Rafael Nadal will make a stunning return to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (DDFTC) next month, 15 years after his last competitive appearance in the United Arab Emirates.
Rafa, the DDFTC men’s champion in 2006, last appeared at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium in 2008. Since then, he has established himself as one of the greatest male players in tennis history, winning a record 22 Grand Slam titles. Currently ranked No.2 in the world, Rafa will return for the annual ATP 500 event, which runs from the 27th of February to the 4th of March.
Having reached the quarterfinals in Dubai in 2005, Rafa returned in 2006 to beat, among others, Briton Tim Henman and Germany’s Rainer Schuttler on route to the final. Against World No.1 and top seed Roger Federer, Rafa triumphed 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to mark his first victory over the Swiss in an ATP final. When Federer retired last year, ending one of the greatest tennis rivalries of all-time, Rafa’s record against Federer stood at 13-10 in ATP finals.
It will be a dream come true to see my favorite player Rafa play in Dubai! I am planning a family trip to Dubai at the same time as the Dubai tennis tournament! 🙂
Rafa has always liked playing the Abu Dhabi exhibition called the mubadala championships. He won the mubadala title there 5 times, the most in history. So it would not surprise me if he played Dubai in 2023.
However, Rafa does have to be careful with all the events and playing too much. But he really does know what is best for himself. Of course, tennis fans around the world love to see him in the tennis court!
Rafa may be entered into Dubai, but it doesn’t mean that he will play for sure. Rafa could always decide when the event approaches whether he is ready and then make a final decision to play or not play. He knows what’s the best decision for himself at any moment, and we are only fans who speculate about his best interest.
If he does play, I can only see this helping him reach his tennis peak at the French Open 2023! Vamos, Rafa!
Is this true or fake news?
I can’t imagine will play this event and then be in Las Vegas on March 3rd with Carlos alcaraz for an exhibition given the overlap!
Rafa plays Carlos in Las Vegas on March 5th, so it might be true. Of course, the Las Vegas match won’t count and Rafa will be raising money for his foundation in Las Vegas.
So charitable of Rafa as we all come to know and expect of him!
Hi there, it’s me, Maria, here again. Sure y’all must have missed me! Well, I have been inundated with many phone calls from all over the world from people wanting to know my prediction on all the Grand Slams of 2023. Such an Arduous task,but I reckon my reputation as an accurate forecaster/seer is now we’ll established all over the world. But what a price to pay – I mean, I can hardly sleep a wink these days without torrents of people disturbing my peace. Phew! What a life I have?!
So, here’s the low down from Maria after 84 days of prayers &: fasting. But first I need to talk on Rafa Nadal. As it is, our good old Rafa has reached the zenith of his injury-damaging career and is now in a state of steep decline. So, all we can get from him now are diminishing returns. Nevertheless, he’s had a stellar career and honestly, he could easily have forever been the Tennis GOAT , but that title will now have to pass to Novak. So sad.
Anyways, below are my accurate as ever predictions on the winners of all the 4 grand slams in 2023:
1. Australian Open
Men’s Singles:
Novak D. ( Def Alexander Zverev)
Women’s Singles:
Iga S. (Def Jessica pegula)
French Open
Men’s Singles:
Carlos A. (Def Novak D)
Women’s Singles:
Iga S. (Def Coco G)
Wimbledon
Men’s Singles:
Novak D. (Def Stefano’s T)
Women’s Singles
Ons J (Def Elena R)
US OPEN
Men’s Singles:
Novak D ( Def Holger R)
Women’s Singles
Coco G (Def Danielle C)
So it has been written and approved by the Celestial Forces, so it shall be.
Thank you All.
This is blasphemy and without any merit.
Snakes, I can bet that you will be wrong! If you turn out to be100% right with these predictions, then you can get $1 billion US dollars from warren Buffett and Bill Gates and Larry Ellison and retire from your silly tennis predictions. All are tennis fans in my annals.
At the very least, djokovic won’t even be allowed to play in the US Open. 🤣
Zverev won’t even make the finals of Australian open. You are wrong, and you are fired!
Now go slither back to snake island with your reptilians, and stop pretending to be what you are not. You were never good at predictions.
Try a different career that would benefit mankind.😅😇
Maria the snake:Wait, how come I see Novak djokovic so many times? Novak djokovic must be your idol or paid you a handsome bonus to post this?!
Maria snake, sounds like you were in hibernation for a while. Who woke you up from your deep slumber? 😴
Go back to sleep. Your predictions stink! 🥱😅
I bet djokovic woke Maria snake up and slipped her some dough to share these favorable predictions of him. Bribery is a real low.
The problem is he needs matches. I applaud his decision. Why should hé only play clay court tournaments. Hé won everything on clay hé should challenge himself on other surfaces. I hope hé plays iw and miami that will be awesome.
IMO Rafa should just play Indian Wells. And then stay fresh for the clay season where he should play 3 tournaments before RG instead of the usual 4. Aim should be to stay fresh and peak at the Slams.
What I don’t understand is if he wanted to play before Indian Wells, why not play Acapulco where he has had so much success? Don’t get this decision at all.
Hé needs matches.
He needs matches but trust that he will be making wise decisions for himself.
Would love to see Rafa play more but only if his body is ready for it.
This might be fake news.
Rafa is playing Las Vegas exhibition with Carlos alcaraz on March 3rd. Rafa already announced it on twitter.
Rafa would benefit from playing in Indian wells and Miami if his body is ready for it. He certainly has gazillions of fans in these US events!
Rafa missed most of the clay season in 2022 due to injury. Otherwise he would have finished 2022 ranked #1 in the world.
I would love to see Rafa play and win many clay season events in 2023, like he always does, especially the 15th French Open title!
Rafa is only 8 titles away from his 100th ATP title. I really wish him the best and that he can achieve the 100th ATP title milestone. There is no doubt that he will get his 100th title as long as he is motivated and healthy! 😉💪👏🏅🥳🥇🏆🎉 💯
I think it is a smart move. Rafa wants to concentrate on the big tournaments but he still needs repetition to get back into top form. A long lay off between AO and Indian Wells would not be good for his game.
It also shows that he wants to stay in the top ten. Rafa will lose ranking even if he wins AO because he is defending 2000 points. Djokovic has no points to defend. He and others could easily pass Rafa in ranking no matter how he plays. So picking up points in a 500 tournament will help Rafa on ranking and seeding for the rest of the year.
No reason to play 500 level events for Rafa. He should only play masters 1000 events and grand slams. The number of consecutive wins needed to get a 500 title is the same as a 1000 event on most cases.
Nadal is perhaps the most reckless tennis player in history.
No, that would be djokovic who is the most reckless in tennis history.To try to sneak into Australia and spread covid in Adria tour and meet with young kids in Serbia after testing positive shortly before. Reckless and immoral.
You are just so jealous of Rafa’s achievements, huh? 😅🤣
Clearly young voter doesn’t like Rafa and shouldn’t be posting garbage on this site. Keep it positive and clean or don’t post at all!
You are the reckless one for making such a baseless and absurd statement, young voter, whoever you are. Quit with the gibberish, or leave us Rafa fans alone as we only want to hear good things about Rafa.
Young voter, sounds like djokovic told you to say this to throw off the conversation of which player (djokovic) is the most reckless in history. Pitiful how delusional you can be.
Not happy with that but i hope Rafa knows what is the best for his body.
Makes me think its a final year on tour, he wants to appear in some tournaments.
Nope, Rafa said it is not his final year on your. Don’t be so pessimistic!