Djoker, Serena spice up Mubadala tennis
abu dhabi — The 10th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship starting Thursday will be a testbed for the likes of Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Kevin Anderson.
The trio was away from court for a while and they will be eager to start their season on a positive note.
Also in the fray are four tournament debutantes in Dominic Thiem, Pablo Carreno Busta, Roberto Bautista Agut and Andrey Rublev.
Apart from gauging their mental strength and fitness level for the new season, a prizemoney of $250,000 is up for grabs at the International Tennis Centre in Zayed Sports City.
World No. 12 Novak Djokovic, who hasn’t played a match since retiring from his Wimbledon quarterfinal against Tomas Berdych due to an elbow injury, will be on his fifth Abu Dhabi assignment.
“It is always an honour to play in Abu Dhabi and I can’t wait to get back on court again. This tournament will offer me the perfect opportunity to start my preparation for the Australian Open,” said the three-time MWTC winner who will be in action on Friday.
Thiem, meanwhile, is eagerly waiting to see how Djokovic, a 12-time Grand Slam winner, plays on return.
“I think everyone wants to know how he is playing again. We will see in his first match here.”
Thiem had the best season in his career in 2017 with eight ATP titles and he also broke into the top 5 of the rankings for the first time. For the second straight year, he reached the semis at the French Open. And now the World No. 5 is aiming high.
“I have goals and targets. I want to play better in tournaments besides Roland-Garros. I want to improve on faster surfaces and also play better at the end of the season. In the Grand Slams, you have to beat an absolute top opponent and I hope with the break that I had, am ready for next year,” said the Austrian who will be in action on Friday.
South Africa’s Kevin Anderson made his Grand Slam final debut at the US Open in September. The World No. 14 has been away from the court for a while and is hoping to get cracking against No. 10 Busta, his US Open semifinal opponent.
“This is a great opportunity to play some competitive games against world-class players here at a fantastic event. I am very excited to get out there. I had a good off-season. I will continue to push myself this year,” the 31-year-old Anderson said.
Meanwhile, the 20 year-old Andrey Rublev is hoping to test his fitness level for the new season against Roberto Agut. It will be their first encounter.
“The season was quite good for me but there are still a lot of things that I need to work on. I am still not strong enough to compete with top players and this is the main thing I have to change. This off-season, I was working on that and I hope to become a bit stronger. I hope to show that in my game against Roberto,” the Russian said.
The late surprise of the tourna-
Emerging Russian star Andrey Rublev during a press conference at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi.
— Photo by Ryan Lim
MubADALA WoRLD TEnnIS CHAMpIonSHIp
ment was, however, the addition of women’s exhibition match between 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams and French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
Serena gave birth to Alexis Olympia Ohanian in September and hasn’t played since winning the Australian Open in January. And she is excited about facing Jelena, the 20-year-old Latvian, on Saturday.
“I am delighted to be returning to the court,” Serena said.
Fans can surely expect three days of thrilling action on and off the court.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com