Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) secretary-general Tareq Zeinal has said that with world-class facilities, prize purse comparable to bigger tournaments and winning the best ATP 250 tournament award for third time in the last five years shows that the Qatar ExxonMobil Open is one of the most important tournaments on the ATP schedule.
Zeinal was speaking to reporters in the presence of tournament director Karim Alami ahead of the event which will be held at Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex from January 6-11, 2020.
Talking about the profile of the ATP 250 tournament, Zeinal said, “Qatar ExxonMobil Open is not less than any ATP 500 tournament. It’s the best in financial prizes. While some tournaments from the 250 category offer prizes USD 400,000, Qatar ExxonMobil Open offers prizes of up to USD 1.3mn.”
Talking about the raising the tier of the tournament, he said, “We hope to raise the Qatar championship to Masters level. The problem is in the crowding of the calendar; there are 9 Masters category tournaments with 1000 points. If we find any city that organises a Masters tournament and wants to sell (the rights to host), we will buy it immediately.”
QTF secretary-general said that after the last edition, the organising committee sensed great satisfaction in the players and members of the ATP, who praised the level of organisation that compares with what they see at Masters 1000 tournaments.
Talking ahead of the upcoming edition of the tournament, Zeinal said, Qatar ExxonMobil Open, with a large participation of top players, has reached an outstanding global level due to the great facilities, starting from their arrival at Hamad International Airport, through their stay in five-star hotels, and providing them with all the amenities at the hotel, on the court, and on all their movements, which helps the player focus only on his performance on the court.
The tournament was chosen by the players and the ATP Tour as the best in the 250 category in 2019; the third time after 2015 and 2017.
“In all our work, we seek to promote the name of Qatar by improving the organisation, which makes players participate in Qatar ExxonMobil Open even though there are more than one tournaments held at the same time,” he said.
“Tourist sites such as Souq Waqif, Lusail, museums, Aspire Zone, shopping malls, and the cultural village contributes to the success of our championship, in addition to the good weather,” Zeinal added pointing to the trend of sports tourism.
“At QTF, our goal is to promote the game and sports tourism, and we also keen to have our players watch these big tournaments, which motivate and encourage them to advance their performance,” Zeinal said.
Talking about the change in the tournament’s date from the first week of the year to the second, Zeinal said, “A year and a half ago, we were in discussions because there is a new team championship (ATP Cup) that was to be held in the same week of the Qatar Open.” He added, “The tournament will see the participation of the best 24 countries participate, and it is being held at the beginning of the calendar.”
Zeinal added that most of the big players were forced to participate in the ATP Cup in Australia, which takes place from January 3 to 12. But despite that, Qatar ExxonMobil Open will witness the participation of several distinguished and well-known players.
On the latest preparations for the upcoming edition, Zeinal said that all technical preparations have been completed and work has started on the fans village, the VIP village, and the kids’ zone, adding that the QTF is working around the clock to complete all requirement ahead of the schedule. He explained that QTF will organise several events on the sidelines of the tournament, such as the heritage village, which will attract fans and tourists.
QTF secretary-general confirmed that the organising committee has three invitation cards; a Turkish player will be invited to participate along with the Tunisian player Malik al-Jaziri, and QTF will keep the third card because one of the big players can request it.
About the Qatari participation, he said that several Qatari tennis players (Musa Shannan, Rayan al-Alami, Jabr al-Mutawa, and Rashid Nawwaf) will participate in a mini-tournament among them to win one of the cards to participate in the main round, besides two cards will be awarded to Qatari players to participate in the qualifying round.
On the participation of Qatari referees, Zainal said, “The Qatar Open will witness the participation of referee Mohamed al-Mulla, who is one of the distinguished referees and participates in many tournaments even at the level of the Grand Slam tournaments. We are optimistic that he will receive the silver badge, then the gold.”
Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) secretary-general Tareq Zeinal.
