Draw for the star-packed Abu Dhabi Exhibition event is out
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Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud and Carlos Alcaraz
The draw for the 2022 edition of the Abu Dhabi exhibition tournament is officially out. The event, which is considered the first tournament of the new season is scheduled from December 16 to December 18, 2022. This tournament has been happening every year with star-studded lineups since 2009 at the Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
This year, the star-packed event includes the likes of World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz, World No.3 Casper Ruud, World No.4 Stefanos Tsitsipas, World No.8 Andrey Rublev, World No.14 Cameron Norrie and World No.19 Frances Tiafoe in the men’s side.
Former US Open Champion Emma Raducanu and World No.2 Ons Jabeur will play against each other in a sole women’s singles match. Now, coming to the schedule of the event, Stefanos Tsitsipas will face Cameron Norrie in the opening match of the tournament. This is followed by a showdown between Frances Tiafoe and Andrey Rublev. The women’s singles match is also scheduled to be on the first day -December 16.
On December 17, the second day of the tournament is planned. World No.3 Casper Ruud will be waiting for the winner of the match between Tsitsipas and Norrie. Same way, World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz will be waiting for Tiafoe or Rubley. The match for fifth place is also scheduled on the same day which will be between the losers of the first-day matches.
The Final and third-place matches are scheduled to be on December 18, the last day of the tournament. The winner of Casper Ruud vs Stefanos Tsitsiaps/Cameron Norrie will play against the winner of Carlos Alcaraz vs Frances Tiafoe/Andrey Rublev in the finals. The losers of the same matches will play for third place. This will also be played on the last day of the tournament.
Related: “It doesn’t matter that now I am world No. 1,” Carlos Alcaraz on comparison with Rafael Nadal
The history of the Abu Dhabi Exhibition event
The Abu Dhabi exhibition tournament has been held every year since 2009 except in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rafael Nadal with 5 titles is the most successful player here followed by Novak Djokovic with 4 titles. Andy Murray is third here with 2 titles. The other member of the big 3 –Roger Federer played a final here in 2011 but lost in straight sets to Rafael Nadal.
Kevin Anderson was the first player other than Nadal, Djokovic, or Murray to win here in 2017. Andrey Rublev has also won a title here – it was in the last edition (2021) where he beat the tournament’s first champion (2009) Andy Murray in the final.
The women’s event only started in 2017. It has been held every year since then except in 2020. Jeļena Ostapenko was the first champion here defeating Serena Williams. In 2018 also, Serena ended up on the losing side in the final, this time to her sister Venus Williams. Maria Sharapova was the champion here in 2019 and Ons Jabeur clinched the title in the latest edition. 2021.
With the likes of young top players out there on the battlefield for this year, the Tennis world is looking forward to seeing a great tournament to kick start the season.
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Vipul Payattuparambil
(552 Articles Published)