked.This particular tournament is renowned for attracting some of the world's top stars and 2013 is no different.Swiss ace Roger Federer started the defence of his crown yesterday (February 25th) with a 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 victory over Tunisian wildcard Malek Jaziri.Federer said after the match that he had not played well and had struggled to find any sort of rhythm.However, he has won this competition five times before and he is clearly a massive fan of the UAE."We, the players, and the top players in particular, love coming to Dubai," Federer remarked.The action is really starting to heat up and six of the world's top ten male players are expected to take part in the tournament at some point, including world number one Novak Djokovic.Although Federer and Djokovic are clearly the favourites, the likes of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych, Janko Tipsarevic and Juan Martin Del Potro have all being playing well of late and will be difficult to overcome.This is one of many top-class events expected to take place in Dubai in 2013 and it goes without saying that the emirate has quickly established itself as a major global sporting hub.The city benefits from some of the best facilities on the planet and world-class athletes are obviously attracted to the huge prize money that is usually on offer during competitions held in Dubai.