Dubai: The Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships will be a showcase not only of the greatest players in the world, but also a demonstration of the changing face of the game as new nations begin to dominate.
At one time it was Australia that produced many of the best players in the game, however, now there is likely to be just one player from that nation, Samantha Stosur, when play gets under way at the Dubai Tennis Stadium which begins from February 14.
The US was also a hotbed of talent with players taking their turn at the top of the rankings.
It will be represented here only by Andy Roddick and the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus. Great Britain now only produces a trickle of world-class performers.
So from where do today's champions hail?
Virginie Razzano showed France's strength in depth when she finished runner-up in Dubai last year.
Razzano returns
This year Razzano returns, alongside Marion Bartoli and 2009 Tournament of Champions winner Aravane Rezai. The men will be well represented by both Gilles Simon and Julien Benneteau, hinting that France could, once again, produce another Dubai champion.
The majority of the nations that might provide a winner come from the Eastern Bloc, with Serbia and Russia both fielding players able to lift the trophy at the end of the week. Novak Djokovic won the trophy last year, and Elena Dementieva was the champion in 2008.
This year both will be in contention again, with Viktor Troicki and Janko Tipsarevic making a men's triple charge for Serbia along with Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic both bidding for their first women's title in Dubai.
For Russia, Nikolay Davydenko will be hoping to add to the ATP World Tour Finals trophy he won at the end of last season, with Dinara Safina, among those bidding for the women's crown.
