Dubai: Patty Schnyder will possibly be the biggest draw at this year’s 19th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge (AHTC) being held at the Habtoor Grand Resort Autograph Collection from December 12-18.
With the qualifying rounds set for December 10 and 11, organisers have indicated that Schnyder has confirmed her presence at the annual tournament that has been upgraded as a $100,000 (Dh367,000) event starting from this year.
“This tournament has suddenly witnessed a huge demand among some of the best players from across the world. There has been a huge demand for places in the main draw and finally when we decided we had to choose players based purely on their contribution in tennis,” Hani Al Khafief, Chief of Officials and Technical Operations for AHTC, told Gulf News.
During her illustrious tennis career that has spanned more than two decades, the 37-year-old Swiss girl reached a career best world number seven in the WTA Rankings in November 2005. She also had the distinction of twice defeating a reigning world number one player in her career — Martina Hingis at the 1998 Grand Slam Cup and Jennifer Capriati at the Family Circle Cup in 2002.
In addition, the petite left-hander has defeated a host of former world number ones including Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin, Amelie Mauresmo, Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki.
During her lengthy career, Schnyder reached six Grand Slam singles quarter-finals and one Grand Slam singles semi-final, while winning eleven WTA singles titles and five WTA doubles titles earning more than $8.4 million (Dhs 30.8 million) in prize money alone.
There is a likelihood that Daniela Hantuchova may be the other former top-10 player who can come for next week’s tournament. “So far, nothing has been confirmed as far as Hantuchova goes, but we will have a confirmation in the next couple of days,” Al Khafief related.
“Being in the 19th year now, this tournament is very well known among the players. They want to add Dubai to their pre-season schedule especially because this tournament comes in the final week of the season. Our decision to move the tournament came as a result of prior consultations with many of these players, and most of them told us that this final week would best suit them,” Al Khafief related.
“It’s a perfect pre-season preparation for the players. After a holiday, they commence preparations and then use these matches in Dubai as part of their preparations before flying on to Australia for the start of the new season,” he added.
