Ahead of his first match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2016 on Tuesday, ATP ranked 7th Tomas Berdych decided to tour the landmark venue of the tournament, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Al Garhoud, which started operating in 1993 but was officially inaugurated in 1996.
Not just voted the best venue by several players on the ATP World Tour, the stadium is a popular site for concerts, with everyone from Sting to Enrique Iglesias and Sonu Nigam performing here over the years to full house capacity of 5,000 in the centre court (plus 2,500 in the side courts). The stadium is just part of the more than 85 thousand square metres complex that comprises an exhibition area or the Tennis Village which houses coaching academies and sponsors of the tournament, surrounded by 10 eateries of The Century Village, serving Lebanese, Italian, Portuguese, French, British, Japanese, Greek, Indian, Mediterranean and Seafood cuisines, in a relaxed al fresco setting for friendly gatherings and the popular Irish bar and restaurant The Irish Village. The Jumeirah Creekside Hotel is also part of the complex.
Berdych, who considers it one of his “favourite spots” to play, started at the squash courts that have temporarily suspended play to serve as the players’ service centre. Not only did he sign souvenirs at the centre that provides booking services to the championship players for practise matches, city excursions and other hospitality requests, he met the racquet stringers.
As it was close to lunch time, he waded us through the Players’ Lounge, which caters to around 100 players and guests per day during the tournament, to check out the buffet before heading to the inviting waters of the pool on the warm Monday afternoon.
As we were on a “behind the scenes” tour of the stadium, Berdych spoke to tabloid! of his pre-match routine before heading from the VIP area of the stadium to meet kids from various UAE schools who had gathered to meet their favourite player in the exhibition area.
“It’s great when people come to cheer. It creates a great atmosphere. You can not only see but feel the support. It gets you more into the match. It feels great to be on court like that,” said the 6ft5in Dubai No 2 seed, who has twice been a finalist at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, losing out to no less than top seed Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in 2013 and 2014 respectively. “I try to keep my routine quite straightforward. I [go over] what will be my game plan and what’s on my schedule,” “On the match day I start in the gym to do a warm up then hit some balls on the court for a further warm up. Depending on whether the match is during the day or night, I may catch up on some rest. Then a bit of stretching before the match itself”.
“I’ve never taken an autograph from someone and I would really like [this] to cherish the memory from a famous tennis player,” said an excited Alison Davy from JPS School Dubai, after receiving her autograph. “I used to play tennis but I stopped because it was too hot. I really enjoy tennis though”.
Davy’s school mate Maliha Farooqui agrees. “It’s really special to get an autograph from someone really special,” Farooqui said. “I’m here today because my dad and my brother play tennis, and we are big fans”.
Archie said he follows tennis, even though he doesn’t play and Berdych is a favourite. “We’ve got goody bags. We got back packs with hats, tennis balls, and other stuff,” said the happy 8th grader from Victoria International School Sharjah before he rushed off to join his school mates for a quick photo with Berdych.
