Novak Djokovic Arrives In Dubai

Novak Djokovic will put his unbeaten record in 2023 on the line this week at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

The best always come to Dubai. In the last 30 years, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships has welcomed some of the top players in the game. Roger Federer of Switzerland, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Rafael Nadal of Spain and Andy Murray of the United Kingdom have turned up at the Dubai Tennis Stadium. So have Andre Agassi of the United States, Boris Becker of Germany and Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia. Players love the Dubai event, which was voted the ATP 500 Tournament of the Year 11 times since 2003.

Federer leads the champions list with eight titles, followed by Djokovic with five. The winners’ roster of the ATP 500 tournament also includes Austrian Thomas Muster, Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero and American Andy Roddick.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is arguably the heavy favorite to win the tournament this year given his current run of form. The Serbian, who is 12-0 this season, will be in action this week for the first time since collecting his record-extending 10th Australian Open title. On Saturday, Djokovic practised with Croatian Borna Coric ahead of the ATP 500 event.

The 35-year-old will begin his quest for a sixth Dubai crown against a qualifier before meeting the winner of Tallon Griekspoor and Constant Lestienne. Djokovic could meet eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz or Andy Murray in the quarter-finals.

Eight top 20 players will appear in Dubai, making for some exciting contests. Russians Andrey Rublev (No. 5)_and Daniil Medvedev (No. 8) will be there. Rublev, 25, will be hoping to make amends for his quarterfinal loss in Doha, where Medvedev thrived to reach the Qatar Open final, where he squares off with Murray.