Raducanu to play in Dubai Tennis Championships
Emma Raducanu will play at the Dubai Tennis Championships having taken a wildcard entry, as she looks to get back to winning ways having suffered four losses on in-a-row for the first time in her career.
The 22-year-old is coming off the back of a loss at the Qatar Open at the hands of Ekaterina Alexandrova, who dispatched the Brit in straight sets.
Raducanu also featured in the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open earlier this month where she was defeated in the first round.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by DDF Tennis Championships (@ddftennis)
The Dubai tournament is a WTA 1000 event, meaning Raducanu could end up with a tough draw with all the world's top ten scheduled to compete.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Khaleej Times
7 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Raducanu back at Wimbledon as British number one but tempers expectations
The first round of Wimbledon begins on Monday with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz seeking a hat-trick of titles at the All England Club while women's top seed Aryna Sabalenka resumes her quest for a first major this year after two runner-up finishes. Top women's match: Emma Raducanu v Mingge Xu Emma Raducanu strides onto the grasscourts of Wimbledon on Monday as the British number one, a world away from the wide-eyed teenager who burst onto the scene at the All England Club four years ago. "It does feel like a long time ago. A lot has happened in the last four years," Raducanu told reporters, reflecting on her meteoric rise from obscurity to the fourth round in 2021, a run that preceded her astonishing US Open triumph later that year. Raducanu faces 17-year-old British wildcard Mingge Xu, who will be making her own Grand Slam debut this year. "It's good to see a new generation, it keeps us on our toes. It keeps us hungry to improve. It's just healthy competition between all of us," Raducanu added. The intervening years have been more of a cautionary tale, as injuries and the constant changing of coaches prevented the 22-year-old from building on that early success. A recent back injury also forced her to withdraw from the Berlin Open and Raducanu arrives at Wimbledon with a question mark over her physical condition, saying her back is not yet at 100 per cent. Once the darling of British expectations, Raducanu now seeks to manage them carefully, speaking with the hard-earned wisdom of someone who has experienced both the summit and the struggle of professional tennis. "Truthfully I don't expect much from myself this year," she said. "I know I've just been dealing with certain things. I just want to go out there and embrace the moment, embrace the occasion." Top men's match: Taylor Fritz v Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard While most top seeds fine-tuned their game on Wimbledon's pristine practice courts this week, Taylor Fritz was busy collecting silverware on England's south coast, a strategy the American hopes could finally unlock his Grand Slam potential. The ninth seed arrives at the All England Club as the in-form player on grass having claimed two titles, beating Alexander Zverev on his home turf to lift the Stuttgart Open before he defended his Eastbourne Open title on Saturday. "One more title and I might have to buy a house here," quipped Fritz after clinching his fourth Eastbourne crown in six editions on Saturday. Fritz's unconventional preparation, playing competitively right up to the start of Wimbledon while rivals opt for closed practice sessions, represents a calculated gamble for a player whose Grand Slam performances have failed to match his seeding. Despite enjoying fourth-seed status at both the Australian Open and the French Open this year, the 27-year-old American failed to reach the second week at both majors. But where some players might see risks related to fatigue with such a tight turnaround, Fritz sees a competitive advantage. "It is what it is, having to play at Wimbledon on Monday," Fritz said. "I'd rather go into a tournament with a lot of confidence than being there for the whole week just practising."
Khaleej Times
3 days ago
- Khaleej Times
Draper ready for Wimbledon spotlight as great British hope
For a brief two weeks every year the British public becomes hooked on tennis, desperately seeking a home player to cheer to sporting glory on the fabled lawns of Wimbledon and this year the spotlight falls on Jack Draper. For decades, it was a cause for hysteria if a British player survived to the second week of the singles. Then came Tim Henman's multiple journeys to the semi-finals before Andy Murray became a national hero by ending a 77-year wait for a men's champion by winning the title in 2013, before repeating the feat three years later. Johanna Konta reached the semi-finals in 2017, as did Cameron Norrie in 2022, and Emma Raducanu's astonishing US Open triumph as a qualifier in 2021 means she is now saddled with trying to become the first British player to win the women's title since Virginia Wade in 1977. Murray is now retired and will have a statue erected in his honour at the All England Club but, right on cue, Draper has stepped into the breach and looks capable of shouldering a nation's hopes on his broad shoulders. Draper, 23, has won only two matches in three previous visits to Wimbledon. But the past 12 months has seen him evolve from a player regarded as physically fragile to a beast of the courts with the weapons to challenge the very best. He ended last year ranked 15th in the world after a dream run to the US Open semi-finals, but Draper was clearly hungry to go much higher and after claiming the biggest title of his career at Indian Wells and reaching the final in Madrid, the left-hander will arrive at Wimbledon as the fourth seed. Blessed with a potent southpaw serve, a thunderbolt forehand some are likening to that of Rafa Nadal's and vastly improved physicality, the hype around the London-born Draper is not without good reason. "I've got to say he's become extremely formidable," three-times Wimbledon champion John McEnroe told Reuters last month. "He's a threat to anyone at this point. He's certainly going to be one of the top couple of favourites at Wimbledon and he's going to be extremely difficult to beat." Soaring expectations Draper got a taste of the soaring expectations last week at Queen's Club when he reached the semi-finals before losing to dangerous Czech player Jiri Lehecka. The spotlight will be turned up to maximum intensity when he begins his Wimbledon quest next week as the highest British men's seed since 2017. Draper will be front page news and his every move will be followed by a forest of camera lenses. Dealing with that pressure could prove as challenging as trying to de-throne Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. Draper has spoken in the past of his tendency to over-stress and even vomit on court. A breathing coach has helped immensely with those issues and he looks the real deal, although taking the next step will be daunting. Murray knows full well what Draper can expect over the next fortnight, but is confident his successor is ready for it. "It'll be a little bit different this year coming in as a top seed but he'll deal with it well," Murray told the BBC. "He's played in difficult environments and under pressure before, and I'm sure he'll cope with it well." Draper seems ready for the challenge. "I'm going to Wimbledon and I'm going to feel amazing, I'm going to feel great about myself," he said at Queen's. "I'm going back there in the position I've always wanted since I was a kid."
Al Etihad
4 days ago
- Al Etihad
San Francisco 49ers touchdown in UAE as part of NFL expansion push
26 June 2025 00:42 KUUMAR SHYAM (ABU DHABI)American football, synonymous more famously by the NFL, has made a foray into the UAE with the franchise San Francisco 49ers initiating a game development activation at a Dubai school for a version of flag football on Tuesday. The NFL stakeholders and teams are expanding the sport outside of the American shores. Having recently been awarded the license to expand to the Middle East, the 49ers touched down in Dubai after taking the brand to Mexico and the United Kingdom. The first move has been to collaborate with the GEMS chain of schools where an event was held with over 50 children and a dozen of PE teachers at the World Academy Senior School. The day's programme included a flag football coaching session and youth clinic in Dubai, to highlight the 49ers investment into the global growth of flag football, a sport included on the Summer Olympics agenda in 2028. Aletihad spoke exclusively to Stephanie Rogers, Executive Vice President of Marketing of the 49ers, who shared her enthusiasm of setting foot in the UAE, the first of three NFL teams to get the nod for activation in UAE as part of the league's Global Markets programme. Los Angeles Rams and Washington Commanders are the other two teams. "Our commitment is not just about flag participation but about creating a journey for youth development. Across a combination of in-person events, digital activations and community initiatives, we aspire to share the storied history of the 49ers with the UAE." As part of the 49ers' three-pronged strategy, there will be watch parties when the season kicks off with some matches on the east coast of America will be screened in public to allow UAE fans to see the game at suitable hours. Besides that, there will be digital avenues (e.g, an Arabic Instagram page has also been launched). Importantly, the 49ers have no complications from their fan base having any reservations during the expansion drive, as witnessed in some sporting leagues. The 10th oldest franchise in NFL – joining the league in 1949 and hence the name – has five Super Bowl titles to their name and sits alone in NFL history with most playoff wins. And Rogers establishes why the UAE appeals to the franchise. "For us, we like celebrating the entire Bay Area. We are hosting the Super Bowl this year at Levi's Stadium. So that'll be a big moment for us to celebrate what our area and stadium has to offer. "Aside from football, shortly after the NFL Super Bowl, we're hosting six games in the FIFA World Cup next summer as well. So we really see this as a huge opportunity to kind of tell the story of what we are as the 49ers. "We're a community that's very proud in terms of a fan base, called "The Faithful." I think there's a lot of synergies right in the UAE and in San Francisco in terms of things to experience, outdoor life and sporting activity. "We are the third largest fan base in the NFL in the United States and in many of the markets. But the NFL measures fandom internationally. In many of the markets, we are No.1 or in the top three since those days in the 1990s when we had Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, and Dwight Clark, or even just from the last five to 10 years when we've had three Super Bowl appearances and some exciting names in recent signings as well; so I don't think anybody feels like they want to keep San Francisco 49ers just to the Bay Area.'And Rogers is candid to say that the franchise is learning and adapting on the go when it comes to staking a claim in new territories. "The education event here [at GEMS] is coming from our experience in the UK. One of the learnings is that the best way to grow the game from a participation standpoint is to start working with the PE teachers and getting into the school system. "In the UK, we've built a really cool programme, called Unlocking Potential, in partnership with Leeds United, the EPL team. And just last week, the NFL UK hosted the national championship for flag football in the Leeds area in Yorkshire due to some of the work that we had done there. "So that's an example that we're looking for as we start building out our flag programming here, not only within the schools, but hopefully within a competitive landscape and creating leagues and clinics. And we're really trying to integrate here in a natural way, in a way that fits in with the culture and the population." Money Matters On the commercial front, Rogers insists it is not the primary focus for entering the Middle East market, though they are using the services of the region's leading sports consulting company Rise Group. The latter has clients for many sporting properties such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai Sports Councils, Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, Neom, etc. and has recently been acquired by the global agency Elevate. Rogers and Rise Group's co-founder, Dave McCann, now with the new entity Elevate Sports Ventures, expressed enthusiasm in finding great collaborators. "We're trying to have conversations, finding the right partners that want to be involved for the right reasons," Rogers said. "Our hope is that we can find a number of different people and businesses here because those relationships end up helping us bring more programming to life through the schools, community initiatives, etc. So while it's not the number one most important thing for us, it really does help us service the community in a very big way.'
