UAE. The 2019 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships has scooped the Premier 5 Tournament of the Year title at the annual Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Year-End Tournament Awards.
The Dubai Duty Free-owned and organised event proved the most popular with WTA players. The WTA Awards recognise excellence of staff and organisation, the passion of fans, and wider dedication to the sport and athletes in four categories: Premier Mandatory, Premier 5, Premier and International.
The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships began with a Men’s ATP week in 1993, with the Ladies WTA week joining the tournament in 2001, becoming a two-week back-to-back event. The inaugural WTA event in 2001 was named the Best Tournament of the Year while in 2015, the tournament claimed its first Premier 5 Tournament of the Year Award. |
WTA CEO Steve Simon said: “This award is an incredible achievement as it recognises the tremendous amount of dedication, investment and welcoming spirit that Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships provide to ensure the special experience that our WTA athletes enjoy in Dubai.
“We are very proud to honour you as a standout tournament that has given women’s tennis such a special stage on which to compete.”
Dubai Duty Free Executive Vice Chairman & CEO Colm McLoughlin commented: “We are thrilled that the WTA players have voted the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships as the WTA Premier 5 Tournament of the Year. Receiving this recognition in the Premier 5 category, which includes tournaments in Rome, Cincinnati, Toronto/Montreal, and Wuhan, is a great achievement and my thanks to all involved in making this tournament a great success.”
McLoughlin noted that the Dubai Duty Free event was one of the first tournaments at its level to introduce equal prize money for the WTA players and remained committed to such equality.
“Our thanks to the WTA team and the players for recognising the efforts made by Dubai Duty Free in organising this world-class tournament. We look forward to welcoming the WTA Tour once more next February.”
Dubai Duty Free Executive Vice President for Corporate Services and Tennis Championships Tournament Director Salah Tahlak added: “Thanks to the WTA players for giving the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships their vote as Premier 5 Tournament of the Year. As you can imagine, there is a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes to make this event a success and my thanks to everyone involved.”
“Thanks also to our Tournament Patron, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, for his ongoing support,” he added.
As reported, Tahlak was recently re-elected for the fourth time as a Member of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) International Group Council.
The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2020 will take place from 17 to 19 February at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium.
