Tahlak happy to achieve prime objectives

Dubai: Dubai Tennis Championships Tournament Director Salah Tahlak feels they have achieved the prime objective of portraying Dubai to the world.

"Our intention was to portray and promote Dubai and I think we have very much achieved this using the tennis tournament as a medium," Tahlak told Gulf News on the eve of the annual two-week extravaganza. T

his is the 15th consecutive year that the Dubai Duty Free Men's Open is being staged.

"Our goal is to promote Dubai and I doubt that has changed even a little after 15 years of this event," Tahlak stated.

Temporary set-up

Tahlak recalled the time when the tournament was first staged with a temporary set-up in 1993. "And then we had this permanent structure of the Dubai Aviation Club three years later, and this tournament has not been the same since then," Tahlak said.

Undoubtedly, one of these changes is the spectator interest shown by residents of the UAE and other neighbouring countries.

"There was a time when we had to push people to come and watch the tennis. But now we have come to a stage when we cannot stop people from flocking to the stadium," Tahlak noted.

Tahlak, however, was disappointed with the late withdrawal of Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova due to injuries. "It is no fault of ours. We did our best to have both Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova here," he said.

However, barring rain, Tahlak predicted this week's Dubai Duty Free Women's Open to be a great competition.