Dubai: The UAE's top tennis player has been pleased with a completely new experience at the top level in the men's game during the week.
Coming in as a wild card Omar Bahroozian went down in straight sets to eventual quarter-finalist Sergiy Stakhovsky in his first round at the Dubai Duty Free Men's Open, but he has many fresh lessons that he has learnt during the course of the week.
"Maybe it was the break from tennis that did me good, but I felt myself much more relaxed and focused on enjoying myself while on court," Bahroozian told Gulf News.
The UAE's top player was forced to take a break of more than a year following surgery on an ailing knee. A regular wild card entry in this annual tournament for the past years, Bahroozian had to miss the competition last year.
"That break sort of gave me a new perspective on tennis and I am loving every moment out there on the court, be it against the smaller players or the top ATP players," Bahroozian said.
In the singles he went down 4-6, 2-6 to Stakhovsky, while in the doubles he joined forces with Mohammad Al Nabhani of Oman to stretch the semi-final pairing of Marcel Granollers and Dick Norman before losing on the super tie-break 0-6, 6-3, 6-10.
"This was by far my best performance in this tournament so far," Bahroozian reflected.
"I know I have to improve, but for the time-being it gives me great pleasure to be out on court and giving it my best shot while representing my country at the top-most level," he added.
Another huge learning experience for the 29 year old is the finer points in dealing with a cross-section of worldwide media. "All want to know about players from here and how the sport has been faring in this part of the world. And it is my responsibility to give them the right picture. I started playing tennis ever since I was a kid, and I have always made it a point to represent my sport and the UAE to the best of my abilities," Bahroozian said.
