This week, the world’s best tennis player in Novak Djokovic will look to continue his unbeaten run this season with another appearance and hopefully another title from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
However, this year’s field has several top-notch contenders capable of thwarting the ATP’s golden boy. Can anybody else emerge victorious from the UAE, or will Djokovic prove to be every bit of the dominant force that he is once again?
Let’s now take a closer look at this star-studded tournament below. Afterwards, check out our sleeper picks for this event if you’re looking for other dark horses worth taking a shot at this week.
The 2016 season of the ATP Tour has been ruled by none other than one man: Novak Djokovic. The sensational Serb has been nothing but a bully this year by winning all 12 of his matches and securing the Doha and Australian Open titles virtually without breaking a sweat.
Even better news for Djoker is that this year’s installment of the Dubai Tennis Championships will not have Roger Federer as one of its participants. Federer won this event each of the past two years, and his absence this time around makes Djokovic’s path towards his fifth-career title in Dubai that much easier.
Besides, would you really want to bet against Djoker’s 34-5 record lifetime at this tournament? With such an impressive resume in Dubai and an unparalleled run this season, it’s all but a forgone conclusion that the 28-year-old Djokovic will take home another trophy before the end of the week.
Stan Wawrinka
World No. 4 Stan Wawrinka is basically a stranger in Dubai. He only made two lifetime appearances at this event, and both of them were stinkers to say the least. In 2006, Wawrinka had the misfortune of seeing Roger Federer and eventually losing to him in the first round. Then in 2008, he was stunningly defeated by 188th-ranked Jan Hernych, also in the opening round of the tournament.
Now, the sizzling Swiss is equipped with a superb start to his 2016 season to hopefully break his self-imposed curse in Dubai. Wawrinka already has eight wins and a title (Chennai Open) in hand from this year, and his solid 220-131 career record on hard surfaces (.627) makes him an even more daunting competitor at this week’s event, alright.
Sleepers
Feliciano Lopez
Exactly how did Spain’s Feliciano Lopez bag the sixth seed of the tournament with a paltry 1-3 record this 2016? Well, it turns out that the 34-year-old is actually one of the most successful players here in Dubai.
Lopez has 14 career wins at this event, which is third-most amongst the eight seeded players in this tournament right behind Djokovic (34) and Tomas Berdych (20). Apart from that, the left-handed Spaniard is also a two-time finalist at the Dubai Tennis Championships (2006 and 2008).
That being said, a possible third trip to the final round in Dubai could indeed work like a charm for Lopez to bag him his first ATP World Tour title since June of 2014.
Martin Klizan
This week will mark Martin Klizan’s first-career trip to Dubai, and he’ll certainly want to make a great first impression for the fans in the UAE.
Luckily for Klizan, he’s in the midst of arguably his best month of play in ages. He just won his first title of the year in Rotterdam on Valentine’s Day and also secured a solid semifinal finish at Sofia a week earlier. All eight of the Slovakian star’s wins this season have also come within this month, so he definitely looks primed to continue that positive trend all the way into Dubai.
Long Shot
Vasek Pospisil
Without a doubt, British Columbia’s very own Vasek Pospisil would rather play on hard courts more so than any other surface. Then again, there’s really nothing worth bragging about his mediocre 63-65 career record on the turf.
Even worse, Pospisil only has just one win to date this 2016, and four of his five losses this season were dealt to him in straight sets. Having said that, expect the World No. 45 to have another lackluster performance in Dubai this week, much less be considered a surprise challenger to any of the top 10 entrants in the field.
Writer’s Prediction
Djokovic cruises through the tournament for his third title of the season and keeps his 2016 record blemish-free at that.
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